SIMPLIFICATION OF ACQUISITION OF CITIZENSHIP OF UKRAINE BY CERTAIN CATEGORIES OF PERSONS

Obtaining Ukrainian citizenship by foreigners is one of the most popular services that non-residents want to receive. At the same time, this is one of the most difficult procedures, since at least it requires the existence of grounds for such an acquisition.

In previous articles, we have already talked about the grounds for acquiring citizenship of Ukraine. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Parliament was adopted, and the President signed the Law of Ukraine № 5630 dated 07.06.2021, which amends the Law “On Citizenship of Ukraine”. The law is aimed at simplifying the procedure for acquiring citizenship of Ukraine by foreigners and stateless persons who participated in the protection of the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine. This Law also applies to persons who are Russian citizens and who have been persecuted because of their own political and ideological views and beliefs.

Simplification of the procedure for acquiring citizenship applies to the following categories of persons:

• persons who have undergone or are undergoing a contract form of military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine;
• persons carrying out military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a Ukrainian state award;
• persons with outstanding services to the state;
• the admission of a person to citizenship is of public interest;
• foreigners specified in part 20 of article 4 of the Law of Ukraine "On the legal status of foreigners and stateless persons";
• persons subjected to political persecution in the aggressor state.

The law applies only to military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, the protection of territorial integrity is also carried out by the National Guard and the Security Service. Therefore, you need to pay attention to this nuance.

The law regulates the issue of filing a declaration of renunciation of foreign citizenship for such categories of persons. A declaration is a document in which a foreigner testifies to his renunciation of citizenship (nationality) of another state or other states.

The declaration in accordance with legislative changes is submitted together with an application for admission to the citizenship of Ukraine. That is, in fact, such legislative changes expand the list of grounds on which foreigners can obtain Ukrainian citizenship. Along with this, in our opinion, this will not simplify the procedure for acquiring it. In any case, this will take a significant amount of time and requires accuracy in the formalities of filling out documents and administrative procedures.

In addition, attention should be paid to the final and transitional provisions of the adopted Law, since it contains references to events and facts of the past. Thus, the right to file a declaration of renunciation of foreign citizenship is given to persons who acquired Ukrainian citizenship from 01/01/2018 before the entry into force of the adopted Law.

In our opinion, the innovation will entail, at the first stages, the complexity of their practical implementation. Therefore, we recommend that you seek qualified legal assistance throughout the entire period of obtaining Ukrainian citizenship.

The law firm "Prikhodko and Partners" has solved hundreds of cases in the field of migration law over the years of its existence in the legal services market. Please contact our experts to solve any problem.