Obtaining citizenship of Ukraine for foreign servicemen, Ukrainians abroad and multiple citizenship: the head of the SMSU answered topical questions
Obtaining Ukrainian citizenship by foreigners who defended our country, the issue of Ukrainians abroad and a package of draft laws on multiple citizenship. The head of the State Migration Service of Ukraine Natalia Naumenko provided answers to these questions in an interview with Censor.net.
Regarding volunteers from other countries, the activities of volunteer formations, which have become military formations within the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, are regulated by law. This allowed foreigners to enter into contracts with the Armed Forces and obtain a certain legal status.
Migrants have simplified their stay in Ukraine as much as possible. That is, foreign citizens who concluded a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine were extended the period of stay on the territory of our country, if it had already expired. In addition, they freed them from the need to issue temporary residence permits.
“What is it made for? In order to minimize contacts with the migration service. You have a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, you have a military ID - everything, you are legally in the territory of Ukraine. Formally, we equated the military ID with a temporary residence permit. Because we understand that if the residence permit is lost, it is necessary to contact the migration service to restore it. And if the fighters are at the front, of course, they do not have the opportunity to do this,” the head of the State Ministry of Internal Affairs emphasized.
At the end of the contract, a person has several options, depending on the national documents available. If there are documents and there are grounds, then a foreign serviceman will be able to issue an immigration permit. If he continues to serve, either there is a state award or a submission to a certain body, such as the Ministry of Defense, he is able to obtain citizenship in a simplified manner.
In addition, a draft law has already been registered in the Verkhovna Rada, which will provide the possibility of acquiring Ukrainian citizenship by persons involved in the defense of Ukraine as part of the territorial defense forces or volunteer formations of the territorial community. The procedure is also simplified for people who have served under contract in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the State Special Transport Service or the National Guard and whose contract has been terminated and who are dismissed from military service due to health reasons.
Regarding Ukrainians abroad. According to the Head of the Migration Service, up to 8 million of our citizens are abroad.
“When the first wave came, those citizens of Ukraine who went abroad with such documents, we began to think what to do, because our citizens could not stay there for a long time without documents. The consular offices were overwhelmed with requests for paperwork to our citizens. And then the Government decided to open branches of SE “Dokument” abroad,” said Natalia Naumenko.
We analyzed where most of our citizens are and started working on mobile buses from Poland to accept applications for paperwork. The main thing was that we immediately issued not only foreign passports, but also ID-cards (internal passports). Although internal passports, by and large, are not needed abroad, but for people it is a connection with Ukraine. Also, our citizens have the opportunity to issue a driver's license.
Today, Ukrainians can apply for documents in Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Turkey, Spain.
“We are thinking of opening in Italy, we also have requests from foreign partners to open in the UK, France, because there are quite a lot of our citizens there. Already today, almost half a million documents have been issued by our citizens abroad,” added the head of the State Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Multiple Citizenship This is a package of draft laws, in particular on the basics of national security, amendments to the Criminal Code. They are considered in the Committees of the Verkhovna Rada. 99 deputies submitted to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on the interpretation of the concept of “single citizenship”, as enshrined in Article 4 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
“I spoke in the Constitutional Court, explained that there is nothing wrong with multiple citizenship, this is also the development of the country. The main thing is how to prevent the risks that may arise,” said Natalia Naumenko.
However, according to the head of the DMS, if a person left during the war abroad and receives citizenship there should be a separate register where it will be declared that the citizen of Ukraine also has the citizenship of another country.
Read the full interview on the website of Censor.net.
Department of Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
