Russian citizenship of a child by birthright

Essentially, two things are relevant to a child’s eligibility for Russian birthright citizenship: his or her place of birth and the parents’ citizenship. The Russian Citizenship Law lists the various options and combinations of these two factors.

A child can obtain Russian citizenship based on birth, if, on his or her day of birth: 

• Both parents or the single parent of the child are (is a) Russian citizen(s) (the place of birth of the child is irrelevant in this case) 

• One parent is a Russian citizen, while the other is a person without citizenship (a stateless person) or his or her location is unknown, or he or she has been recognized as a missing person (the child’s place of birth is irrelevant)

• One parent is a Russian citizen, while the other is a foreign national, and the child was born in Russia

• One parent is a Russian citizen, while the other is a foreign national, and the child was born outside Russia, and has not been granted citizenship of a foreign nation  

• Both parents or the single parent of the child are (is a) foreign national(s) (or stateless person(s)) and live within Russia (are holders of a temporary or a permanent residence permit and are registered at their residential address in Russia), and the child was born within Russia, and the country of which the child’s parents are citizens did not grant citizenship to the child

• The child is in Russia and the child’s parents are both unknown and do not step forward within six (6) months of discovery of the child

How to process a child’s receipt of Russian citizenship

It is important to realize that a child does not become a Russian citizen automatically, because the existence of the grounds listed above does not constitute the fact of obtaining citizenship. To make sure that the fact of the child obtaining Russian citizenship is formally confirmed, all the formalities must be followed. The child’s parents need to submit the necessary documents to the local office of the Russian Federal Migration Service at their place of registration or to the consulate section of their Russian embassy (if thе child is born outside Russia).

As a result of this procedure, a mark  (a standard stamp) will be affixed to the reverse of the child’s birth certificate specifying the section of the law under which the child was granted Russian citizenship.