Ukrainian citizenship by birth

Foreigners, who have a child born in Ukraine, often use this method for getting Ukrainian citizenship for this child.

The simplest way is getting citizenship by birth:

• a person, who was born on the territories of Ukraine from the foreigners, who legitimately resided in Ukraine on a continuous basis, is entitled to get Ukrainian citizenship;
• Ukrainian citizenship law says that whenever a parent of a person is a Ukrainian national or was a Ukrainian national at the moment that person was born, this person is entitled to the citizenship of Ukraine;
• in addition to that, the people, whose parents are stateless persons, legitimately residing in Ukraine are entitled to Ukrainian citizenship;
• children born in Ukraine from the refugees, who had residency permits in Ukraine, are Ukrainian citizens.
• finally, a child born in Ukraine from a stateless person or a foreigner, who had permits (i.e., visa) for staying in Ukraine, is a Ukrainian citizen.

It is important that a person, who meets one of the requirements listed above, is legally a Ukrainian citizen, from the moment of birth. However, in contrast to the situations when a child’s parents are 100% Ukrainian nationals, Ukrainian citizenship law says that a child born from the foreigners does not become a citizen automatically. In practice, citizenship is given through the confirmation procedure, which usually takes 4-6 months (our practice shows it is possible to finish this process in 2-3 months). Once the nationality is confirmed, a child may get a passport, allowing him to leave and then come back to Ukraine without a visa.

An essential advantage of getting Ukrainian citizenship for a child is that the child’s parents become entitled to a permanent residence permit, allowing them to enter/leave Ukraine, work, and study here without any restrictions. A permanent residence permit is the most crucial step to becoming a Ukrainian citizen for the parents of a child.