Blog · 2024-03-27

Why a child under 14 may be barred from leaving Russia in 2025

What happened?

The list of documents required to obtain a passport for children under 14 now includes a new condition: the birth certificate must carry a Russian citizenship stamp. Going forward, a passport for a child under 14 will be issued solely on the basis of a birth certificate bearing this citizenship stamp. The change stems from amendments to Russia's citizenship law.

Where's the catch?

Russian citizens enter and leave the country on an international passport. This means that if a child was born outside Russia and managed to enter the country on the passport of another state, they may not be allowed to leave again.

On a birth certificate alone, without an international passport, children under 14 may still travel to Abkhazia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and South Ossetia.

What should you do?

If the child was born in Russia

• The stamp can be obtained at a territorial office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Russia.
• It is issued only when both parents are present in person.
• Documents required: an application (completed on site), the birth certificate and a copy of it, the internal Russian passports of both parents and copies of them, and a Form No. 8 certificate for the child.
• Processing time: five days.

If the child was born outside Russia

The procedure is as follows:

• Obtain the birth certificate in the country where the child was born.
• Attach an apostille to it.
• At the Russian consulate, a Russian translation is attached to the document.
• The translation is stamped to confirm the acquisition of Russian citizenship.

The result is a three-page document, while the original birth certificate carries no foreign stamps and therefore remains valid.

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