St Petersburg with Russian born children???

[herdadditions]

We are doing a Northern European cruise next summer. My children are American citizens with American passports. However since they were born in Russia they are also Russian citizens. They do not have Russian passports or any realistic way to get them.
No official site is clear about if they are okay as long as we stay on a dcl excursion.
Do they check passports when you get on or off the ship? Anybody else traveled with Russian born children?

 

[SleepyDeb]

I suggest running this by the State Dept. That may be overkill, but worth finding out what they think. With Putin, who knows what they are doing these days.

 

[EllinK]

I was in your shoes last year. Couldn't get a straight answer. The company we used in StP (not DCL) said it would not be a problem and it wasn't. Yes, they definitely check passports carefully every time you leave the ship. My son's says he was born in Russia but there was no issue. We used SPB tours and had a great experience.

 

[bumbershoot]

Since they don't have Russian passports, how would they know that they are also Russian citizens? Or is it the place of birth part on the passport?

http://www.sras.org/guides_dual_citizens Not sure if that site is any good, but....

It talks about people who leave Russia since '92 still being citizens, unless they've done something to renounce the citizenship. Also...

"Russia does require their citizens, including those holding dual citizenship, to enter Russia on the basis of a Russian passport. Russian citizens may not receive a student (or any other) visa. It is illegal for a Russian citizen to enter Russia on a visa."

That's a bit disturbing.


http://www.russianembassy.org/page/...ular-division-of-embassy-of-the-russian-feder

Interesting info there.

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

Since they have American Passports, then it's a non-issue. I was born in Germany, and it states it on my Passport, but no one has ever asked me about it, not even when I went to Germany. I think most agencies assume if you were able to get the US Passport, then that's all that matters and you have been thoroughly checked out.

 

[SleepyDeb]

Since they have American Passports, then it's a non-issue. I was born in Germany, and it states it on my Passport, but no one has ever asked me about it, not even when I went to Germany. I think most agencies assume if you were able to get the US Passport, then that's all that matters and you have been thoroughly checked out.

Germany is a democratic nation and friendly to the US. Russia is neither. Russia also recently had an adoption ban to the US because they were pissed at us (don't know if that is lifted or not). It is not the same as Germany. Also, passports do list country of birth.

Check it out with people who know this stuff, the State Department. Way too important to rely on the opinions of strangers on the Internet.

 

[MUN]

We are doing a Northern European cruise next summer. My children are American citizens with American passports. However since they were born in Russia they are also Russian citizens. They do not have Russian passports or any realistic way to get them.
No official site is clear about if they are okay as long as we stay on a dcl excursion.
Do they check passports when you get on or off the ship? Anybody else traveled with Russian born children?

Do you think the Russian authorities will take your children from you?

 

[lanejudy]

Do you think the Russian authorities will take your children from you?

I think OP's concern is related to what bumbershoot posted:

http://www.sras.org/guides_dual_citizens
"Russia does require their citizens, including those holding dual citizenship, to enter Russia on the basis of a Russian passport. Russian citizens may not receive a student (or any other) visa. It is illegal for a Russian citizen to enter Russia on a visa."

That's a bit disturbing.

Mostly likely the concern is that either the children won't be allowed to exit the ship in Russia for excursions, or possibly be denied boarding the cruise at embarkation if they don't have proper credentials to enter any given port country on the itinerary.


OP -- I don't have any advice or experience. I recommend you speak with a government official, possibly someone who was involved with the adoption, or maybe a lawyer who handles international issues and citizenship. Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

 

[southerngirl528]

I'm with the others posters, OP. It is too important a question to not be answered by the proper authorities. Good to hear that EllinK has had a similar experience though. Please do come back and inform all of us on what the gov't official(s) said.

 

[texas disney mom]

Not to be paranoid, but I would not get off the ship at that one port. It sounds like the chances of something going wrong are incredibly slim, but as someone who has had to deal with immigration before, I can tell you it is very scary. They detain first, then ask questions. (US immigration.) I can tell you also that you will not get a straight answer about what to do ahead of time because immigration law is vague and used anyway they want to. As another example, we got off a cruise ship at miami last year and the us/ immigration guy. Not even sure what he was. Quizzed my american citizen five year old about his full name and birth date. Well he choked. And didnt give the right answers. And the guy was very nasty and suspicious with us and proceeded to ask us a lot of questions. Started quizzing older children, etc.

 

[Little Doe]

We had a missionary friend that adopted two Russian boys. The family went back to Russia on missionary trips until the boys because of military age in Russia. The were told that the Russian govt could make the boys serve in the Russian army if they went back. The boys had American passports. Just saying this for the time when your children are older. I can get in touch with my friend if you would like some info ( having gone through going to Russia with the boys when they were younger.)

 

[EllinK]

We had all the concerns that people have posted here. I checked with the people who were handling our visa (the tour agency) and they said there would be no problem. I probably wouldn't have had the confidence to go ahead but I posted here and someone who had traveled with their child the previous year told me traveling with the American passport would not be a problem and she was right -- it was a non issue. For us staying on the ship wasn't really a viable option -- the main reason we booked that cruise was to take our son back to Russia. If OP is planning on using DCL for touring in St P, I would check with them.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

We visited St. Petersburg last summer on DCL for two days and I found the passport control very intimidating. I have a special needs son, and I was worried he would say or do something "weird." Disney does not and cannot help you through this process. We were totally on our own. Usually I try to explain the situation, but that wasn't possible. They told us not to speak to them unless spoken to and to look straight ahead and not smile. We had to go through passport control each time we left the ship and came back on. Of the six times we went through 2 or 3 were really long waits (including one late night one). Only once did we go through relatively quickly. A couple of our control officers were quite grim (to put it mildly). My point is that these are not the people you want to have any problems with--as others have recommended, I would check with US immigration and be very clear about the issues/risk.

 

[MUN]

Not to be paranoid, but I would not get off the ship at that one port. It sounds like the chances of something going wrong are incredibly slim, but as someone who has had to deal with immigration before, I can tell you it is very scary. They detain first, then ask questions. (US immigration.) I can tell you also that you will not get a straight answer about what to do ahead of time because immigration law is vague and used anyway they want to. As another example, we got off a cruise ship at miami last year and the us/ immigration guy. Not even sure what he was. Quizzed my american citizen five year old about his full name and birth date. Well he choked. And didnt give the right answers. And the guy was very nasty and suspicious with us and proceeded to ask us a lot of questions. Started quizzing older children, etc.

Crazy!!!

MUN

 

[LeslieG]

I certainly don't mean to hijack the OP's thread, but we are also booked on this cruise next year. Is anyone else having second thoughts because of the increasing tension between the US and Russia? If tensions continue to worsen, I suppose DCL could even remove this as a port stop?

 

[SillyInventor]

If tensions continue to worsen, I suppose DCL could even remove this as a port stop?

Yes. If DCL considers the situation to be unsafe then the port will be skipped. Last year Puerto Vallarta (Mexico) was skipped due to "civil unrest" and replaced with a sea day: http://disneycruiselineblog.com/201...llarta-due-to-unrest-in-the-surrounding-area/

But even if DCL considers this to be a "safe" stop you should still be careful and not make jokes to Russian border officers or get into conflict with Russian police.
Let this precaution not spoil the fun of visiting a beautiful city. Enjoy your cruise.

 

[jenmiller114]

Yes. If DCL considers the situation to be unsafe then the port will be skipped. Last year Puerto Vallarta (Mexico) was skipped due to "civil unrest" and replaced with a sea day: http://disneycruiselineblog.com/201...llarta-due-to-unrest-in-the-surrounding-area/

Just to add to this... we were supposed to sail to Mazatlan a couple years ago and they made the decision to make a second stop at Cabo instead. I believe they had made this decision a week or two before we sailed but did not tell us until we checked in the for the cruise. The only reason I knew in advance was because I saw it here on the boards. I asked my TA and she did not know about it either. So they very well could do that and it's possible it could be a last minute decision and you won't even know until you show up for your cruise.

To OP, I am curious to know what you find out. A good friend of mine adopted her daughter from Russia and she would like to do this itinerary at some point and she had similar concerns. Would love to be able to share your experience with her.

Jennifer

 

[wilkeliza]

Yes. If DCL considers the situation to be unsafe then the port will be skipped. Last year Puerto Vallarta (Mexico) was skipped due to "civil unrest" and replaced with a sea day: http://disneycruiselineblog.com/201...llarta-due-to-unrest-in-the-surrounding-area/

But even if DCL considers this to be a "safe" stop you should still be careful and not make jokes to Russian border officers or get into conflict with Russian police.
Let this precaution not spoil the fun of visiting a beautiful city. Enjoy your cruise.

For awhile DCL was just stopping in port but not letting anyone off in Russia. I believe Russia gave DCL the okay to fuel and get supplies but didn't want anyone off the boat. It was right after the ban on being gay was passed.

 

[herdadditions]

The issue to this point is we can't get a strait answer.
The Russian consulate keeps directing us to the website. A website that as others posted addresses cruise passengers and Russian born travelers but not Russian born cruise passengers. It is very gray.
Same thing with the US state department. They just keep repeating the very unclear regs followed by.... "If they are Russian citizens they are bound by Russian law" at which point I explain they have dual citizenship and the confusion starts again.

And yes poster who asked about my children being removed..... We are going because my children really want to see their birth country but as someone whom has pled their case to Russian judges for each child, had paper work rejected because the ribbons from the attorney general were attached incorrectly and days and weeks added to our quest over trivial issues. On and on. I know who is in charge in Russia and it is not me. I will follow the letter of the law if at all possible.

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

I have travelled to St Petersburg with DCL on two cruises both for two days, and been through passport control there eight times. Each one the transit through immigration was no more then two minutes. We did book private tours with Anastasia direct who handled our immigration tickets so no visa was required and we avoided going off on DCL tours where you nay encounter some delays if say fifty off people get off for a coach at a time, maybe two or three coaches.

DCL has NEVER stopped any scheduled disembarkation in St Petersburg, there is always some who say they may cancel, well I have been there in times of tension like Crimea, and they didn't have an issue then.

If you want to spend ( quote from someone's trip report this year) eleven hours looking at the inside of a bus, book a tour with DCL.

If you want a fantastic time contact Anastasia, tell them Andrew said their the best, and either Katherine or the CEO Anastasia will look after you personally. Anastasia herself met me going out and coming back each day, our guide was Russia's best, and we were spoilt. We were let off early, DCL tend to tell you a disembarkation time but arrive a bit earlier to get their tours off, but whilst we were early the Anastasia team were waiting for us. If you book with them, ask them any passport worries and they will sort it all out for you.

It's a fantastic place, you can either see all the sights or spend eleven hours looking at the inside of a bus. If you want navigators and photos and links see my trip report or blog, To Russia with Mickey Bars posted live on this years 12 night cruise.

If going to St Petersburg the must sees are.
Peterhof gardens. After 10 am.
Hermitage, DCL goes in, in 55s through the busy front entrance with long queues on whisper system. Anastasia goes in a back entrance VIP tickets just your group. No queues, no waiting.
Faberge Museum.
Catherine's palace, Anastasia avoided the crowds for us, not always possible.
St Isaac's cathedral .

We flew over St Petersburg by helicopter, video link in the blog.