The time came for Maxim to get his citizenship. I was trying to delay this moment as much as I could. I am waiting for the news from my Cyprus citizenship case that is in processing for more than two years now. And, naturally, I was hoping to get the Cypriot citizenship and pass it on to Maxim.
Unfortunately, it can’t wait no more and we have to arrange for the Russian citizenship for him too.
For this, I gathered some preliminary information about all the paperwork that I had to do and headed of to Russian Council in Nicosia.
Usually, the queue to the Council is earily-coming and long-standing, so to improve your chances you have to come there before the place is even open at 9:00am. Add the time for the road – about 1 hour. And the time that is needed to get the act together with the small child – another hour. So, my alarm clock was set for 7:00am.
Somehow I didn’t hear it. Olga did, but she didn’t manage to wake me up properly before she fell asleep again. So we woke up at 8:15am. I was worried that we would be very late and that our trip will be a waste of time, but we decided to go anyway.
When we arrived to the Council, there was no queue what-so-ever. I went straight in. Probably this has something to do with the winter time. Who knows…
Anyway, I didn’t expect much. Chances were that I would be sent off with some missing form or paper. And indeed I was. Here is the complete list of papers that is needed:
- Father’s passport
- Mother’s passport
- Child’s birth certificate.
- Translation of child’s birth certificate to Russian language.
- Certification of both papers with certification officer.
- Certification of translation with Ministry of Law (?)
- Filled application. You can get a blank one in the Council.
There is no need for kid’s photographs if he/she is under 2 years old. Both parents must be present when applying for the kid’s citizenship as they need to sign the form in the presence of the Council.
There is also a difference in procedures if one of the parents does not have a Russian citizenship. I don’t know what exactly is the difference, I was just told there is one.
I’ll be looking someone to do the certified translation and then I’ll go back for another try…