The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported an increase in the number of foreign passports issued to Russians by 19.1% over the year

In January–October in Russia, the number of issued foreign passports increased by 19.1%, from 4.1 million to 4.9 million, follows from the analytical report of the Main Directorate for Migration Issues of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, which is cited by Interfax. Most often, Russians issued foreign passports for a period of five years. Their number over ten months increased by 108.4%, from 1.4 million to 3 million.

At the same time, from the materials of the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it follows that from January to October the number of government services for issuing foreign passports with a 10-year validity period decreased by 29.4%, from 2.7 million to 1.9 million. The department explained , that this is due to the temporary cessation of issuing new generation passports in February-May 2023.

The number of services for issuing and replacing internal passports in January–October increased by 30.3%, from 6.2 million to 8 million. The figures increased due to requests from residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

At the beginning of February 2023, Gosuslugi stopped accepting applications for new Russian foreign passports. Goznak reported that problems with the issuance and production of new documents arose due to a lack of necessary microcircuits. Acceptance of applications for international passports with electronic storage media was resumed on June 1. In November the Ministry of Industry and Trade statedthat such shortages are no longer expected.

Read more about the chip shortage at the beginning of the year in the Kommersant article. “Passports don’t have enough chips”.

Milena Kostereva