Citizenship and Clearance Issues

[Wiseman]

I hope this thread will be helpful to anyone who is going through a background check and is an immigrant from Russia. Also I hope this will offer insight on the renouncing process.


I'm a contracted SMP cadet in ROTC. I'm a citizen of both Russia and the United States. That is unofficial because both nations do not have dual citizenship agreements. Currently I was told by the clearance guys that if I choose to keep my active Russian passport, my Secret clearance will be denied. No clearance, no commission. Burning the Russian passport is not satisfactory for the Russian Federation since one needs to officially renounce the citizenship in order not to be considered a Russian citizen anymore. The process, once all the documents are presented, takes atleast 6 months.

You will need (to) :

1) A Zagranichinij passport . This passport is given in the Russian Embassy for Russian citizens living abroad, it differs from the Russian Internal Passport.

2) Fill a blank application twice stating that you want to get rid of your citizenship. This application will contain many questions, including your past residences in the Russian Federation.

3) 3 photographs (3X4 cm)

4) A document stating that you have the right to live in the USA ( Green card, Certification of Naturalization, US Passport ) which must be translated into Russian.

5) A document stating that you no longer live in the Russian Federation ( basically a Zagranichinij passport that has a stamp which states "for living over the border " )

6) A document stating that you are eligible for citizenship in the nation that you are living. I think this only applies if you only have a green card.

7) An original document from the Russian IRS on whether you have any unpaid taxes, own any assets, end etc. This information is usually held in the borough that you were born in.

Only then will the process start. They will also charge you a fee for the process to begin. At this time the fee is $400. You must also get a signed document from the Embassy that states you gave in your passport. This must be given to the clearance guys.

I'm currently trying to get the last document, but that will take time. I hope this helps.

[SF18C]

An original document from the Russian IRS on whether you have any unpaid taxes, own any assets, end etc.

Why do I have the funny feeling they will always find a small fee that is owed?

Wiseman that is great info to share!

[Wiseman]

I asked about that law requiring the last document. It turns out that it was a presidential order issued by Putin on 14 Feb 2002. Last time I was in Russia was in 2001 on vacation. I asked the embassy worker "Excuse me sir, I left when I was 8 years old, what taxes?". Then he came up with a hypothetical situation that since that presidential order was issued I could've acquired assets, traded in lumber, stole money, and etc. See, only my people can come up with shit like that.

Best wishes to you, Wiseman. I hope everything will work out for you.

Thank you for your service!

Martin

PS. Bureaucracy is a b****.

[jon448]

Originally Posted by Wiseman

stole money

I love it when a Bureaucracy tries to say you'll owe taxes on stolen money...