Citizenship of the Russian Federation based on citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Republic of Belarus and Kyrgyz Republic

There is a category of foreign citizens who may be admitted to citizenship of the Russian Federation under a simplified procedure on the basis of their citizenship, provided that certain conditions are met simultaneously. These include citizens of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.

The Agreement of 26.02.1999 “Between the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation on the simplified procedure for acquiring citizenship” (hereinafter referred to as the Four-Party Agreement) grants citizens of the above-mentioned states the right to acquire Russian citizenship under a simplified procedure if one of the following conditions is met:

a) if the applicant held citizenship of the Byelorussian SSR, Kazakh SSR, Kirghiz SSR or RSFSR and simultaneously citizenship of the former USSR, and was born or resided in the territory of the party whose citizenship is being acquired before December 21, 1991;

b) if the applicant has one of the following close relatives who are citizens and permanent residents of the territory of the party whose citizenship is being acquired: a spouse, one of the parents (adoptive parents), a child (including an adopted child), sister, brother, grandfather, grandmother, grandson or granddaughter.

In addition, to apply for citizenship under the Four-Party Agreement, a foreign citizen must permanently reside in the territory of the Russian Federation, that is, hold a residence permit (hereinafter referred to as a residence permit).

At the same time, the residence in Russia of one of the above-mentioned relatives who holds citizenship of the Russian Federation must be permanent. This means that the relative must be registered at their place of residence.

Registration at the place of residence is the registration of a citizen of the Russian Federation at their place of residence, that is, the recording, in accordance with the established procedure, by the registration authority of information about the place of residence of a citizen of the Russian Federation and their presence at that place of residence.

This type of registration for citizens of the Russian Federation is not limited in duration. For persons aged 14 and older, it is affixed as a stamp in the internal Russian passport; for persons under that age, it is issued on a separate sheet (Form No. 8).

Let us consider some examples:

A citizen of Kazakhstan was born in 1984 in the territory of the RSFSR and also held citizenship of the USSR. In this case, they have the right to apply for admission to citizenship of the Russian Federation under this agreement, but first they need to obtain a residence permit in Russia.

A citizen of Kyrgyzstan has obtained a residence permit in Russia and has a grandmother who is a citizen of the Russian Federation. In this case, they have the right to submit documents for Russian citizenship on this basis, provided that their grandmother is registered at her place of residence.

The application and complete set of documents for admission to citizenship of the Russian Federation under the Agreement of 26.02.1999 “Between the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation on the simplified procedure for acquiring citizenship” are submitted under Part 9 of Article 16 of Federal Law No. 138-FZ “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation”. To do so, the foreign citizen must contact the territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the constituent entity where they are staying.

Documents

The current list of required documents in .pdf format can be downloaded here

List of documents for applying for Russian citizenship under the Agreement between the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Belarus, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation

Citizens of the Republic of Belarus, the Kyrgyz Republic or the Republic of Kazakhstan who have duly completed their departure for permanent residence in the Russian Federation and reside in the Russian Federation under a foreign citizen's residence permit,

who are

either natives of the RSFSR,

or resided in the territory of the RSFSR before December 21, 1991,

or have a close relative (spouse, parent (adoptive parent), child (including adopted child), sister, brother, grandfather or grandmother, grandson or granddaughter) who permanently resides in the Russian Federation; they may apply for Russian citizenship.

The application and documents required to acquire citizenship of the Russian Federation are submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia or its territorial body.

1. Application – in 2 copies (printed double-sided)

The application must be completed in Russian by hand using black, blue or violet ink, or using electronic means. Each page of the application must be signed by the applicant in the lower right corner in the space provided. Handwritten text must be legible. When completing the application, abbreviations and acronyms are not permitted, except for commonly accepted ones; corrections and erasures are also not permitted.

All fields of the application that must be completed must be filled in, except where the circumstances needed to answer the question do not exist. In that case, the word "no" is entered in the relevant field or the corresponding section is left blank. Answers to the questions in the application form must be exhaustive.

If there is not enough space in a field of the application to provide all the required information, that information is provided on additional sheets attached to the application, which form an integral part of it (hereinafter referred to as an addendum). In this case, the relevant field of the application must state "See addendum".

The addendum sheets must indicate the number of the field being supplemented and provide the required information. All addendum sheets must be numbered. The sheet number and the total number of addendum sheets must be indicated in the upper right corner of each sheet. The number of copies of each addendum must match the number of copies of the application. Each addendum sheet must be signed by the applicant in the lower right corner.

2. Document identifying the applicant.

If the foreign citizen does not have such a document, a copy of the finding establishing the identity of the foreign citizen, issued by a territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation

At the time of application, the document must be valid for at least the processing period (we recommend at least 6 months). 

A document confirming the presence or absence of citizenship (a citizen's passport, stateless person's certificate, temporary identity document of a stateless person in the Russian Federation, non-citizen's passport issued by the relevant authority of a foreign state, or documents confirming the applicant's lack of citizenship of a foreign state, issued by the authorized body of the foreign state where the applicant was born).

3. Residence permit.

4. Migration card and detachable part of the notification of arrival of a foreign citizen or stateless person at their place of stay – migration registration.

In most regions, the Ministry of Internal Affairs requires a stamp of registration at the place of residence in the residence permit in order to submit an application.

5. Birth certificate.

6. Documents confirming changes to the full name.

Marriage certificate, divorce certificate, or certificate from the civil registry office in the event of repeated surname changes, or a certificate of name change.

7. Passport of a close relative who is a citizen of the Russian Federation, permanently residing in the Russian Federation, bearing a mark of registration at a place of residence in the territory of the Russian Federation

8. Departure slip (for citizens of Kyrgyzstan)

9. Personal photographs, 3 x4 cm – 3 pcs. (black-and-white or color).

The image of the applicant (child, incapacitated person) in the photograph must correspond to their age on the day the application is submitted.

10. Receipt confirming payment of the state fee.

All listed documents must be submitted as photocopies, together with the ORIGINALS.

A copy of the original document must be of good quality, easily legible and contain all the information presented in the original document. Copies must be made on standard A4 sheets and must not be cut to the size of the original.

The originals of the applicant's identity document and other required documents submitted by the applicant must be returned. Copies of these documents are attached to the application; an official verifies that they match the originals and certifies them with their signature and the seal of the authority responsible for citizenship matters in the Russian Federation, or the seal of a subordinate enterprise (authorized organization).

The period for providing the public service is 3 months.

The period may be extended for the time needed to verify the documents submitted by the applicant and the information provided by them when filing the application, and to obtain additional documents and information stipulated by this Federal Law, but by no more than three months.

An application will not be accepted for consideration and will be returned to the applicant together with the attached documents if:

a) the application and documents are improperly completed, including containing clerical, typographical or other errors;

b) the documents required under these Regulations and attached to the application have not been submitted in full.

If an application is refused acceptance for consideration, the official returning it shall indicate in writing or orally the circumstances that served as the basis for the refusal and how they can be remedied.

At the applicant's written request, the official shall provide written notice of those circumstances and how they can be remedied, including a list of missing documents.

All official documents issued by foreign authorities in a foreign language must be legalized, translated and notarized.

All documents not in Russian must be submitted with a translation into Russian. The accuracy of the translation or the authenticity of the translator's signature must be notarized in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The original Russian translations of the aforementioned documents must be returned. Copies are attached to the application; an official verifies that they match the originals and certifies them with their signature and the seal of the authority responsible for citizenship matters in the Russian Federation, or the seal of a subordinate enterprise (authorized organization).

If a document executed in a language other than Russian has all entries duplicated in Russian, it does not need to be translated into Russian.

Agreement between the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation on the simplified procedure for acquiring citizenship of February 26, 1999

On the basis of Article 2 of Federal Law No. 138-FZ of 28.04.2023 "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation"

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 889 of 22.11.2023 "Citizenship of the Russian Federation matters" ("Regulations on the procedure for considering citizenship matters of the Russian Federation", "Regulations on the procedure for taking the Oath of a Citizen of the Russian Federation"