Hi all! Привет!
I wanted to write to you about my experience renewing my Russian passport last week at the Russian Consulate General in New York city.
My first experience going to the consulate last year wasn't as easy as this past week's visit. I sat inside the consulate last summer watching this woman play with her hair for about forty-five minutes until she told me the paperwork was complete. Now I understand their was a lot of work that needed to be done. The Russian government had to confirm with Moscow that I was still a citizen, however I was never registered at any consulate and my old USSR passport was never renewed. This made the process much more challenging. However, after that long appointment I was out there with a slip of paper telling me to come back in three months to get my new passport.
Anyways, last week I was down to NY with my mother Cheryl to pickup my passport. We approached the consulate and I spoke in Russian to the consular officer outside behind the gates to tell him my business. He looked at me and simply replied, "линия (line)."
I was confused first, because the line was only for Americans getting Visas. But, I did not want to ask more questions so we waited in line for about fifteen minutes. The consular officer came out every ten minutes or so to let more Russians into the building. Next time he came out he told me to move and come in. As I started to walk in he stopped my mother and turned to me and asked, "Это твоя мама (is this your mother)?". I turned around and almost laughed but held it together and simply said Да, моя мама (yes, my mom). We walked in and sat down on pretty comfy seats. A new consular officer came out and collected the Russians passports that needed to be renewed. I was a bit uneasy, because I had a USSR passport and I had no intention of giving it up. After all, it is a piece of history. Before you know it, I heard from one of the speakers yell out "Schunk, Maksim David."
I walked over to one of the consular tables and they slid me my new passport. I signed a log book stating I was there to pick it up and off I went. It was that easy.
On a side note, my passport is valid for only 5 years. The Russian government offers a 10 year new "bio-metric" passport however, when I applied for my passport last summer I was told over and over by the embassy in DC the New York Consulate does not issue 5 year passports. With my luck, when I arrived at the consulate I discovered they were issuing 10 year passports. If only I waited a few months last summer. Oh well.
That is all. Thanks for reading. Bye! До свидания!
