Recently, I traveled to Novosibirsk City of the Russian Federation (RF) as an expert to deliver lectures on Integrity and Anti-Corruption issues. There the officers of passport control service at “Tolmachovo” airport at my arrival as well as at the departure, in a very unfriendly manner requested to show the Russian translation of RA citizen’s passport. In Yerevan I tried to find out whether that demand of the Russian border officers was legitimate.
As a result of my studies, I found out that according to the RF Law all documents provided or issued outside of the Russian Federation are legally valid only in case if they are translated into the Russian language. This is motivated with the fact that the relevant public authorities may not have specialists speaking in all foreign languages. In practice, many foreigners in Russia complain that their names are written or spelt wrongly in Russian language, in addition the name of the towns are also wrong, etc. As a result of incorrect translation the work permit, the immigration card and other important documents are considered invalid. Thus, it appears that the notarized translation of the passport is of extreme necessity, without which a person in Russia, especially in case of a long stay causes complications.
In some post soviet countries the documents are provided in Russian language as well. For example, the official language of Kyrgyzstan is Kirghiz, whereas Russian is the official language. And here a question may arise as to why such documents are needed to be translated. The reason is that in fact those foreign national documents in addition to the records also have the seals, stamps and other notes that are in the national language of that state. That’s why the Russian translation is needed. In order to put other seals, stamps, and for verification of their legality and identification the notarized translation is necessary. From the aspect of formulation of rules, all the notes, stamps, seals and signatures are subject to translation.
The Russian legislation does not provide responsibility for the absence of the Russian translation of the passport. On those grounds, the person cannot be forbidden to enter or leave the territory of the Russian Federation.
Marat Arovmyan,
Advocate, Member of Board of the “Armenian Young Lawyers Association” NGO
