Hello Alexander,   
      
   AK>An essay about Love, State and humanity.   
      
   What the world needs now, is love, sweet love...   
      
   AK>Why did I start to think of it? Here is a real story that has been   
   AK>going on in Russia. Persons in action: Julia - a woman in her   
   AK>thirtieths and her under age son Leo. Julia immigrated from Russia   
   AK>to the US long ago and became an American citizen. Leo was born in   
   AK>America, and he is an American citizen from birth.   
      
   America is a land of immigrants.   
      
   AK>Julia had her Russian foreign passport - the only thing that   
   AK>connects her with the country she left almost fifteen years ago.   
   AK>Many Russians prefer to keep it, even if they become citizens of the   
   AK>US, because the procedure of leaving from the Russian citizenship is   
   AK>very long, tricky and expensive. The US does not recognize double   
   AK>citizenship, but does not demand from its people to refuse from   
   AK>their former citizenship if they have one.   
      
   Actually, the US does recognize dual citizenship.  But only for those   
   from two other countries - Vatican City and Israel.  Along with those   
   who marry into the Kennedy clan - such as disgraced Austrian movie star   
   Arnold Shwarzenegger (thanks to an Act of Congress granting him US   
   citizenship).   
      
   But here's the kicker, and where your story completely falls apart.   
   You mentioned in your essay "...but does not demand from its people   
   to refuse from their former citizenship if they have one."   
      
   Here is the full text of the oath of citizenship -   
      
   "I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and   
   abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate,   
   state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject   
   or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of   
   the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic;   
   that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear   
   arms on behalf of the United Staes when required by law; that I will   
   perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States   
   when required by the law; that I will perform work of national   
   importnance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that   
   I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose   
   of evasion; so help me God.  In acknowledgment whereof I have herunto   
   afffixed my signature."   
      
   That is the oath that every immigrant who wants to become a citizen   
   of the United States must take.  Now compare this oath of citizenship   
   with the oath that immigrants wanting to become citizens of Russia   
   must take.  :)   
      
   AK>The Russian passport expired, but Julia had no time to renew   
   AK>it in San-Francisco where the nearest Russian consulate was.   
      
   RED FLAG ALERT! RED FLAG ALERT! RED FLAG ALERT! RED FLAG ALERT!   
      
   Julia was no longer a Russian citizen!   
   No American citizen can travel on a Russian passport,   
   even if that Russian passport had not expired!   
   Even if Julia still been a Russian citizen, the   
   Russian passport she had was expired and no longer valid!   
      
   AK>But when she was making the Russian visa for her son,   
      
   RED FLAG ALERT! RED FLAG ALERT! RED FLAG ALERT! RED FLAG ALERT!   
      
   No private citizen can make a visa for a child, or even for   
   another adult!  Only governments can do that!  And then only   
   for its own citizens, not the citizens of other countries!   
      
   AK>she was told in the Russian consulate that she could visit   
   AK>Russia with her present document without trouble. Was it an   
   AK>accidental error, I don't know.   
      
   Traveling on a US passport would have been no problem for Julia.   
   Traveling on a US passport would have been no problem for her son.   
   So why did Julia need an expired Russian passport?   
      
   AK>So she went. Nobody said a word when she entered. She spent in   
   AK>Russia three weeks, said good bye to her relatives and went to the   
   AK>airport to fly back home, to the US. That day was ill luck. First   
   AK>they found that her luggage exceeded the allowed limit by 2   
   AK>kilograms, and they demanded 70 dollars for overweight. The luggage   
   AK>was unpacked and lightened. But the worst was ahead. When she was   
   AK>asked for the passport she gave her American passport and then   
   AK>Russian one, as she entered Russia with it, as a Russian citizen. In   
   AK>this place the fact of passport expiration was revealed and Julia   
   AK>got into hot water.   
      
   An American stranded in Russia.  Only because she forgot to take   
   her US passport with her...   
      
   AK>First she was fined. But, probably, it was enough. She was banned   
   AK>from living Russia, and although it was possible to settle the   
   AK>matter at Sheremetyevo airport or in a Russian consulate in the US,   
   AK>she was told to return to Moscow and make the new foreign Russian   
   AK>passport. When she came to the Moscow's FMS (Federal migration   
   AK>service) department, she was told that before she can apply for a   
   AK>foreign Russian passport she must do an internal Russian passport.   
   AK>And the ready time for both documents are up to 4-6 months. Besides,   
   AK>she had to go to another Russian town (where she had lived in 20   
   AK>years ago) and get notary's certificate of her birth in Russia (the   
   AK>original one remained in her home in the US).   
      
   She's lucky those pesky Russians didn't send her to a gulag.  :)   
      
   AK>Everywhere she was brutally kicked and mocked. She could spend three   
   AK>hour in a queue and then hear a brutal refuse and nonwillingness to   
   AK>solve her problem. When she came to the Russian Ministry of Foreign   
   AK>Affairs she was told that she is a Russian citizen and she must put   
   AK>her US passport in place that cannot be named here, probably venting   
   AK>on the poor woman and her son all the hatred they had against the US.   
      
   On second thought, maybe they did...   
      
   AK>The US embassy also refused to help her, pretending that if she went   
   AK>in with Russian passport she cannot wait any help from the American   
   AK>embassy. They refused to make even a single phone call to request   
   AK>for speeding up the documents making. It is an interesting   
   AK>position. The US does not recognize her Russian citizenship, and   
   AK>actually refused to count her as a real American citizen, too.   
      
   I can't say I blame them.  After all, she did break her oath...   
      
   AK>Julia's under age son was born in the US, and entered Russia with   
   AK>Russian visa in his US passport. This visa should get expired in a   
   AK>few days. Julia was forced to buy a ticket for her son and send him   
   AK>alone to the US (he had to change planes during this trip). Probably   
   AK>parents will understand what did she feel during his trip.   
      
   Her son can thank the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution,   
   making him a naturalized citizen, not having to take the oath   
   of citizenship like his stranded mother.   
      
   AK>Days have been passing along. The only progress Julia could get is   
   AK>the agreement that her foreign passport will be made in several   
   AK>months without obtaining an internal Russian passport. When she   
   AK>asked for forms to fill she was told that they had not any and they   
   AK>could not help her to fill them. They mockingly advised her to buy   
   AK>printers and, better, to buy a dirigible for flying from Russia.   
   AK>Both Julia and her mother who helps her as she only could started   
   AK>smoking again after giving up this habit several years ago.   
      
   Russian cigarettes.  The most god-awful things I ever tried   
   to smoke.  Met some Russian sailors in New Orleans years ago.   
   Traded them one pack of non-filter Camels for two packs of   
   Russian cigarettes.  I almost died gagging.  They almost died   
   laughing their heads off.   
      
   AK>In this way Julia lives in Moscow now, without her son, without real   
   AK>documents (her US passport is not a real document in Russia),   
   AK>without possibility to participate in her family business where she   
   AK>is the book- keeper. Nobody can help, and probably she will live   
   AK>limbo for months.   
      
   Not if she keeps smoking those Russian cigarettes...   
      
   AK>How cruel is this world, however.   
      
   She could have been stranded in worse places.  Like Siberia.  :)   
      
   AK>Maybe somebody will say something helpful?   
      
   I should have given those Russian sailors a pack of Picayunes   
   rather than Camels.  Picayunes are made with cigar tobacco grown   
   in Luling, Louisiana and are not meant to be inhaled.  :)   
      
   --Lee   
      
   --- MesNews/1.06.00.00-gb   
    * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)