Russia: Follow-up to RUS32110.E of 15 June 1999 on whether persons who apply for employment (private or state) or a change of residence are required to complete a form in which the ethnicities of the applicants' parents are to be stated (January 1998 - June 1999)
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 June 1999 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | RUS32257.E |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Russia: Follow-up to RUS32110.E of 15 June 1999 on whether persons who apply for employment (private or state) or a change of residence are required to complete a form in which the ethnicities of the applicants' parents are to be stated (January 1998 - June 1999), 1 June 1999, RUS32257.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ab9964.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
In a 17 June 1999 letter sent to the Research Directorate, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Moscow states:
[Are persons who apply for employment (private or state) or to change their residence in Russia required to complete a form in which the ethnicity or nationality of one or both of the applicants' parents is to be stated?]
Changing residence: You don't have (even in Soviet time(at least in 60s- 80s) to state your parents' ethnicity when you change the place of residence.
Employment: I personally never heard anything abut things like that. I talked with several people about it and they all confirmed that you don't have to mention your parents' ethnicity. I also talked with a guy from Russian Foreign Ministry and he said that he never did it himself and he also never heard about it.
There were two important exceptions in Soviet time(first, you had to state your parents' ethnicity when you got a job in the Soviet army, second(when you were going to work abroad....I don't know about regulations in the Russian army now.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
Reference
Human Rights Watch, Moscow. 17 June 1999. Letter sent to the Research Directorate by the deputy director.