President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has submitted a bill to the Verkhovna Rada that, among other things, sets out the grounds for deprivation of Ukrainian citizenship. This is reported by Komersant ukrainskyi
with reference to the website of the Verkhovna Rada.
According to the draft law, Ukrainian citizenship is to be revoked in the following cases
- voluntary acquisition by a citizen of Ukraine of the citizenship of the aggressor or occupying state, or of the citizenship of a state included in the list of states whose citizens acquire Ukrainian citizenship under a simplified procedure, if at the time of such acquisition he or she has reached the age of majority;
- use of a foreign passport on the territory of Ukraine by an adult citizen of Ukraine who has the citizenship of a foreign state, if this leads to threats to national security or national interests of Ukraine;
- acquisition of Ukrainian citizenship by a person as a result of providing false information, forged documents, as well as concealment by a person of any material fact due to which he or she would not be able to obtain citizenship;
- violation of the obligation to terminate foreign citizenship or failure to fulfil the obligation to pass exams on the fundamentals of the Constitution of Ukraine, history of Ukraine and the level of proficiency in the state language;
- establishment of the fact that a person has performed military service under a contract in the aggressor or occupying state;
- entry into force of a court verdict of guilty against persons convicted in Ukraine for committing a crime against the foundations of national security of Ukraine, against peace, security of humanity and international law and order, or for committing a terrorist act;
- participation in the armed aggression against Ukraine as part of the armed forces of the aggressor or occupying state, or a state that is in an armed conflict (war) with Ukraine or facilitates the armed aggression against Ukraine.
The date of termination of Ukrainian citizenship is the date of the relevant presidential decree.
It should be noted that Volodymyr Zelenskyy also proposed to allow dual citizenship for certain categories.
The explanatory note states that the law will help create conditions for the return of Ukrainians who left the country because of the war, as well as for them to retain their citizenship. In addition, certain categories of foreigners will have the opportunity to obtain Ukrainian citizenship.
The new draft law defines the permissible cases of multiple citizenship, as well as the specifics of acquiring and renewing Ukrainian citizenship for certain categories of foreigners who serve under contract in the Defence Forces.