Thousands of people living in Ukraine dream of becoming citizens. Like everyone else, they work, build relationships and families, generally make the future. Stateless persons are no different than reguar citizens. They do not differ in their language or accent, they just don’t have documentary evidence of their existence.
Such was the story of our beneficiary Olha. The woman was born in the Perm oblast in Soviet Russia. As a minor, she moved to Ukrainian SSR. The woman had a passport of a USSR citizen. She was married and had a son.
Olha lost all documents in an accident and could not recover them. She tried to obtain a passport of a citizen of Ukraine several times but failed due to a number of reasons. Olha dreamed that one day she would receive a passport of a citizen of the country where she lived a large part of her life, gave birth to a son and where she continues to work diligently.
Following the recommendation of the State Migration Service of Ukraine, with the hope of obtaining at least a birth certificate, the woman applied to the Kharkiv office of the Right to Protection CF. After a detailed conversation with Olha, our colleagues began a hard and long work.
Thanks to the assistance of the Kholodnohirsky District Department of State Registration of Civil Status Acts of the Eastern Interregional Department of Justice of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine (in Kharkiv), Olha’s birth certificate was received from the Russian Federation within a few months.
During the conversation it turned out that Olha had already applied to the court to establish her citizenship of Ukraine. But the woman did not formulate her request to the court precisely because of lack of knowledge of legal language. As a result, the State Migration Service was unable to enforce the court decision.
Our lawyer sent a statement to the court and later received a decision with the appropriate formulation of the operative part. This helped Olha to finally apply to the State Migration Service to establish her Ukrainian citizenship.
Within a few months, Olha received a certificate of registration as a citizen of Ukraine. The woman immediately applied to the SMSU for a passport. Olha’s dream came true – she Finally received the passport of a citizen of Ukraine!
Now the woman’s life is completely normal. She has registered her place of residence, is officially employed and is already starting to receive congratulations on her upcoming wedding in March.
We join in with the congratulations and wish Olha further success and a happy life!
UNHCR Ukraine – United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Ukraine
Read also: