Russian passport
| Russian passport | |
 The front cover of a contemporary Russian biometric passport
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| Date first issued | March 1, 2010 |
| Issued by |  Russia |
| Type of document | Passport |
| Purpose | Identification |
| Eligibility requirements | Russian Federation citizenship |
| Expiration | 10 years after acquisition (for 2010 version) |
Russian passports are of two types: domestic passports issued to citizens of Russia for the purpose of certifying identity, international passports are issued for the purpose of international travel.
Contents |
[edit] Internal passport
The Russian internal passport is the primary identity document for citizens of the Russian Federation residing in Russia. It is initially issued at the age of 14 by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, and has to be renewed at the ages of 20 and 45. Every citizen over 14 residing in Russia is required to have a valid internal passport.
The passport contains the full name, sex, date and place of birth and a photograph of the bearer. It also contains remarks about the holder's registered home address, military duty, marital status, children under 14, other internal and foreign passports issued by the Russian authorities, blood type (optional) and individual taxpayer identification number (also optional). Any unauthorized remarks render the passport invalid. All the data is filled in Russian.
The Russian police will sometimes do random ID checks to look for draft dodgers, illegal immigrants, people who don't have the proper registration, etc.
The Russian internal passport is also a valid identity document in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, in addition its holder is free to enter the republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia (read more in 2008 Ossetia War). Passport for travel abroad (in Russian: заграничный паспорт, zagranichny pasport sometimes translated as international passport or foreign passport) is required for travel abroad to all other countries.
In November 2010 Federal Migration Service had made an announcement of possible cancellation of internal passports with a replacement with plastic ID-cards or drivers licenses. [1]
[edit] International passport
Two types of passports are being issued now in Russia: old type passport and new type biometric passport. Old type passport is currently valid for only 5 years, biometric passport issued before March 1st 2010 is valid for 5 years too. Contemporary biometric passports issued after March 1st 2010 are valid for 10 years and they are also have increased number of pages to 46 (from 36 for the old type passports).
A citizen can be denied a passport for travel abroad, and hence the right to leave Russia if (s)he:
- had, in order to get access to classified information, signed a contract with the government that included a provision restricting his/her right to leave the country;
- has been conscripted to the military or alternative civil service;
- is a defendant under criminal prosecution or convicted by court (with unspent conviction);
- is in breach of a court order;
- has outstanding tax debts;
- provided false information in his/her application.
Children under 18 travelling without being accompanied by at least one parent must have written consent of both parents translated into the official language of the destination country, with both the original and the translation certified by a notary.
In addition to the standard zagranichny pasport there are three special-purpose types of passports for traveling abroad: diplomatic passport, service passport (issued to government employees going abroad on official business) and seaman's passport.
[edit] Data page and Signature page of the International passport
Each passport has a data page and a signature page. Illustration: data page and signature page – right.
A data page has a visual zone and a machine-readable zone. The visual zone has a digitized photograph of the passport holder, data about the passport, and data about the passport holder:
- Photograph
- Type [of document, which is "P" for "passport"]
- Code [of the issuing country, which is "RUS" for "Russian Federation"]
- Passport Series and No.
- Surname
- Given Name(s)
- Nationality [which is "Russian Federation"]
- Date of Birth
- Place of Birth (lists only the city and "USSR" for people born before 1992 or "RUSSIA" for people born after 1992)
- Sex
- Date of Issue
- Date of Expiration
- Authority
At the bottom of a data page is the machine-readable zone, which can be read both visually and by an optical scanner. The machine-readable zone consists of two lines. There are no blank spaces in either line. A space which does not contain a letter or a number is filled with "<".
The first line of a machine-readable zone of a passport contains a letter to denote the type of travel document ("P" for passport), the code for the citizenship of the passport holder (e.g., "RUS" for "Russian Federation"), and the name (surname first, then given name or names) of the passport holder.
The second line of a machine-readable zone of a passport contains the passport number, supplemented by a check digit; the code of the issuing country (e.g., "RUS" for "Russian Federation"); the date of birth of the passport holder, supplemented by a check digit; a notation of the sex of the passport holder ("M" or "F"); the date of expiration of the passport, supplemented by a check digit; and, at the end of the line, one overall check digit.
A signature page has a line for the signature of a passport holder. A passport is not valid until it is signed by the passport holder.
[edit] See also
- Visa requirements for Russian citizens
- Passport system in the Soviet Union
- Propiska
- Wolf ticket (Russia)
- 101st kilometre
- Closed cities
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Statute on the Russian federation citizen's passport (in Russian).
- Federal Law On the Entry in the Russian Federation and Departure from the Russian Federation (.doc in Russian).
- Federal Law On the State Border of the Russian Federation (.doc in Russian).
