How to apply for asylum in Russia?

Suppose you want to apply for asylum in Russia, then you should approach FMS. Also, the Federal Migration Service (FMS) is the only body in Russia that handles refugees matter.

To receive refugee status or to get temporary asylum in Russia. However, one has to go through severe bureaucratic producers and substantive investigation.

The Law on Refugees of the Russian Federation determines who is a refugee to seek asylum in the country. As of the end of the year 2006, around 1,020 individuals got their temporary asylum status approved. On the other hand, 405 individuals got full refugee status from the Russian government. However, an estimate suggests that as many as one million “undocumented immigrants” could be awaiting initial access. They are waiting for the initial access to get approved for the Russian soil’s refugee status determination process. The Russian authorities are infamous for refusing refugee status. 

How to apply for asylum in Russia?

Step1: Go to the FMS office. In case you consider yourself as a refugee. Then you should contact the territorial branch of the Russian FMS immediately at the place of residence. Also, you can find the address and other details below. 

Address: 4/1 Ulitsa V.Radishchevskaya( Moscow ),107078

Phone: +7 (495) 698-00-78

Website: http://www.fms.gov.ru

Step2:  Once you are in Russia’s office FMS, you have to tell why you want to leave your country. It is also imperative to tell the clear and correct reason for not returning to your country of origin. However, Russia’s FMS will accept your application for asylum after preliminary review.

Step3: Within 5 days of the preliminary review. Russia’s FMS will decide whether it will accept your asylum application for processing. The Russian territorial branch FMS will also issue a document confirming that you expressed a desire to seek asylum. This document remains valid for 5 days until the preliminary review decision.

Step4: In case your application after full review got accepted. You will have to give a detailed interview on your reasons for fear of return to your home country. Apart from that, you will be asked to produce documentary evidence and route to Russia. You have to give your fingerprint, and all the family members with you will be directed for the obligatory medical examination. The state authorities will cover all expenses incurred for medical examinations.

Some Key Points:

Note: You will be given a professional interpreter for free. In case you don’t understand or speak the Russian Language. Also, in case your application is rejected, you can appeal in court or the higher administrator.

According to a survey in 2007, Russia has the largest number of migrants from Afghanistan. According to Vladimir Rucheikov, head of asylum issues in the Russian Federal Migration Service’s Citizenship Department, over 70% of all submitted applications are directly or indirectly related to Afghans. In addition, the majority of those who actually obtain refugee status are Afghans.

Russia enacted three laws in 1993 to tackle the problem of migration.

• The first law, incorporated under the Constitution of Russia, offers individuals the right to demand political asylum in Russia.
• The second statute, the Forced Migrants Act, dealt with those asylum seekers who were either already Russian citizens or eligible to gain Russian citizenship. These migrants were mostly people living in the republics of the FSU, with or without Russian citizenship, who were compelled, for economic reasons, to migrate to Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Forced Migrants Act allowed these people to travel to Russia freely and lawfully.
• The third statute, the Refugee Act, addressed all asylum seekers from states other than the republics of the former Soviet Union or “far away.” As a matter of fact, the laws enacted in 1993 were intended to give protection to former Soviet citizens first and citizens of all other countries second. In fact, the prevailing understanding of the 1993 Refugee Law was that only asylum seekers from the ‘near abroad’ (former Soviet republics) were to be given refugee status. However, as Russia began to grow in the mid-1990s, large numbers of people fled persecution in many parts of the world. Most of them are from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia saw Russia as a safe place to migrate for different reasons. In response, Russia revised and repealed the Refugee Act of 1993 in 1997. This made the better handle those citizens who have come to Russia in need of international security. 

What about refugee status?

Refugee status is issued more often but is still fairly rare. The Federal Migration Service makes the decision to grant this status following Russia’s Law on Refugees. Russian law defines a refugee as a non-Russian citizen living outside their country of nationality or normal house. This also includes citizens who fear becoming a “victim of persecution due to their race, religion, citizenship, nationality. Sometimes this may also include membership in any particular social group or political belief.” In practice, the process is slow and often unsuccessful, with only a small portion of applicants being granted refugee status in the last five years.

The status is conferred for a period of up to three years, but it is reviewed every year. Refugees have the right to urgent medical assistance, the right to be housed in temporary accommodation, the right to work without a permit, and the right for their children to be educated. They receive almost all the rights of a normal Russian citizen — except for voting rights.

You will get an asylum seeker certificate valid for three months when Russia’s FMS accepts your application. Also, this asylum-seeker certificate is an identity document and proof of your legal stay in Russia.

Snowden applied for temporary asylum. This kind of asylum is equivalent to Europe’s “humanitarian status” and is given out on compassionate grounds. That is to say, if an asylum seeker does not meet the criteria for full refugee status, but cannot be extradited to his country of origin for “humanitarian” reasons, then he is eligible for temporary asylum status. There are many “humanitarian” grounds, such as the risk of a person experiencing inhumane treatment in their country. There were 8,952 applications for temporary asylum in Russian between 2008 and March 1, 2013. The temporary asylum was granted to 5,728 people between 2007 and 2012.

This status allows the bearer to move around Russia without impediment, although there are slight restrictions on where one can live. A person who has been granted temporary asylum is registered to live where he filed his application. In Snowden’s case — which applied to the Moscow Federal Migration Service –he would have to live in Moscow (unless he applied to change the location). The temporary status allows the bearer to work in Russia, which could be good news for Snowden if — and that sometimes seems a big if — his lawyer is to be believed. Lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said on July 24 that Snowden is hoping to learn Russian to work. Snowden would also get the right to basic state medical insurance.

For more such information regarding asylum, the protection you can check on the website.