Follow Us on Google News
Russian government has announced a relaxation in regulations regarding citizenship applications from foreign nationals, permitting the wearing of headscarves and hijabs in passport photographs, the Russian Interior Ministry said.
The new law, scheduled to take effect on May 5, will come into force ten days after its publication, as reported by Russia Today. According to the document, “In cases where an applicant’s religious beliefs require them to wear a head covering in the presence of strangers, photographs may be submitted with appropriate head coverings that do not obscure the facial features.”
However, the report specifies that images with scarves fully or partially concealing the applicant’s chin will not be accepted. Notably, Russian citizens have already been allowed to wear hijabs in photographs for passport applications, driver’s licenses, work permits, and patents.
The intention behind this initiative is to “accommodate the religious practices of believers” while maintaining “state security,” given that “facial features, like other data, are necessary for video surveillance systems to identify individuals,” as highlighted by Biysultan Khamzaev, a member of the State Duma Security and Anti-Corruption Committee, in the Russian Parliamentary Gazette.
During the Soviet era, passport photographs were taken without head coverings. However, after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, Muslim women began wearing hijabs in photographs until the practice was banned in 1997. This ban was later overturned by the Russian Supreme Court in 2003. Under the laws of 2021, an amendment to passport requirements allows individuals who are unable to remove their religious head covering to submit photos with it on.