ACTUAL PROBLEMS OF THE UKRAINIAN CITIZENSHIP

This story began with an interview with Boston TV. Many Russian Americans could not understand the difference between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. And so, after I was introduced on a TV program as a Russian lawyer, they started to ask me about Ukrainian law.

I am international attorney, and I fully understand Ukrainian law. I received my Master degree in jurisprudence in St. Petersburg State University, but I obtained my Bachelor degree in the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University (Kharkov city, Ukraine). I am working over international/citizenship cases for twenty years. So, this is my area of expertise.

Even though I haven’t lived in Ukraine for many years, I have to maintain my knowledge of Ukrainian legislation because I am still working over Ukrainian cases with international element.

So, people started asking me questions about Ukrainian citizenship, for them and their children.

The red thread runs through 2001. The new citizenship law changed everything.

The old Ukrainian citizenship law was passed on October 8, 1991 (the law # 1636-XII). Articles 7 and 20 part 1 of this law provided guarantees to Ukrainian citizens to keep Ukrainian citizenship by day when they willfully obtain foreign citizenship.

At the time of acquisition for foreign citizenship, a Ukrainian citizen was losing citizenship of Ukraine (see art 20 part 1 of the citizenship law 1991).

This situation was stopped on March 1, 2001, the day when she second Ukrainian citizenship law became inforced, (the law # 2235-III dated on January 18, 2001). According to this law, the Ukrainian citizen remains Ukrainian citizenship even if he obtains foreign citizenship. Ukrainian citizen has to go through a difficult procedure to terminate Ukrainian citizenship. This is cannot be done automatically anymore.

This means that those citizens of Ukraine who acquired foreign citizenship before March 1, 2001, lost their Ukrainian citizenship. Those citizens of Ukraine who acquired foreign citizenship after March 1, 2001, remain citizenship of Ukraine as well.

However, it has now become fashionable to make collections of passports, to have two, three, four passports of different countries. And some people who lost Ukrainian citizenship before March 1, 2001, began to find options to restore Ukrainian citizenship. Such possibilities actually exist.

However, many people are faced with necessity to confirm that they don’t have Ukrainian citizenship (judges, militarians, government officials who cannot have dual citizenship; convins who risk falling under procedure of denaturalization and deportation).

I am helping to proof it by my own legal opinion (my expertise) and many other legal ways.