October 21, 2019 Russian Government submitted to the State Duma project of the Federal Law on amendment of the article 33.1 of the Federal Law «On citizenship of Russian Federation» for review.
Bill provides for the following changes:
- Ukranian and Belorussian citizens who speak Russian fluently will not have to pass interview before the special commission, provided:
- They apply in person to the commission to be considered as Russian native speakers and
- They themselves or their relatives or their direct ascending relatives permanently live or lived previously on the territory of Russian Federation or on the territory of the former Russian Empire or USSR within the former borders of Russian Federation;
- Regulations governing the work of language commissions, conducting interviews on recognition of foreign citizens as Russian native speakers will be unified and approved on federal level. In particular, unified criteria on language knowledge will be introduced, rules on issuance, usage and storage of control materials, used by the language commissions will be specified, as well as requirements to the rules for security in relation to storage of personal information, regulations on procedure of publishing of such data on the Internet. Such unified regulations will be issued by the Internal Affairs Ministry in close cooperation with the Ministry of Education;
Government Order from 21.10.2019, №9534п-П4 «On project of Federal Law «On amendment of article 33.1 of the Federal Law «On citizenship of Russian Federation»»; Federal Law bill № 819170-7;
We will keep you posted on the developments. Meanwhile, should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.
Best Regards,
VFBS
Migration Law Department