Today, citizenship should be understood not only as a person’s belonging to a particular state, but as relations arising between the state and the citizen, establishing specific duties and rights of the parties represented. Is it possible to have dual citizenship in Ukraine? Currently, this issue is considered one of the most controversial. By the way, the first reason is the imperfection of the legislative framework.
Dual citizenship in Ukraine. Introduction
What is the essence of the problem? As it turned out, today the issue of dual citizenship in Ukraine is unresolved due to certain reasons. What are the contradictions? World practice reflects that a fairly large number of countries are loyal to the acquisition by their citizens of foreign passports.
Is it possible to obtain dual citizenship of Ukraine? It is important to note that this country belongs to those that refer to this procedure as illegal and unacceptable. The lack of necessary attention and regulation of the problem of second citizenship in one way or another causes many-sided disputes. Moreover, this gives the citizens of this country the opportunity to find roundabout ways of integration into the society that they liked.
Documentation
Why is it impossible to obtain dual citizenship in Ukraine legally? The following documentation currently prohibits the process in question:
- Constitution of Ukraine (Art. 4).
- Law on Citizenship (Articles 2, 19). It is necessary to supplement that the second article prescribes the absolute loss of membership in the civil society of Ukraine upon obtaining the right to work and reside in a foreign state.
Why is dual citizenship not allowed in Ukraine? The mentioned legislative documents assert that even when a citizen of the Ukrainian state receives a passport of another country, he is one way or another related to Ukrainian citizens.
Naturally, his rights and obligations follow from this. It turns out that Ukraine allowed dual citizenship. But this is far from the case! What is the catch? The fact is that quite serious changes today require the operation of withdrawing from a second citizenship, as well as the system of penalties and fines associated with hiding the fact related to the presence of a second identity card.
Comments
As it turned out, today you can have dual citizenship in Ukraine only illegally. In other words, dual citizenship is not prohibited by Ukrainian law, however, it is simply not recognized. As a legal term, dual citizenship should be considered as the conclusion of an international agreement between states regarding the status of their citizens. Ukraine does not have such agreements!
In practice, anything is possible!
Why are cases of dual citizenship in Ukraine known today? The fact is that it is legalization through permanent residence or citizenship in another country for Ukrainians that is equal to second citizenship. You need to know that the reasons why Ukrainians are trying to find an opportunity to be members of a foreign society are currently diverse. For some, this is just a great desire to improve their own financial capabilities and living conditions, for others it is nothing but a vital necessity, which is caused, for example, by the political situation relevant in the country.
Dual citizenship of Russia and Ukraine
It is important to note that dual citizenship in Russia and Ukraine in the current (2017) year is impossible to obtain. What is the reason for this? The fact is that at present the Russian side has developed the most perfect law, which explicitly assumes that absolutely no citizen will benefit from the benefits of the two powers at once. Of course, the presented document contains some shortcomings, because there is no limit to perfection.
The first thing that needs to be realized by a citizen of the Russian Federation who has a second passport is to notify the state of receiving citizenship of another country without fail. It must be added that hiding this information today involves a fine of two hundred thousand rubles or in the amount of the offender’s income for the year.
By the way, punishment may also include community service, the duration of which, as a rule, is 400 hours. It is worth noting that only residents of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, with whom the Russian Federation has signed the relevant international treaty, are currently exempted from having to go through the application process.
Second citizenship in Crimea
Considering the issue of dual citizenship in Ukraine, one cannot but touch on the topic of Crimea. It is no secret to anyone that, despite certain restrictions in terms of legislation, today a considerable number of citizens are considered to be owners of two passports at once. Thus, for example, recently, dual (second) citizenship in the Crimea is a very common phenomenon. What is the reason for this?
The fact is that the filing of papers to obtain a Russian passport involves the simultaneous filing of an application for refusing Ukrainian citizenship to the authorities of this state. In practice, in order to receive an identity document of the Russian Federation, you only need to wait for a copy of this certified statement. In addition, no one will wait for an answer, and the procedure for renouncing citizenship in the Ukrainian state looks different in some ways. That is why the residents of Crimea today are not in a hurry to get rid of the passport of Ukraine.
Is there a penalty for non-compliance with the law?
It is important to keep in mind that, unlike the Russian Federation, the Ukrainian state is not able to boast at least the only normative document prescribing punishment for concealing such a fact as legalization in another state. This suggests that to bring the subjects of Ukrainian civil society to responsibility for this act is impossible today.
Deprivation of Ukrainian citizenship
If we consider the problem of depriving citizenship of the Ukrainian state, then this can be realized in the following situations:
- As a result of the refusal of the citizen from Ukrainian citizenship.
- As a result of the loss of Ukrainian citizenship (in this case, only one situation is envisaged - obtaining a Ukrainian passport in an illegal way).
- Based on international treaties of the Ukrainian state with others.
It is important to note that here there are some deviations from generally accepted norms. For example, if the fact of marriage with a foreigner, and therefore automatic acquisition of citizenship of his country, is relevant, then deprivation of Ukrainian citizenship is excluded, because no one has the right to take such a step (if the citizen himself does not refuse citizenship of Ukraine). It should be noted that amendments to the law currently planned, if it is approved, will in one way or another oblige Ukrainians to bear criminal responsibility for concealing this fact. More specifically, a fine will be determined in the amount of UAH 1,700 or a prison sentence will be applied for a period of three to ten years. If the submitted project is approved, the situation will radically change one way or another.
In conclusion, it would be advisable to conclude that in the Ukrainian state dual citizenship this year will not be interpreted as a violation of the current law, because the bill on amendments to the Civil Code has only been submitted to the country's parliament. It is important to note that at this stage many relevant issues remain relevant, because the problem is quite serious. However, after the approval of innovations, in any case, it is planned to change the overall situation for the better.