Dual citizenship and Russian visa

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 22:01:10 +0000

Hello everyone,
I am russian citizen, was born in Russia and still have my parents in Moscow. In addition to that, when I moved with my wife to New York I did not drop my housing record (propiska) in Moscow, so for russian authorities I am considered "temporarily away from Russia". Recently I have received US citizenship based on refuge status. Now I feel totaly lost, because I need to travel to Russia often and I don't know what kind of visa I need to get or, I don't need any visa since I have both US and Russian passports. As I understand I can use russian passport to enter and leave Russia, but how russian and US authorities will react on the fact that I don't have a visa?
It would be very helpful if you can clarify this for me.

Russian Visa, Dual Citizenship, Travel Agencies vs Consulate

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 21:53:49 +0000

Hi, I was wondering if someone could shed some light on this. It is my understanding that if you were born in Russia but left before 1992 you're not a citizen of Russia but still have to provide proof of this when applying for visa. If you left after 1992, you are a citizen no matter what, and will not get a Russian visa unless you renounce your citizenship.

Now, I left as a kid with my parents after 1992. I never had my own internal or foreign Russian passport. I am a US citizen now and have been for a while. I think i'm still registered somewhere in my home city in Russia, since my relatives still get notices for me to be in army once in a while. However, I've applied for visa with travel agencies before and always have gotten a visa. I put down the real year I left russia on the application and also the fact that US Passport is only one i've ever been issued by anyone. So I'm wondering what the deal is? WOuld i be refused a visa if I went to the consulate myself? How do travel agencies are then able to get me visas? Do they have some kind of "arrangement" with consulates? This is very intersting to me since I dont know if I should or can get a Russian passport, since the only russian thing I have proving my identity is my birth certificate, and no way or proving when I left or anything else. Or, do they Russian authrotiies not consider me a citizen at all since i'm not in any internal databases and never had any kind of Russian passport?

Thank in advance.

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Dual citizenship and Russian visa

Russian Visa, Dual Citizenship, Travel Agencies vs Consulate