The U.S. allows double citizenship, but does Russia allows double citizenship? Is Russian citizenship automatic for the child of a Russian citizen born outside Russia? Is it possible to have double citizenship for children of Russian and American parents?
To start with, it must be mentioned that the Citizenship of the United States is one of the most advantageous citizenships in the world; there are several benefits of having a U.S. passport including the right to come to another countries without visas.
Many children are born U.S. citizens automatically at birth. They acquire their U.S. citizenship just because they are born in the territory of the United States, or because they are born abroad from at least one U.S. citizen parent, and non-American parent. Therefore children born abroad may become a dual citizen holding two different citizenships and two different passports.
According to Russian law, you are not prohibited from acquiring U.S citizenship, and you do not lose the Russian citizenship automatically if you become a U.S. citizen. But at the same time, Russia does not recognize the U.S. citizenship, as there is no agreement on the recognition of dual citizenship between the two countries. This means that you should travel in and out of Russia, or apply to the Russian agencies abroad only with Russian documents. Traveling to other countries, including the United States, you can use a U.S. passport.
It should be noted that the Russian citizenship is not automatic for the child of a Russian citizen born outside Russia; there are simple procedures to register children as Russian citizens at the consulates. Some applicants think it is easier to register the child as a citizen at the Consulate rather than in Russia. Consular staff is more familiar with the procedures for registering foreign-born children as citizens, but local FMS officers are not. Russian citizenship is issued during 1-1.5 months after the birth in the U.S., and it can be implemented in the Russian General Consulates in Washington D.C., New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Houston.
To be more acquainted with citizenship information, please visit http://www.immigrationunitedstates.org/categories/u.s.-citizenship/
