The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law “On Amendments to the Laws of Ukraine “On Citizenship of Ukraine” and “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language” regarding the conditions for admission to citizenship of Ukraine (draft law No. 7606). The document was prepared in the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for the implementation of the corresponding petition, which received the required number of votes.
According to the law, which will enter into force after it is signed and officially published, the new conditions for accepting Ukrainian citizenship will be:
- knowledge of the basics of the Constitution of Ukraine, history of Ukraine. The procedure for passing the exams must be determined by the Cabinet of Ministers;
- proficiency in the state language in accordance with the level determined by the National Commission for State Language Standards.
At the same time, these requirements will not apply to persons who have outstanding merits for Ukraine, in particular, to foreigners and stateless persons who, in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation of Ukraine, undergo military service under a contract in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including those who have been awarded a state award, to persons, acceptance of which into Ukrainian citizenship is of state interest for Ukraine, and for persons who have received a temporary residence permit on the basis of Part 20 of Article 4 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons”.
Such persons, who have acquired citizenship in a simplified manner, will still be required to pass exams on the basics of the Constitution of Ukraine, the history of Ukraine, and the level of mastery of the state language within two years from the moment of acceptance to the citizenship of Ukraine.
“The law adopted by the Verkhovna Rada can be considered a positive asset and a progressive statesman’s step, since the legal connection between a person and the state of Ukraine, which is citizenship in essence, ceases to be a formality and acquires some real features in the form of knowledge of the country’s history, the foundations of the legal order, as well as the ability to communicate in the state language, – noted the lawyer, Honored Lawyer of Ukraine, in a comment to “Legal Practice”. Volodymyr Bogatyr. — At the same time, certain concerns are caused by the rule regarding the loss of citizenship by those persons who acquired it in a simplified manner. On the other hand, the abandonment of privileges during the acquisition of citizenship does not fully correspond to the principle enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine that all people are free and equal in their dignity and rights and there cannot be any privileges or restrictions on any grounds.”
Volodymyr Bogatyr, lawyer, honored lawyer of Ukraine
According to the updated edition of Art. 19 of the Law “On Citizenship of Ukraine” grounds for loss of Ukrainian citizenship are:
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2) acquisition of Ukrainian citizenship by a person on the basis of Article 9 of this law as a result of deception, deliberate submission of false information or false documents, including non-fulfillment of the obligations undertaken by the person in the obligation to terminate foreign citizenship, in the obligation to pass basic exams Constitution of Ukraine, history of Ukraine and the level of mastery of the state language.
“The legal construction used in this rule can hardly be called successful,” the lawyer is convinced. “After all, non-fulfillment of an obligation is not deception, untruth (at least at the time of submission of the obligation) or submission of false documents.”
He also believes that this norm is not fully consistent with the Constitution and international obligations of Ukraine. “According to the Constitution of Ukraine, there is a single citizenship and a citizen cannot be deprived of citizenship,” reminded Volodymyr Bogatyr. — The Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 1961 and the Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons of 1954 (Ukraine joined in 2013, so they are mandatory) provide that the state cannot deprive a person of his citizenship if such deprivation would make that person stateless.
“Therefore, a person who legally acquired Ukrainian citizenship cannot be deprived of it, if the person does not have the citizenship of another country. And this can become a significant legal problem for those persons who renounced their foreign citizenship, received Ukrainian citizenship in a simplified manner, but did not learn the language and did not pass the exams in two years. The state actually gets the opportunity to put pressure on these persons. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of lawsuits over this.” – summed up the lawyer.
