Dual citizenship in Ukraine

Ukrainian citizenship law expressly says that holding two citizenships at the same time is not allowed. Thus, to get Ukrainian citizenship, renouncing your original citizenship is necessary.

Renouncing original citizenship.

The first batch of documents requested by the immigration authorities of Ukraine includes a declaration of the original citizenship renunciation. In other words, Ukrainian citizenship requirements unequivocally say that the applicant should produce an instrument confirming his intentions to withdraw from the original citizenship.

Applicants should remember that failure to submit the declaration of original citizenship renunciation within two years after the citizenship of Ukraine was granted results in revocation of the Ukrainian citizenship.

The practice shows that Ukrainian immigration authorities are notorious for ignoring applicants’ declarations of original citizenship renunciations. In these situations, the only path to getting a Ukrainian passport is to submit proofs that the applicant produced the appropriate declaration to the authorities of his original citizenship.

It is also important highlighting that the procedure of citizenship renunciation is regulated by the domestic law of the applicant’s original country. Our experts are highly experienced in the citizenship renunciation procedures of the majority of the European, African and Asian countries.

At the same time, certain loopholes, which make holding two citizenships concurrently possible, do exist. For example, the practice shows that while a certificate of citizenship renunciation may be issued by the embassy of the applicant’s country, nothing impedes this applicant from restoring his original citizenship in the future and preserving the Ukrainian one.