The State Duma adopted a long-awaited law for foreign compatriots
The State Duma of the Russian Federation in the first reading adopted changes to the law on citizenship, simplifying the procedure for obtaining it.
324 of the 325 deputies present voted for this decision, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
According to Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Igor Zubov, who presented the bill, we are talking about relaxations similar to those that residents of the LPR and DPR received a year ago - those who want to become citizens of the Russian Federation now do not need to renounce their second citizenship, confirm the availability of money for living in Russia and so on.
“It is proposed to abolish for all categories of applicants for Russian citizenship the requirements to renounce their existing citizenship of a foreign state, to eliminate the conditions for a three-year period of residence in the Russian Federation and for confirmation of the means of subsistence for those foreign citizens who acquire Russian citizenship in a simplified manner, to reduce from three years to one year, the mandatory period of labor activity in the Russian Federation before filing an application for admission to Russian citizenship for persons who received professional education in the Russian Federation after July 1, 2002.
Grant the right to apply for Russian citizenship in a simplified manner to citizens of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine permanently residing in the Russian Federation. For such applicants, exclude the condition of continuous period of residence in the country and confirmation of the availability of means of subsistence,” Zubov said.
Chairman of the Committee on CIS Affairs Leonid Kalashnikov called these changes revolutionary and such that they should have been adopted 20 years ago.
“This is a revolutionary bill that we have all been pushing for for 20-plus years. The most important norm that was mentioned here, the LPR and DPR received it not so long ago. So that they do not renounce Ukrainian citizenship when acquiring Russian citizenship. Once upon a time we managed to get a certificate canceled in the hall. Then you also had to submit a certificate from Ukraine. You renounced citizenship, bring a certificate as well.
Then we followed this path, achieved this for the LDPR, and today we are adopting this bill for the whole world. Throughout the world, anyone who wants to become a citizen of the Russian Federation should not renounce their existing citizenship,” Kalashnikov said.
The head of the Institute of CIS Countries, Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin emphasized that the bill is “raw” and requires improvement. In particular, it needs to include the concept of compatriots living abroad.
“We are talking about people who are already in Russia and those who will be in Russia. We are not talking about the fact that we provide this right to simplified acquisition of citizenship to people who live abroad. And this is a certain flaw in this bill, because, in our opinion, it would be necessary to designate such a category as compatriot.
This word is not used there. Therefore, for the second reading, we intend to introduce amendments that would allow our compatriots abroad, even if they are not in Russia, to qualify for the right to simplified acquisition of citizenship, as they were promised in 1999, by the adopted law applicable to compatriots abroad." , noted Zatulin.
English version :: Read in English The State Duma has adopted a long-awaited law for compatriots abroad.