Residence permit with electronic data storage

11 February 2013

In accordance with the legislation amendments which came into force on 01.01.2013, residence permit issued to a stateless person will contain electronic data storage.  Apart from the standard set of data (name, date and place of birth, gender, nationality, etc.), the electronic media will contain record of biometric personal data, such as electronic facial image and papillary pictures of index fingers.

It should be noted that residence permits with such chips will only be issued to persons without citizenship (stateless persons), as residence permit is the only document of identification for them.  In addition, residence permit is necessary for stateless citizens to cross the border and stay in the territory of a foreign state.

Residence permit issued to a foreign citizen, just like previously, will be issued on a standard form, and will not contain biometric data. It is possible that in the future all residence permits issued in Russia will contain electronic chips, but at the moment there is no need in that: unlike stateless persons, the identity document of a foreign citizen is his passport.