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Putin signs law banning Russian citizenship for foreigners deported from Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law expanding the list of grounds for rejection of the application of a foreign citizen for Russian citizenship
AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service
AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service

MOSCOW, November 4 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law expanding the list of grounds for rejection of the application of a foreign citizen for Russian citizenship or for restoration of previous Russian citizenship. The document was published on Sunday on the official web portal of legal information.

The law, passed by the State Duma lower house of parliament on October 25 and approved by the Federation Council upper house on October 30, sets a ban on getting Russian citizenship and its restoration by persons who “were subjected to administrative expulsion from the Russian Federation, deported or sent to a foreign state in accordance with international treaties of the Russian Federation on readmission, as well as in connection with a decision on undesirability of their stay (residence) in the Russian Federation.”

According to the legislation in effect, persons expelled from the Russian Federation, over the next five years do not have the right to apply for Russian citizenship. However, at present the categories of persons who were deported or readmission was applied to them under international agreements, have the right to go abroad and immediately submit an application at the consular office in their home country. The new law is t close this gap.

According to the Federal Migration Service (FMS), over the past year alone, readmission has been applied to about 800 people under international agreements, and about 2 thousand people have been deported. In 2011-2012, about 100 thousand foreign citizens got Russian citizenship, applying for it abroad.