Russians began to take an active interest in obtaining citizenship of Kyrgyzstan

An unusual advertisement appeared on Russian ad portals: agencies assist Russians in obtaining a passport of Kyrgyzstan, that is, citizenship of this CIS country. The process takes from two months and costs applicants an impressive amount – about a million rubles on a turnkey basis. “MK” found out from people who decided to take this step, what are their plans for a second passport.

Assistance in the naturalization of Russians in Kyrgyzstan has recently been discussed, but the matter has already taken a serious turn: not only lone agents, but also quite large companies are engaged in the “sale of passports” of one of the countries closest to Russia. So, one of the announcements names the address where a kind of mini-MFC is located, where you can get advice and conclude a contract.

– Guarantees, as you understand, no one can give, because decrees on conferring citizenship are an official document signed by the president of Kyrgyzstan, – employees of one of the intermediary firms answered an obvious question from an MK correspondent. – But based on experience, we can say that there are practically no refusals if you have not committed serious offenses in the republic.

Several dozen people have passed the whole way from filing documents to the decree on naturalization and issuing a passport, the company said. However, there are already many more cases in the works – how many, the manager did not say, citing trade secrets. Perhaps we are talking about many hundreds of appeals.

At the same time, prices in seemingly similar ads vary by an order of magnitude: from 80 to 890 thousand rubles. But this is not surprising: both the volume of the service provided and the reliability of the intermediary itself differ. Thus, the agent who posted the ad with a record low price said that for this money he would only provide assistance in filing an application and advise. The organization of the actual trip to Kyrgyzstan is paid separately (and in more expensive packages from other agents it is included in the price). Finally, top-of-the-market ads imply full turnkey client support.

If a personal visit to Kyrgyzstan is not possible, two out of five agents interviewed said that there are ways to do without it – but in this case, the operation will cost about 1 million rubles. What agents undertake to guarantee is the anonymity of the applicant: one of them even agreed to a paper document flow without a “digital trace”.

So, the service is not cheap and much more precautionary than providing labor migration “in the opposite direction” – whoever has been to the migration MFC in Sakharovo will understand. Therefore, it is designed for non-poor and accustomed to modern standards of service for Russians. One of the agents involved in this confirmed to MK that even before the “issue” with the citizenship of Kyrgyzstan was “opened”, he was organizing “visa tourism” for Russians to this country. For those who missed the banking vicissitudes of the last year and a half: they are engaged in such tourism in order to get a bank card of Visa and MasterCard standards that works abroad.

It turned out that for customers who ordered a passport of Kyrgyzstan, the situation is about the same – and one of the key issues is also banking. As one of those who applied for citizenship of this country told MK, the main goal is to return the possibility of banking services in the EU, which has been closed in recent months for people with Russian citizenship.

– This year I went to one of the European countries, where I have a bank account and real estate, – said the interlocutor of MK. – The goal was, among other things, to reissue a bank card. However, it turned out that this is only possible if I have some other identity card other than a Russian passport. For example, an EU residence permit, or a passport of some other state. I am a pensioner and do not have restrictions on second citizenship, and a residence permit requires confirmation of large incomes, which I do not have – I live on savings. Therefore, a third-country passport turned out to be the best option for me.

In addition, third-country passports may once again give the opportunity to apply for long-term (up to 5 years) Schengen visas, the applicant suggested. Another applicant for Kyrgyz citizenship, whom MK was able to contact, explained that he intended to use this passport if Russians were seriously restricted from leaving the country. And the advertisement of one of the agency companies also mentions the fact that Kyrgyzstan participates in the US green card lottery and other visa programs that have not been available to Russians recently.

– Russia and Kyrgyzstan are states bound by numerous agreements and membership in many unions and associations, – comments lawyer Alexei Golubev. – These are the CIS, the EAEU, the Customs Union and others. But the main advantage of this country for Russians is not this: it is important that the Russian language remains official there, and therefore a language exam for knowledge of Kyrgyz is not needed to obtain citizenship.

According to the expert, there can be no dual citizenship in the classical sense between Russia and Kyrgyzstan, since neither country supports the possibility of dual citizenship. However, the possibility of having two passports in both states is not an offense. True, in Russia, upon obtaining a second citizenship of any country, it is necessary to notify the Ministry of Internal Affairs within 60 days after receiving it. Failure to notify of a second citizenship is a criminal liability under Art. 330.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the punishment under this article is up to 400 hours of community service.

– What will happen if a person decides to leave Russia on a passport of another state? Most likely, this will not work, – the interlocutor of MK comments. – The fact is that the demonstration of the passport of the same Kyrgyzstan at the border control will not raise questions only if there is a document on entry to Russia as a migrant nearby. If the passport is “clean”, it will be obvious to the border guard that the person also has a Russian passport, and they will be required to present it.