[ddahl]

How long is the Russian passport good for?I know! Silly! but someone posted that it has to be renewed... Thanks for indulging me :-).. Oh, I guess I could unpack it and see myself.... but if anyone knows umm that would be good..

[MominPA]

It is 5 years.

It doesn't need to be renewed unless you are planning on going back to Russia. My oldesnt son's passport was expired for two years when we had his renewed since he was making a trip to Russia with us when we adopted our second child. We were not questioned why we let it expired. We did get his old passport back. They just punch a hole through it.

We do keep plan on keeping our kids US passports current.

[kretzklan]

Wow - Elissa - that's the first I'd heard that it didn't need to be renewed. At the US embassey appointment they made a BIG deal about keeping their Russian passports up-to-date until their 18th birthdays. It would be very nice to not have to mess with that!

[MominPA]

Originally Posted by kretzklan

Wow - Elissa - that's the first I'd heard that it didn't need to be renewed. At the US embassey appointment they made a BIG deal about keeping their Russian passports up-to-date until their 18th birthdays. It would be very nice to not have to mess with that!

I don't recall hearing that. I do recall telling us that we did need to register our child with the Russian consulate and keep that information up to date when we adopted our second child. Also, that we should apply for a US passport and keep that current.

When we updated our oldest son's passport we also had to register him too since it was not required at the time when we adopted him.

We did this in person at the Russian consulate office in NYC. We had an expired passport and a child that wasn't registered. They didn't question us why. They just told us that if we moved we needed to provide them with our new address for the registration. They didn't tell us that we had to keep his passport current, but said if we are going to travel to Russia he has to do it on his Russian passport.

[waitinginnj]

I was told about keeping the address current, but never about having to keep the Russian passport current. I have no plans on doing so - just an expense that I don't plan on incurring as we have no plans on returning to Russia. And if we did, it would require another update, as we are not going in the next 5 years - especially with the instability over there.

[kretzklan]

Very cool - I won't mess with it either!

[verukasalt]

We were told there would be no reason to use the Russian passport again. We have no plans to use it for anything other than a scrapbook item. Our son is an American and will travel on an American passport if we should go anywhere including Russia....

[MominPA]

Originally Posted by verukasalt

We were told there would be no reason to use the Russian passport again. We have no plans to use it for anything other than a scrapbook item. Our son is an American and will travel on an American passport if we should go anywhere including Russia....

The Russian consulate will not issue a visa for your child since your child in Russia's eyes is a citizen.

Your son's US passport it indicates his place of birth as Russia. Once your son is 18 he can renounce his Russian citizenship.

For your son to travel to Russia he would need to enter Russia on his Russian passport and when he leaves Russia you would need to show his Russian and US passport since his Russian passport would not have a visa to enter the US. Once you land in the US you would only need to show his US passport.

This is what we needed to do. We also carried a copy of our son's Russian birth certificate, adoption decree and court documents with us, but they were not asked for.

Beside traveling to Russia, we only use our sons' US passport.

[SingleMama2B]

HOme in January 2005... I was told to make any 'updates' with the Russian Embassy in NYC - i.e. address change, etc. I have done this, as we have moved once since DD is home. It honestly was a real pain, as the form(s) online (their forms), where old, and they didn't know what to do with them..... I then told them ALL of her info. and mine, date of adoption, court date, etc. and told basically told them that I gave them the information, and they can do with it what they want! It was a pain, but I had promised, and I kept it. My DD's passport (Russian) was only good (for re-entry to Russia) for 6 months after coming home. No one said anything about getting it renewed, but I had heard it is every 5 years since children grow and change so much. I will eventually get her an American Passport, but we are not planning any large travel for a long time. We have tooooo much of the US still to see "" !!!