The Cabinet of Ministers supported the annulment of temporary residence in the Russian Federation in case of a fictitious marriage

The Russian government has approved a response to a bill designed to eliminate the possibility of using fictitious marriages and fictitious establishment of paternity to illegally obtain migration status for foreigners in the Russian Federation. Vedomosti has reviewed the document.

The initiative of senators Yuri Valyaev and Irina Rukavishnikova (the project has not yet been submitted to the Duma) amends the law “On the legal status of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation” in terms of establishing additional conditions for a simplified procedure for receiving foreigners who are married to a Russian citizen or have children who are Russian citizens. , rights to reside in the Russian Federation.

Art. is proposed. 7 of the law should be supplemented with a rule according to which a temporary residence permit is canceled if a foreigner received this permit on the basis of having a son or daughter, citizens of Russia and permanently residing in the Russian Federation, but was deprived of parental rights by a court decision or the adoption was canceled.

The terminology used in the bill does not take into account that an adopted child is recognized as a son or daughter only if the adoptive parent is recorded as the parent of the adopted child in the birth record, the government’s response notes. The bill should establish that a temporary residence permit and residence permit previously issued to a foreign citizen are canceled only if the marriage is declared invalid, the Cabinet of Ministers indicates, adding that it supports the initiative taking into account the comments.

Pavel Sklyanchuk, a member of the presidium of the all-Russian public organization “Union of Fathers”, believes that the bill fits into the mainstream of tightening migration policy. “In 2022, about 400 marriages were recognized as fictitious. There are advertisements on the Internet that offer the “service” of marriage for citizenship from 50,000 to 300,000 rubles. or establishing the fact of paternity. But the bill is half-hearted, it is necessary to adopt foreign experience and introduce commissions that will monitor families with a foreigner who have decided to get married,” Sklyanchuk noted.

In January 2023, the official representative of the department, Irina Volk, reported to TASS that the Ministry of Internal Affairs was preparing a bill that would eliminate the possibility of legalizing the status of migrants through fictitious marriages and fictitious establishment of paternity. According to her data, over the 11 months of 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs made about 400 decisions to cancel permits previously issued to foreign citizens to reside in Russia after marriage with Russian citizens was declared invalid. Currently, legislation allows foreigners to apply for simplified admission to Russian citizenship if they have been married to a Russian citizen for at least three years, as well as if there is a common child in the family.

In March 2023, the Legislative Assembly of the Kaluga Region introduced a bill to the State Duma specifying the concept of “forged documents or knowingly false information,” which are grounds for canceling the decision to acquire Russian citizenship. Such information is proposed to include a fictitious marriage. In May, the legal department prepared a conclusion according to which “it is necessary to take into account that this law is no longer in force due to the adoption of the law “On Citizenship of the Russian Federation.”