Acquisition of nationality through naturalization
2009. It is significant in that it waived the requirements that were most difficult to fulfil
for citizens of the former USSR residing in the Russian Federation with undetermined
nationality status, namely, proof of uninterrupted residence for five years, proof of
means of self-sufficiency, and Russian-language proficiency. Applicants were also
exempted from paying naturalization fees.
Implementation of the simplified naturalization procedure
Article 14.4 of the 2002 Citizenship Law required those who qualified to submit
individual applications for naturalization, enabling the Russian Government to closely
track the numbers of those who took advantage of this simplified procedure. According
to statistics provided by the Russian Government to UNHCR, during the six-year time
frame of the procedure a total of 2,679,225 people acquired Russian nationality through
naturalization, of whom 575,044 were stateless.59 After the simplified naturalization
procedure expired in 2009, stateless individuals were naturalized in 2010 and
2011 under the regular naturalization procedure, but at a much lower rate, thereby
demonstrating the value of the simplified procedure.60
In total, more than 650,000 stateless persons acquired Russian nationality between
2003 and 2012. Between 2014 and 2016, 36,585 stateless persons acquired Russian
nationality, followed by a further reduction of 8,623 stateless persons in 2017. This
represents one of the most successful efforts at reduction of statelessness in the past
decade.
59 The remaining 2,104,181 persons who acquired Russian nationality through naturalization were found to have possessed
another nationality. In many instances, where these individuals had migrated to the Russian Federation from other former
Soviet Republics, they may have automatically acquired nationality of another successor State to the former Soviet Union,
sometimes without knowing it, but intended to reside permanently in the Russian Federation.
60 The number of stateless persons who acquired citizenship in the Russian Federation in 2010 and 2011 was 19,000 and
15,144, respectively.
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