(Source: https://crime-dn.su/rossijskoe-grazhdanstvo-v-2018-m-poluchili-83-tysyachi-ukraintsev)

Russia will considerably simplify the procedure of granting citizenship to foreigners.

Russia will change the rules for granting citizenship. Now, foreigners applying for it will not have to give up their first citizenship for the sake of obtaining a Russian passport.

The interlocutors in the working group on the implementation of the Concept of State Migration Policy told Kommersant about the preparation of the government’s relevant amendments to the legislation.

The press service of the government confirmed this information to the publication: “It is proposed to exclude the requirement demanding that the applicant for Russian citizenship should apply to the plenipotentiary body of his or her foreign state with a request to renounce his/her other citizenship, including for persons recognized as Russian language native speakers.”

The Clause “d” of the first part of Article 13 of the Law “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation”, according to which one of the conditions for acquiring Russian citizenship by foreigners is the renunciation of the citizenship of another state that they hold. The Head of the Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Kalashnikov told to the publication that other amendments could also be made to the Article 13 of the Law on Citizenship.

In particular, the requirement of continuous residence for a foreigner wishing to obtain Russian citizenship on the territory of Russia for five years may be abolished. One more amendment may concern the clause requiring the applicant to confirm the legitimate sources of livelihood. Kalashnikov is convinced that the bill “will be revolutionary”, and is sure that it will certainly be submitted to the State Duma in February. After agreeing it with the presidential administration, the bill will be sent to the State Duma.

The fact that the Russian authorities plan to liberate foreign citizens from the obligation to renounce their first citizenship in order to obtain a Russian passport was first revealed in the autumn of 2019. Then the government’s materials on this topic were submitted to the State Duma alongside with the draft federal budget for 2020-2022, as RBC reported. This will increase the migration attractiveness of Russia and bridge over the natural decline in the population, as the department noted. If migration growth amounted to 154,000 people in the first seven months of 2019, then in 2020 it will reach 441,000 people, and in 2024 it will exceed 500,000.