Citizen Of Ukraine
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Ukrainian nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds nationality of
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
. The primary law governing these requirements is the law "On Citizenship of Ukraine", which
came into force In law, coming into force or entry into force (also called commencement) is the process by which legislation, regulations, treaties and other legal instruments come to have legal force and effect. The term is closely related to the date of this ...
on 1 March 2001. Any person born to at least one Ukrainian parent automatically receives Ukrainian citizenship at birth. Foreign nationals may naturalize after legally residing in the country for at least five years, demonstrating proficiency in the
Ukrainian language Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...
, and renouncing any previous nationalities. Ukraine was previously a constituent republic of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and local residents were Soviet citizens. Following the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
in 1991, all
post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...
established separate citizenship laws. Although Ukrainians no longer hold Soviet citizenship, they remain eligible for facilitated naturalisation or a change of nationality in some other former Soviet republics.


Terminology

The distinction between the meaning of the terms
citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...
and
nationality Nationality is the legal status of belonging to a particular nation, defined as a group of people organized in one country, under one legal jurisdiction, or as a group of people who are united on the basis of culture. In international law, n ...
is not always clear in the English language and differs by country. Generally, nationality refers a person's legal belonging to a state and is the common term used in international treaties when referring to members of a state; citizenship refers to the set of rights and duties a person has in that nation. In the Soviet context, ''nationality'' was used to describe
ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...
rather than the population of a state. Soviet citizenship law was extremely permissive and allowed virtually any person in the world to become a Soviet citizen with no specific requirements.
Union Republics In the Soviet Union, a Union Republic () or unofficially a Republic of the USSR was a Federated state, constituent federated political entity with a List of forms of government, system of government called a Soviet republic (system of governm ...
in the late Soviet era used differing methods to delineate their new national constituencies, based largely on the majority ethnic composition of that polity. The post-Soviet Ukrainian definition of national membership relies on a link to the territorial bounds of the modern state by birth, permanent residence, or close family connection. Any person who fell within that definition became part of the Ukrainian
nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...
.


History


Ukraine under Imperial Russia

Following the
Third Partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...
in 1795, nearly all of
Ruthenia ''Ruthenia'' is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin, as one of several terms for Rus'. Originally, the term ''Rus' land'' referred to a triangular area, which mainly corresponds to the tribe of Polans in Dnieper Ukraine. ''Ruthenia' ...
(modern-day Ukraine) fell under control of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
. The region was incorporated into the empire as "
Little Russia Little Russia, also known as Lesser Russia, Malorussia, or Little Rus', is a geographical and historical term used to describe Ukraine. At the beginning of the 14th century, the patriarch of Constantinople accepted the distinction between wha ...
". During this time, there were no general requirements to become a Russian subject other than becoming christened by the
Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
and swearing an oath of personal fealty to the Russian monarch. Provincial governments held wide discretion in determining who could naturalize as Russian subjects until 10 February 1864, when the imperial government introduced a five-year residence requirement and shifted authority over naturalization from provincial authorities to the
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire () was the state executive authority of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire, which carried out administrative functions in the areas of state security, public security, law enforce ...
. The residence requirement could be reduced for individuals who performed an extraordinary service for the Russian state, were especially talented or highly skilled in a scientific field, or made significant investments in the empire. The term "citizenship" became introduced in this reform as a different name for the concept of subjecthood. Russian women who married foreign men automatically lost Russian subject status. A formerly Russian widow or divorcée who lost had her Russian subject status through marriage could petition a provincial authority for restoration of that status. Other Russian subjects could separately apply for the end of their subjecthood through the Ministry of Internal Affairs with approval from the
Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
. Any person who became a foreign subject or citizen without prior government approval could be punished by the deprivation of their rights or banishment to Siberia.


Revolutionary Ukraine

The
Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, as a result of the February Revolution, ...
(UPR) established Ukrainian citizenship for the first time when it adopted citizenship laws on 2 and 4 March 1918, just as
Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
recognized the UPR's independence under the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...
. The laws instituted ''
jus soli ''Jus soli'' ( or , ), meaning 'right of soil', is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship. ''Jus soli'' was part of the English common law, in contrast to ''jus sanguinis'' ('right of blood') ass ...
'', prohibited dual citizenship, and required "registration of citizenship through the process of proving one's right to citizenship through witnesses." The legislation was vulnerable to "undemocratic" abuse, and many provisions were "incorrectly formulated" so as to make compliance impossible. Therefore, the Central Council planned a revision. The
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
-backed
Ukrainian State The Ukrainian State (), sometimes also called the Second Cossack Hetmanate, Hetmanate (), was an Anti-communism, anti-Bolshevik government that existed on most of the modern territory of Ukraine (except for Western Ukraine) from 29 April to 14 ...
seized control in April and adopted a law based on the UPR's proposed changes on 2 July. This law claimed as citizens all Russian subjects who resided in Ukraine and did not formally reject Ukrainian citizenship. The UPR resumed power in December. The autonomous Western Oblast of the UPR, whose territory remained in dispute with Poland, saw citizenship legislation enacted on 8 April 1919. This law likewise conferred citizenship on everyone who belonged to one of the oblast's
communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place (geography), place, set of Norm (social), norms, culture, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Ide ...
and who did not reject it.
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
occupied most of the Western Oblast's territory by July, and the UPR recognized the territory as part of Poland in April 1920. In September of the same year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the UPR, then in exile in
Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east– ...
, stated in a letter that the Ukrainian State citizenship law remained valid. By November, the UPR had decisively lost the last of its territory, which was
divided Division is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic. The other operations are addition, subtraction, and multiplication. What is being divided is called the ''dividend'', which is divided by the ''divisor'', and the result is called the ...
in 1921 between Poland, Soviet Russia, and the
Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...
.


Constituent Soviet republic

The
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...
became a
founding member Founding may refer to: * The formation of a corporation, government, or other organization * The laying of a building's foundation * The casting of materials in a mold See also * Foundation (disambiguation) * Incorporation (disambiguation) I ...
of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
(USSR) in 1922. Citizenship regulations were restructured under the authority of the All-Union government following adoption of the
1924 Constitution of the Soviet Union The 1924 Constitution of the Soviet Union was the constitution of the Soviet Union adopted on 31 January 1924. History of the Constitution The 1924 Constitution was the first constitution of the Soviet Union and ratified by the Second Congre ...
. Every person living within the borders of the USSR was a Soviet citizen unless they declared themselves as foreign citizens. Soviet citizens also held citizenship of the
Union Republic In the Soviet Union, a Union Republic () or unofficially a Republic of the USSR was a constituent federated political entity with a system of government called a Soviet republic, which was officially defined in the 1977 constitution as "a ...
in which they were permanently resident, although republican citizenship was symbolic and held no substantive meaning. Standard regulations in other countries required wives and children to hold the same citizenship as the male head of the family. Soviet legislation deviated from the contemporary international norm and allowed Soviet women who married foreign men to retain their Soviet citizenship after marriage. Any imperial Russian subjects who had permanently departed the Russian Empire before 7 November 1917 and had acquired foreign citizenship or applied for such status were deprived of Russian/Soviet citizenship by decree in 1933. The first piece of legislation governing solely on the issue of citizenship was the 1938 Soviet Citizenship Law, which provided a redefinition for who held Soviet citizenship. Unlike previous regulations which automatically granted citizenship to virtually all residents of the USSR, this law defined Soviet citizens as anybody who had been a Russian subject at the time of the founding of the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
in 1917 and had not subsequently lost Soviet citizenship, as well as those who had otherwise lawfully obtained citizenship. All other people resident in the USSR who neither held Soviet citizenship nor could prove foreign citizenship were treated as stateless persons. Citizenship could be deprived under this law as part of a court decision or by decree of the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet () was the standing body of the highest organ of state power, highest body of state authority in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).The Presidium of the Soviet Union is, in short, the legislativ ...
. All
Soviet Jews The history of the Jews in the Soviet Union is inextricably linked to much earlier expansionist policies of the Russian Empire conquering and ruling the eastern half of the European continent already before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. "Fo ...
who permanently migrated to
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
were stripped of Soviet citizenship by decree beginning in 1967. Following adoption of the
1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union The 1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union, officially the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was adopted on 7 October 1977. The 1977 Constitution, also known as the ''Brezhnev Constitution'' or the ''Constitution of Deve ...
, which established the principle that all Soviet citizens would enjoy protection abroad from the Soviet government, a new citizenship law was enacted on 1 December 1978. This law prohibited the
extradition In an extradition, one Jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction delivers a person Suspect, accused or Conviction, convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforc ...
of Soviet citizens to any foreign jurisdiction and formally barred holding
multiple citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...
s. Citizenship was held to be a unique relationship between a citizen and country, and any deviation from that was considered a violation of loyalty to the state, which led to a potential deprivation of citizenship. A 1981 Ukrainian Supreme Soviet decree allowed foreign citizens to acquire republican citizenship of the Ukrainian SSR (and consequently Soviet citizenship) but contained no mechanism for existing Soviet citizens to convert their existing republican citizenships. During the reform period of ''
glasnost ''Glasnost'' ( ; , ) is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissi ...
'' and ''
perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...
'', Soviet citizenship law was revised for a final time in 1990. The modified legislation transferred responsibility for citizenship deprivation from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet to the
President of the Soviet Union The president of the Soviet Union (), officially the president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (), abbreviated as president of the USSR (), was the executive head of state of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 15 March ...
and greatly limited the circumstances in which this power would be exercised. Soviet citizenship could now only be deprived from individuals who enlisted in foreign militaries or other governmental bodies, permanently lived abroad and failed to register at a Soviet consulate for at least five years, or had fraudulently acquired citizenship.


Transition and immediate post-Soviet period

In the waning days of the Union, the Ukrainian SSR adopted the
Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine The Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine (, ) was adopted on July 16, 1990, by the recently elected parliament of Ukrainian SSR by a vote of 355 for and four against. The document decreed that Ukrainian SSR laws took precedence over the l ...
, which established a separate citizenship from that of the Union. Requirements for this status were detailed in the 1991 citizenship law that defined the initial citizenry of the new state. Debate over this legislation in the Supreme Soviet was split between the nationalists and anti-reform
communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...
. While the nationalists saw the future Ukrainian nation as a multinational state with a foundational core of ethnic Ukrainian citizens, the communists subscribed to a single pan-East Slavic identity that consisted of all Ukrainians, Russians, and Belarusians. The communists pushed for wording that emphasised ties to the rest of the Soviet Union, but the nationalists advocated for a stronger separation of Union and Ukrainian citizenships to accelerate the process towards independence. Following the
August Coup The 1991 Soviet coup attempt, also known as the August Coup, was a failed attempt by hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to Coup d'état, forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was President ...
in Moscow and Ukraine's subsequent
Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...
, the likelihood of a reformed Soviet Union diminished greatly. The communists in the
Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...
shifted towards supporting
dual citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...
to facilitate the maintenance of close political ties with Russia and the possibility of a future union state. However, the nationalists feared that the extension of Russian jurisdiction over Ukrainians through citizenship would undermine Ukraine's newfound independence. A motion to add provisions allowing dual citizenship failed by only two votes in the legislature. The final version of the citizenship law that became effective on 13 November 1991 stated that dual citizenship would be allowed on bilateral agreement with another country, but no such treaty was ever signed. Having come into force prior to the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
, this law retained a provision that explicitly gave Ukrainian citizens the right to retain Soviet citizenship. Any person who was a permanent resident of Ukraine and held no other citizenship automatically became Ukrainian citizens on 13 November 1991. Individuals who were born in the country, or whose parent or grandparent was born in Ukraine, were also eligible to acquire citizenship. Overseas residents who were employed in government service or studying abroad and were born or otherwise permanently resident in Ukraine could register as Ukrainian citizens within one year of the law's effective date (this deadline was extended several times until 31 December 1999). Registration eligibility was later expanded in 1997 to include any person who was not domiciled in Ukraine on 13 November 1991 but was born or permanently resident in the country and held no other foreign nationality. Any descendants of someone who registered as a Ukrainian citizen also received citizenship as part of this provision. Qualified individuals who failed to register by the end of 1999 nevertheless continue to be eligible for a facilitated acquisition of citizenship with no residence or language requirements.


Citizenship arrangements with other former Soviet states

As a result of the Soviet Union's collapse, large numbers of ethnic Russians became resident outside the boundaries of the Russian state. In order to give this population and other former Soviet citizens an opportunity to choose the country of their new affiliation, visa-free movement was established throughout the
Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...
(CIS) in 1992. Part of Russia's objectives in pursuing dual citizenship agreements with CIS member states in the 1990s was to provide Russians residing in the former Soviet Union with some sense of security from the Russian state so that they would be less likely to resettle in Russia during that period of prolonged economic crisis and restructuring. Ukraine and the other post-Soviet states were wary of Russia's intentions with extending citizenship to people within their borders and did not want to further expose themselves to Russian influence. Despite some support within the Russian
State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...
for automatically extending Russian citizenship to all former Soviet citizens, the legislature ultimately rejected this to prevent causing unnecessary tension. The agreement on CIS-wide free movement later expired in 2000. Ukraine and Russia attempted several times to negotiate a dual citizenship arrangement during the 1990s and in 2004 but these ultimately ended with no agreement. Ukraine's non-recognition of dual citizenship was instead reinforced in domestic law by a 1996 constitutional amendment that stated the country's adherence to a single citizenship doctrine. A 1997 change to the citizenship law further removed the clause that allowed dual citizenship through bilateral agreement with another country. Rather than endorse a dual citizenship scheme, Ukraine signed bilateral agreements in the late 1990s and 2000s that simplified the process of changing citizenships with
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
,
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
,
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...
,
Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...
, and
Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...
. These treaties were concluded with the intention of preventing statelessness and dual citizenship. A person who had a close relative born or resident in a contracting state could acquire the citizenship of that other country and would automatically renounce that of their original state. These agreements had a marked effect on the return of formerly deported Crimean Tatars. Although about 150,000 former deportees had returned to Ukraine by 1991 and automatically became Ukrainian citizens at independence, those who entered the country after 1991 and had cancelled '' propiska'' in their previous country of residence effectively became stateless. The bilateral naturalisation agreements allowed a further 112,000 returnees to become Ukrainian citizens. Although proposed by Ukraine, Russia declined to participate in a similar bilateral arrangement.


Policies in independent Ukraine

Ukraine's 2001 revision of its citizenship law further expanded access to citizenship. Registration eligibility was expanded to include any person who had a grandparent, parent, or full siblings born or domiciled in the country before 16 June 1990 provided that they renounced any other nationalities they possessed within one year of registration. Individuals with half-siblings born or resident in the country also could register beginning in 2005, and the post-registration renunciation requirement was extended to two years as well. Former Soviet citizens permanently settled in Ukraine after 13 November 1991 and whose Soviet passports were stamped with "citizen of Ukraine" by
Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...
officials became included in the initial post-independence definition of Ukrainian citizens. Other former Soviet citizens who held Ukrainian ''propiska'' became exempt from obtaining permanent residency before naturalising. Although the original 1991 law largely prevented statelessness by including all permanent residents of Ukraine in the initial group of citizens, its failure to avert the same with the Crimean Tatar population prompted the involvement of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, l ...
,
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...
, and the
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...
in later revisions. In compliance with the
European Convention on Nationality The European Convention on Nationality (European Treaty Series, E.T.S. No. 166) was signed in Strasbourg on 6 November 1997. It is a comprehensive convention of the Council of Europe dealing with the law of nationality. The convention is open ...
, the 2001 reforms established limited recognition of dual citizenship in situations where a Ukrainian involuntarily acquired another nationality. This includes any Ukrainian who acquires foreign nationality: concurrently at the time of their birth, if they are adopted by foreign citizens, and through marriage to a foreign citizen spouse. Ukraine later signed the
Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession The Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession is a treaty that aims to ensure that people are not left without a nationality when one or more states replace their state of nationality. Suc ...
in 2006 and acceded to both the
Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons The Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons is a 1954 United Nations multilateral treaty that aims to protect statelessness, stateless individuals. Surrounding events The United Nations Charter and Universal Declaration of Human ...
and
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness The Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness is a 1961 United Nations multilateral treaty whereby sovereign states agree to reduce the incidence of statelessness. The convention was originally intended as a Protocol to the Convention Rel ...
in 2013.


Acquisition and loss of citizenship

Individuals automatically receive Ukrainian citizenship at birth if at least one parent is a Ukrainian citizen, whether they are born within Ukraine or overseas. Children born in the country but do not acquire any citizenship from their parents at birth (or only acquire citizenship of a country from which a parent has fled from as a recognized refugee) are also Ukrainian citizens by birth.
Abandoned children Abandon, abandoned, or abandonment may refer to: Common uses * Abandonment (emotional), a subjective emotional state in which people feel undesired, left behind, insecure, or discarded * Abandonment (legal), a legal term regarding property ** Chi ...
are treated as if they were born to Ukrainian parents if their origin cannot be determined. A child who is adopted by or comes under the
legal guardian A legal guardian is a person who has been appointed by a court or otherwise has the legal authority (and the corresponding duty) to make decisions relevant to the personal and property interests of another person who is deemed incompetent, ca ...
ship of a Ukrainian citizen may also acquire citizenship. Persons who are not citizens of Ukraine but were born or permanently resided before August 24, 1991 on the land that later became the territory of modern day Ukraine, or was part of the territory of previous Ukrainian states such as the Ukrainian People’s Republic can also claim Ukrainian citizenship on the basis of territorial origin. This right is extended to the children, grandchildren, full-blooded siblings and parents of the person who was born or resided in the territory of Ukraine before 1991. This right is reserved to those who have renounced their previous citizenship or are citizens of a country that does not allow its citizens to renounce their citizenship, such as Argentina. Foreigners may naturalize as Ukrainian citizens after living in the country for a continuous period of at least five years. Applicants must have been issued an immigration permit, demonstrate proficiency in the
Ukrainian language Ukrainian (, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language, spoken primarily in Ukraine. It is the first language, first (native) language of a large majority of Ukrainians. Written Ukrainian uses the Ukrainian alphabet, a variant of t ...
, and renounce any foreign nationalities. The residence requirement is reduced to two years if an applicant is married to a Ukrainian citizen, or if they hold refugee or asylum status. Naturalization candidates have additionally been required to pass a
citizenship test A citizenship test is an examination, written or oral, required to achieve citizenship in a country. It can be a follow up to fulfilling other requirements such as spending a certain amount of time in the country to qualify for applying for citize ...
since 21 April 2023. Citizens who are permanently domiciled abroad can voluntarily relinquish their Ukrainian citizenship by making a declaration of renunciation, provided that the declarant already possesses another citizenship or a legal document from a foreign state specifying that another citizenship will be granted on the loss of their Ukrainian citizenship. Recognition of an individual's overseas residence requires the completion of an administrative process to become a legal non-resident of Ukraine. This process is typically only done when outgoing emigrants leave the country with the express intention of permanent settlement abroad and is difficult to complete for citizens who departed on non-immigrant visas. Ukrainians who did not undergo this process before settlement overseas and who no longer possess documentation for ''propiska'' (legal residency) are in practice barred from successfully renouncing Ukrainian citizenship. Citizenship may be involuntarily deprived from individuals who acquire foreign citizenship without renouncing their Ukrainian citizenship, naturalized persons who fraudulently acquired Ukrainian citizenship, and those who voluntarily enter military service in another country without mandatory conscription. Loss of citizenship under these conditions does not occur automatically. The Ministry of Internal Affairs must formally present documentary evidence that individuals who fall under an applicable category already possesses a foreign nationality and all final decisions on deprivation must be approved by the
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
. The government rarely initiates this formal deprivation process due to its length and cost. Between 2005 and mid-2017, 87,376 people lost Ukrainian citizenship. The vast majority of them lost citizenship voluntarily or under facilitated procedures for citizenship changes through bilateral agreements with other countries. Only 333 people were involuntarily stripped of their citizenship during this period of time.


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


State Migration Service of Ukraine
{{Portal bar, Ukraine