How to get a Russian passport for a child born in the USA

Children born in America and having both Russian parents, according to the law, automatically receive citizenship of the Russian Federation. Accordingly, in order to travel from the USA to Russia and go back, besides a birth certificate or a Russian passport, the child must have a passport. Just put the Russian visa in the American passport of the baby in this case will not succeed. ForumDaily blogger Maya Buryakina shares her own experience as she designed Russian passports for her two sons.

Even before the moment our twins were born, my husband and I decided to issue them not only the American citizenship that they receive at the place of birth, but also Russian Children have the right to it, since my husband and I both have Russian citizenship, and in the US we live on a green card. We took care of its design after we received American birth certificates and American passports for twins. In addition, for trips to Russia, we decided to issue Russian passports for kids.

We live in the state of California, and our consulate in San Francisco is processing Russian passports at the same time as confirming Russian citizenship. In order to start the process of obtaining a passport, you should register with the consulate for an appointment. here.

I recommend that you first make an appointment, and only then collect documents. The fact is that often (especially in spring and summer) consular services are in great demand, so you can wait for two months or more. Accordingly, why waste time when you can wait for the reception and simultaneously collect the necessary documents. Actually, we did.

Since my children were about four months old at the time of submitting the documents, I heeded the advice of the consulate to give them a passport valid for five years. And she did the right thing, because now I look at their passport photos, which I took when they were just over a month old, and compare them with how she looks now at nine months old - we can say that these are really different people. What will happen in ten years?!

Martin and Eric and two months old. Photo from the personal archive of the author

What documents are needed

On the official website of the consulate There is a full list of documents. I wrote my comments to each item, because the site does not indicate where to take certain papers.

So, we will need:

1. Passport application (valid for five years). We need one copy of the application, filled out on both sides on one sheet. You can fill out this application. here.

Important point: The application contains the column “patronymic”. If your American birth certificate does not indicate a middle name, then you cannot write anything in this column on your application.

2. Birth certificate. Need to do Apostille and translation into Russian.

To make a transfer, go to the website of the consulate, where there is sample, which you need to fill in yourself by entering your data in it.

Important point: in the “certificate number” column you must indicate the number printed on the birth certificate under the bar code.

The birth certificate itself is issued automatically. You may remember that in the hospital the day after giving birth, someone came to you and asked many, many questions. You could answer them, or your husband could. It is on the basis of this data, as well as the official papers of the hospital, that a birth certificate is issued.

After 6-8 weeks, after you became a mother, you can pick up the finished document. Sometimes it is sent by mail, but not so lucky to everyone. You can get a birth certificate in person at two organizations. For example, in the office of the clerk of the county where your baby was born (for example, San Mateo County Clerk Office). Or at the local health department. Receive can both mom and dad.

Important point: If you received a certificate from the Department, then before sending the document on an apostille, you should contact the clerk's office to authenticate the document. The office of the clerk choose, respectively, the county where they gave birth. You can reach the clerk without an appointment. His assurance service costs about $ 10.

To put down the apostille, you must either go to the State Secretariat or send them the original birth certificate by mail. Find the State Secretariat where you live and its address at Online National Association of State Secretariats.

If you are not able to go to the Secretariat personally, send them an envelope with the following contents:

• the original of the birth certificate;
• a letter stating who you are and what you need, without forgetting to indicate that an apostille is required for Russia;
• written check on $ 20;
• and be sure to have an empty envelope on which indicate your mailing address - it is in it that the certificate with the apostille will be sent to you.

3. Original valid parent's passport, on whose behalf the documents and copies will be submitted pages that have marks.

Important point: if none of the parents has a valid passport, you will need to show the original Russian passport and its copy.

4. Original and copy of the child's passport (if it was issued earlier) or the original and a copy of the applicant's parent's passport, which provides information about the child.

5. Three photos of the child (full face 35X45mm, it is possible both color, and black-and-white).

And surely one photo of the parent applicant.

Important point: If your child is younger than 6, photographs should be brought with you.

I photographed the children at home, myself. I thought I’d be fiddling around for two hours, but in reality the first couple of frames turned out to be the most successful, although to be on the safe side I took 20 frames for each son.

Children can be photographed at home on their own or with the help of one of their relative relatives, who at the time of the shooting will entertain the baby. Or try contacting stores such as Costco or Wallgreens.

6. The cost of registration of a passport $ 10. Consulate services can be paid for by issuing Money-order in his name. Money order can be obtained by mail or Western Union. I only recommend to find out at the consulate whether they accept all types of Money-order. Because at one time in the consulate of San Francisco Money-order was taken exclusively from the post office.

The consulate officially promises to complete the documents within three months. Keep this in mind when planning your trips, so that later you won’t be upset about changing plans due to lack of documents. We got everything done in two weeks. We received the documents in just a minute - there was not a soul at the consulate except us.

Volkov family on vacation in St. Petersburg. Photo from the personal archive of the author

We have already tried foreign passports in action. A week ago we returned from a vacation spent in St. Petersburg. Just in case, I’ll write that you definitely need to take your children’s American passports with you - they are the basis for leaving Russia and entering the United States - they are asked to present them at both border checkpoints.

See also:

How to get Russian citizenship for a child born in the USA

How to get a US passport for a child

How to pass a test for US citizenship

Personal experience: Russian woman on the work of children's doctors in the United States

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