SECOND CITIZENSHIP OR DUAL?

Ukrainians do not quite understand the issue of second or dual citizenship. At the same time, the resonant news about the highest ranks of the state, which have legal ties with other countries, has always aroused public interest. 

First of all, you need to draw a clear line of demarcation between dual and second citizenship, as these are different concepts. 

Dual citizenship occurs when an agreement on mutual recognition of citizenship, that is, on dual citizenship, is concluded between specific countries. In this case, a person who has dual citizenship, or apatride, can choose which country to serve in the army for, pay taxes and perform other duties. At the same time, in another country of citizenship he is exempted from similar duties. This is due to the fact that both countries mutually recognize that they can have legal relations with a person both with their own citizen and with a citizen of another country. Unfortunately, Ukraine is not a member of such agreements with any state in the world. By the way, in order to conclude such agreements, it is not even necessary to amend the Constitution of Ukraine, namely, Article 4, which is often advocated by supporters of one single citizenship and which reads “There is a single citizenship in Ukraine”. For example, in the United States, a person is a state citizen and a citizen of his country at the same time, and the state recognizes legal relations with him both in the guise of a state citizen and in the guise of a citizen of the country. Unified, it’s not the only one, it’s all-Ukrainian, it means that in our country there are no passports of administrative-territorial units, this clarification is contained in Art. 2 of the Law of Ukraine "On Citizenship". That is, in the article of the Constitution the unitary form of the administrative-territorial structure of Ukraine is most likely fixed, rather than one single (not mean single) citizenship. Thus, the Constitution makes dual citizenship impossible. But now let's talk about the second citizenship.

The presence of a second citizenship does not imply that Ukraine recognizes its citizen as a filed in another country. A citizen of Ukraine acquiring citizenship of another state or states, in legal relations with Ukraine is recognized only as a citizen of Ukraine. It is recognized as a citizen of Ukraine, only means that it is not recognized as a citizen of another country. This situation indicates that you can have a second citizenship. The proof of this is also found in Art. 2 of the Law of Ukraine "On Citizenship". For example, a Ukrainian with a passport of Ukraine and Israel in Ukraine will be recognized only as a citizen of Ukraine, in Israel - only as a citizen of Israel. As we see, there is no prohibition in the relevant articles of laws and the Constitution.

The laws do not provide for penalties in the form of fines or in other forms for the presence of a second passport, and the citizen's obligations to notify state authorities of its availability are also not fixed. Thus, since only the notification of state bodies is the reason for termination of citizenship of Ukraine, the chance that government agencies will find out about your second passport is very low and this will happen only if you yourself demonstrate it, or the latter make a request to another country, which is even more unlikely. In addition, for example, Hungary does not give out information about its citizens and this is not the only country of its kind. 

The issue of second citizenship remains unresolved due to the lack of mechanisms for automatic notification and deprivation of citizenship. And the issue of dual citizenship is simply not formally fixed.

And once again for a clear distinction: a country considers its citizen only to be its filed - the concept of exclusively second citizenship is applicable; a country recognizes its citizen as a filed of another state - dual citizenship.