Original Russian-language document. Russian Federation official regulatory reference document setting out the simplified citizenship admission procedure available to foreign nationals and stateless persons, including categories created by the occupation-related presidential decrees. This document provides the procedural framework through which the passportisation programme was administered.
This regulatory reference document sets out the procedural framework for admission to Russian Federation citizenship in the simplified procedure available to foreign nationals and stateless persons. It is the administrative guide governing how applications under the passportisation decrees (see DOC-109 and the citizenship collection) are processed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The document identifies the categories of persons eligible for simplified naturalisation, the documents required, the processing timeline (no more than three months), and the biometric requirements introduced for applicants from occupied Ukrainian territories. The document is analytically significant as the operational instrument through which the strategic passportisation policy documented in the presidential decrees was implemented at the individual level. The category "stateless persons" is particularly relevant: Ukrainian citizens who refused to accept Russian citizenship but remained in occupied territories were, from April 2023, treated as foreigners under Russian law and subjected to potential deportation — a process that begins with their exclusion from the simplified citizenship regime and their reclassification as third-country nationals.
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Categories of eligible persons (simplified procedure)
The simplified citizenship procedure under Russian federal law applies to foreign nationals and stateless persons who fall into one of the following categories:
- Persons born on the territory of the RSFSR and who held USSR citizenship.
- Persons who have been permanently resident in Russia for at least three years and whose spouse is a Russian citizen.
- Persons with an incapacitated parent who is a Russian citizen.
- Persons who have made particular contributions to science, technology, or culture, or who possess a profession or qualification in the interest of the Russian Federation.
- Persons granted refugee status.
- Persons falling within the categories specified by the presidential decrees of 2019–2022 regarding residents of occupied Ukrainian territories.
Processing timeline
Applications submitted under the simplified procedure are processed within a period of no more than three months from the date of submission of the complete set of documents.
Biometric requirements
Applicants are required to submit fingerprint data and a digital photograph as part of the application process. These biometric requirements were introduced as a condition of application for residents of occupied Ukrainian territories seeking simplified citizenship.
Analytical note
The biometric data requirement is analytically significant: applicants from occupied territories provide fingerprints and photographs to Russian interior ministry bodies as a condition of citizenship registration. This creates a database of biometric identifiers for Ukrainian residents who interact with the passportisation system, with obvious implications for surveillance and tracking. The treatment of Ukrainian residents who do not obtain Russian passports as "foreigners" eligible for deportation (the April 2023 decree) means the simplified citizenship procedure functions as both an integration mechanism and a coercion instrument.