Ostap was born in the Luhansk region of Ukraine in 1986. As a child, he moved with his family to the city of Debaltseve in the Donetsk region. There he grew up, studied, and met his future wife. Due to family circumstances, he was able to apply for a passport of a citizen of Ukraine only in 2014. At the moment the document was ready and the only thing needed was to receive it, the war began.
The man and his family fled in hurry and left almost everything they had in the Donetsk region – property, money, some of the documents. He and his wife later moved to the Ternopil region. In 2017, their son was born. Due to the lack of documents, Ostap was not able to officially become a husband and prove paternity. Lack of documents made it almost impossible for him to earn money for the family.
All this time Ostap tried to get a passport of a citizen of Ukraine. After numerous refusals, in 2020 he applied to the CF “Right to Protection” (R2P). Since then, there have been endless calls, trips to the State Migration Service (SMS), appeals, applications, and, unfortunately, complaints.
In February 2021, the Migration Service finally agreed to identify our beneficiary. However, citizenship remained unrecognized. In May 2021, after two days of negotiations with the State Migration Service, documents to apply for the Stateless Determination Procedure (SDP).
Despite three official and dozens of unofficial refusals to issue a passport of a citizen of Ukraine, when applying for an SDP, Migration Service representatives insisted that these actions do not make sense, because the person is a citizen of Ukraine.
We will learn about the SMS decision later. In the meantime, regardless of the results of the examination, Ostap will now finally be able to obtain an identity document and open the door to a new life.
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