Citizenship on the basis of a contract to serve in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

A narrow group of people are entitled to apply for Russian citizenship with an application and the required documents, bypassing the stage of obtaining a residence permit. These include, among others, those who have signed a contract to serve in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the Russian Armed Forces) or military formations for a term of at least one year.

In accordance with paragraph 1 of part 1 of Article 16 of Federal Law No. 138-FZ of 28.04.2023 “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation,” any foreign citizen who has signed a contract with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for a term of at least one year is entitled to apply for Russian citizenship under the simplified procedure. It is not necessary to obtain a residence permit beforehand.

Consider an example:

A citizen of Armenia signed a contract to serve in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for a term of 12 months. In this case, they are entitled to apply for Russian citizenship under the simplified procedure to the authorized territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Document package

The current list of required documents in .pdf format can be downloaded here

List of documents for applying for Russian citizenship after signing a contract to serve in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for a term of at least one year

A foreign citizen or stateless person who has reached the age of eighteen and has legal capacity is entitled to submit an application for admission to citizenship of the Russian Federation without regard to the requirement to reside permanently in the Russian Federation from the date of the decision to issue a residence permit in the Russian Federation until the date of submission of the application for admission to citizenship of the Russian Federation for five years, if:

• the foreign citizen or stateless person has signed a contract to serve in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation or military formations for a term of at least one year.

The application and documents required to acquire citizenship of the Russian Federation are submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia or its territorial body.

1. Application in 2 copies (printed double-sided)

An application concerning a child under the age of 14 is completed in one copy.

The application must be completed in Russian, by hand using black, blue, or violet ink, or electronically. Each page of the application must be signed by the applicant in the lower right corner in the space provided. Handwritten text must be legible. Abbreviations and acronyms may not be used when completing the application, except those in common use, and no corrections or erasures are permitted.

All fields of the application that are required to be completed must be filled in, except where the circumstances needed to answer a question do not exist. In this case, the word "no" is entered in the relevant field, or the corresponding section is left blank. Answers to the questions in the application form must be exhaustive.

If there is not enough space in an application field to provide all the necessary information, that information is entered on additional sheets attached to the application, which form an integral part of it (hereinafter, an addendum). In this case, the relevant application field must contain the entry "See addendum."

The addendum sheets must state the number of the field being supplemented and provide the necessary information. All addendum sheets must be numbered. The sheet number and total number of addendum sheets must be indicated in the upper right corner of each sheet. The number of copies of each addendum must match the number of copies of the application. Each addendum sheet must be signed by the applicant in the lower right corner.

2. A document identifying the applicant.

If a foreign citizen does not have such a document, a copy of the conclusion establishing the foreign citizen's identity, issued by a territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation

The document must remain valid for at least the application processing period at the time the application is submitted (at least 6 months is recommended). 

A document confirming the presence or absence of citizenship (a citizen's passport, a stateless person's identity document, a temporary identity document for a stateless person in the Russian Federation, a non-citizen's passport issued by the relevant authority of a foreign state, or documents confirming the applicant's lack of citizenship of a foreign state, issued by the competent authority of the foreign state in which the applicant was born).

3. A contract to serve in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops or military formations, concluded for a term of at least one year.

4. Migration card and detachable part of the notification of arrival of a foreign citizen or stateless person at their place of stay—migration registration.

5. Birth certificate.

6. Documents confirming changes to personal data.

(marriage certificate, divorce certificate, or certificate from the civil registry office in the event of multiple surname changes, or a certificate of name change).

7. One of the documents confirming*

- proficiency in Russian:

    • a document in the prescribed form (or its duplicate) confirming education (at least basic general education) completed in the territory of a state that was part of the USSR before 1 September 1991,

      or

    • a document on education in the prescribed form (or its duplicate), or a document on education and qualifications in the prescribed form (or its duplicate), confirming education completed in the territory of the Russian Federation after 1 September 1991;

    • a document on education and/or qualifications issued in a foreign state by a higher education institution that was under the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the foreign state pursuant to an international treaty of the Russian Federation, where instruction was conducted in Russian;

    • a document confirming education (at least basic general education), issued in a foreign state where Russian is one of the official languages (for citizens of that state);

    • a certificate confirming the level of proficiency in Russian required for the purposes of acquiring citizenship of the Russian Federation, issued in the Russian Federation or a foreign state by a state institution included in the list of state institutions established by the Government of the Russian Federation that conduct examinations in Russian as a foreign language, the history of Russia, and the fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation. The procedure and criteria for including such state institutions in the said list, the procedure for maintaining the list, the procedure and grounds for removing state institutions from it, the form and procedure for conducting the Russian language examination for the purposes of acquiring citizenship of the Russian Federation, the proficiency level requirements for Russian for the purposes of acquiring citizenship of the Russian Federation, the examination fee, and the procedure and periods for storing examination materials are approved by the Government of the Russian Federation. The form of the certificate confirming the level of proficiency in Russian required for the purposes of acquiring citizenship of the Russian Federation, the procedure for issuing it, and the technical requirements for the certificate are approved by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. Information about the certificate is entered by the issuing state institution into the federal information system "Federal Register of Information on Education and/or Qualification Documents and Training Documents";

    • a certificate of proficiency in Russian, knowledge of the history of Russia and the fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation at the level corresponding to the purpose of obtaining a residence permit;

    • a decision recognizing a compatriot as proficient in Russian, adopted by a commission of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia or its territorial body for recognizing compatriots as proficient in Russian;

- a certificate confirming knowledge of the history of Russia and the fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation at the level required for the purposes of acquiring citizenship of the Russian Federation, issued in the Russian Federation or a foreign state by a state institution included in the list of state institutions established by the Government of the Russian Federation that conduct examinations in Russian as a foreign language, the history of Russia, and the fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation,

or

• a document in the prescribed form (or its duplicate) confirming education (at least basic general education) completed in the territory of a state that was part of the USSR before 1 September 1991, or a document on education in the prescribed form (or its duplicate), or a document on education and qualifications in the prescribed form (or its duplicate), confirming education completed in the territory of the Russian Federation after 1 September 1991;
• a document on education and/or qualifications issued in a foreign state by a higher education institution that was under the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and the foreign state pursuant to an international treaty of the Russian Federation, where instruction was conducted in Russian;
• a document confirming education (at least basic general education), issued in a foreign state where Russian is one of the official languages (for citizens of that state);
• a certificate of proficiency in Russian, knowledge of the history of Russia and the fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation at the level corresponding to the purpose of obtaining a residence permit.

* Foreign citizens and stateless persons are exempt from confirming their proficiency in Russian and knowledge of the history of Russia and the fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation when submitting an application if they are 70 years of age or older or are Group I disabled persons.

8. Personal photographs, 3 x4 cm – 3 pcs. (black-and-white or color).

The applicant's (child's or incapacitated person's) image in the photograph must correspond to their age on the date the application is submitted.

9. Receipt for payment of the state fee.

All documents listed must be submitted as photocopies, together with the ORIGINALS.

A copy of an original document must be of good quality, easily legible, and contain all the information in the original document. Copies must be made on standard A4 sheets and must not be cut to the size of the original.

The originals of the document identifying the applicant and other required documents submitted by the applicant must be returned. Copies of these documents are attached to the application; their conformity with the originals is checked by an official and certified by their signature and the seal of the body responsible for citizenship matters of the Russian Federation, or the seal of a subordinate enterprise (authorized organization).

The period for providing the public service is 3 months.

The period may be extended for the time necessary to verify the documents submitted by the applicant and the information provided by them when submitting the application, and to obtain additional documents and information provided for by this Federal Law, but by no more than three months.

An application will not be accepted for consideration and will be returned to the applicant along with the documents attached to it if:

a) the application and documents are improperly completed, including if they contain clerical errors, typos or other mistakes;

b) the documents required under these Regulations and attached to the application are incomplete.

If the application is refused acceptance for consideration, the official returning the application shall indicate, in writing or orally, the circumstances that constituted grounds for the refusal and how they may be remedied.

At the applicant's written request, the official shall provide written information about these circumstances and how they may be remedied, including a list of missing documents.

All official documents issued by foreign authorities in a foreign language must be legalized, translated and notarized.   

For countries party to the 1961 Hague Convention:

    • The original document must be certified with an apostille in the country where it was issued.

    • The document and the apostille affixed to it must be translated into Russian.

    • The translation must be certified by a notarial endorsement by a notary in the Russian Federation.

For countries that are not parties to the Hague Convention:

    • Documents must undergo consular legalization through consular offices of the Russian Federation abroad or the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.

All documents not in Russian must be submitted with a translation into Russian. The accuracy of the translation or the authenticity of the translator's signature must be notarized in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The originals of the Russian translations of these documents must be returned. Copies are attached to the application; their conformity with the originals is checked by an official and certified by their signature and the seal of the body responsible for citizenship matters of the Russian Federation, or the seal of a subordinate enterprise (authorized organization).

If a document not in Russian has all entries duplicated in Russian, it does not need to be submitted with a Russian translation.

Based on paragraph 1 of part 1 of Article 16 of Federal Law No. 138-FZ of 28.04.2023 "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation"

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 889 of 22.11.2023 "Issues of Citizenship of the Russian Federation" ("Regulations on the Procedure for Considering Issues of Citizenship of the Russian Federation," "Regulations on the Procedure for Taking the Oath of a Citizen of the Russian Federation")