Russian Citizenship in Crimea

[Wayne]

As everyone knows, Ukraine does not allow dual citizenship, but USA and Russian Federation do.
 
An AFP news story indicates that Ukrainian Citizens living in Crimea will automatically become Russian Citizens unless they intentionally decide not to. There will be a small fee for the Russian internal passport.
 
If you want to travel to other countries, you would need to pay a much higher fee to get the Russian external passport. Usually, anyone 16 years or older needs their own passports.
 
Now, it seems they would allow you to keep the Ukrainian passports? So that would be dual citizenship? 
 
Or say you become a Russian Citizen, but also later gain US Citizenship?
 
I mean you could feel like James Bond with all these passports!

[Muzh]

As everyone knows, Ukraine does not allow dual citizenship, but USA and Russian Federation do.
 

Get your facts straight.
 
http://www.legallanguage.com/legal-articles/dual-citizenship-united-states/

[Hammer2722]

As far as I know, the US does not allow dual citizenship...

[Muzh]

As far as I know, the US does not allow dual citizenship...

Read the above. In some specific cases and NOT the way Wayne suggests.

[Wayne]

If you become a naturalized US Citizen, do they collect your Ukrainian or Russian passport?
 
Anyway, it seems that in Crimea they are going to set up the Russian form of land ownership registration. So if you own land, you could be forced into Russian Citizenship.
 
Of course, Ukraine has their own laws about citizenship.

[Wayne]

More information:

A bill floating in Ukrainian parliament seeks tougher sanctions against holders of dual citizenship, which is forbidden in the country. Under the legislation, violators could be punished by a prison term of up to 10 years.
The controversial bill was submitted by then-opposition Batkivshchina (Fatherland) Party in early February and would amend the country’s criminal code. It provides tougher punishments to those, who fail to inform the authorities that they became citizens of another country.
Currently a Ukrainian citizen who receives a second citizenship remains a citizen of Ukraine, unless he/she notifies the authorities and gets stripped of his/her original citizenship. There are fines for those who fail to disclose their dual citizenship, but the regulations on the issue are quite murky and rarely applied.
In practice, tens of thousands of Ukrainians simply do not bother with officially proving their dual citizenship and maintain it. This is true for eastern Ukrainians who have Russian citizenship, and western Ukrainians who have citizenship of various EU states. It’s true even for the freshly-appointed governor of the Dnepropetrovsk Region, Ukrainian-Israeli citizen Igor Kolomoysky, who once explained that “the Ukrainian legislation and its Constitution on the issue are so self-contradicting that one should be an idiot not to use it.”
A bill submitted on February 7 seeks to overturn the situation by violators of the dual citizenship ban in Ukraine. Those simply holding two citizenships would be fined a modest sum of some $165.
But those using their illegal Ukrainian citizenship to vote in elections or to hold a public office, which requires one, face a much harsher punishment under the bill. Voting would bring a prison term of three to five years, while those who took a public office giving them access to a state secret may go to jail for up to 10 years.
Sponsors of the bill say it would boost national security and would bar other nations from influencing Ukraine’s internal and foreign policies. The bill may be considered by the parliament after the ongoing political crisis is over, co-author Aleksandr Briginets told Izvestia newspaper.
“Now, when there is a military threat, the parliament would not pass any such bills. When the situation has normalized and the military threat is no more, we will return to the issue,” he said.
“We will consult with all regions of the country and together determine, what we should do about holders of dual citizenship,” he added.
The self-appointed government in Kiev in its first days disturbed eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, where many Russian-speakers live, by repealing a law, which gave regional status to the Russian language. Seeing this as part of an anti-Russian discriminatory stance of the government, some of the regions denounced Kiev and said that they would not be taking orders from the new regime.
Facts you need to know about Crimea and why it is in turmoil
The defiance is especially vocal in Crimea, where ethnic Russians constitute more than a half of local population and many have Russian citizenship. The residents have announced they are going to hold a referendum on March 30 to determine the fate of the Ukrainian autonomous region.

[jone]

Wayne,

You've been drinking the Kool Aid. 

The law rescinding Russian language for certain regions of Ukraine was part of a constitutional package and was voted favorably by the Rada.  It was never signed into law by the Acting President who disavowed that section of the bill.  He has stated that he will not sign such legislation.

If you are going to put things on the forum, at least make sure you are not spreading someone else's propaganda.  It always helps to think for yourself.

[Sailor291]

United States law is silent on the issue of dual citizenship, simply go to the CIS web site to verify.  My wife became a U.S. citizen many years ago and nobody, I mean nobody asked her to give up any other passports.  Her Ukrainian passport expired a few years ago and she has never bothered to renew it.  Under U.S. law you can have quadruple citizenship if you want, they simply don't care, but they will tell you that is a "buyer beware" type of situation.  The U.S. may or may not be able to protect you in a country that you have another citizenship in, for instance, some other country may have mandatory military service and if you are there you could be drafted. 

[Wayne]

In the married section of this forum, which hardly anyone reads it seems, over the years, there have been many discussions about dual citizenship. Some wifes and their children kept their Ukrainian/Russian passports and used them to avoid getting a visa.
 
There have been discussions about renewing their old passports while living in USA.

[Muzh]

United States law is silent on the issue of dual citizenship, simply go to the CIS web site to verify.  My wife became a U.S. citizen many years ago and nobody, I mean nobody asked her to give up any other passports.  Her Ukrainian passport expired a few years ago and she has never bothered to renew it.  Under U.S. law you can have quadruple citizenship if you want, they simply don't care, but they will tell you that is a "buyer beware" type of situation.  The U.S. may or may not be able to protect you in a country that you have another citizenship in, for instance, some other country may have mandatory military service and if you are there you could be drafted.

Let's qualify your statements.
 
IF you were born in the USA and are a USA citizen, the only way you can have another citizenship is to renounce your USA citizenship. The case of Israeli dual citizenship is very unusual and borders in the unconstitutionality of being an American citizen.
 
Now, click on the link I provided a few posts above and you will see some exceptions.
 
My wife became a naturalized US citizen and her UA passport expired. She goes back home on her US passport. She tried to renew her UA passport and she got so much grief she told them to stuff it where the sun don't shine.
 
I was told by our Homeland people that it can be tricky with "dual" citizenship. IF you become a US citizen, it is expected for the naturalized citizen to renounce his previous citizenship. The only accesible way to do it barring a trip to the motherland and spitting on [insert your own despot here]face was to go to the Embassy and renounce it in front of a Consular. Papers are signed and, voila, you are [insert your country here] no more.
 
One more time, the US do NOT support "quadruple" citizenship. That is just not true.

[Wayne]

From the US Embassy website:

  Dual Nationality The concept of dual nationality means that a person is a citizen of two countries at the same time. Each country has its own citizenship laws based on its own policy. Persons may have dual nationality by automatic operation of different laws rather than by choice. For example, a child born in a foreign country to U.S. citizen parents may be both a U.S. citizen and a citizen of the country of birth.
A U.S. citizen may acquire foreign citizenship by marriage, or a person naturalized as a U.S. citizen may not lose the citizenship of the country of birth. U.S. law does not mention dual nationality or require a person to choose one citizenship or another. Also, a person who is automatically granted another citizenship does not risk losing U.S. citizenship. However, a person who acquires a foreign citizenship by applying for it may lose U.S. citizenship. In order to lose U.S. citizenship, the law requires that the person must apply for the foreign citizenship voluntarily, by free choice, and with the intention to give up U.S. citizenship.
Intent can be shown by the person's statements or conduct. The U.S. Government recognizes that dual nationality exists but does not encourage it as a matter of policy because of the problems it may cause. Claims of other countries on dual national U.S. citizens may conflict with U.S. law, and dual nationality may limit U.S. Government efforts to assist citizens abroad. The country where a dual national is located generally has a stronger claim to that person's allegiance.
However, dual nationals owe allegiance to both the United States and the foreign country. They are required to obey the laws of both countries. Either country has the right to enforce its laws, particularly if the person later travels there. Most U.S. citizens, including dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States. Dual nationals may also be required by the foreign country to use its passport to enter and leave that country. Use of the foreign passport does not endanger U.S. citizenship. Most countries permit a person to renounce or otherwise lose citizenship.
Information on losing foreign citizenship can be obtained from the foreign country's embassy and consulates in the United States. Americans can renounce U.S. citizenship in the proper form at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad.
Dual Nationality and Travel to Russia
Persons in Russia are subject to Russian laws and procedures. Persons who are citizens of both the United States and Russia should be aware that, while U.S. immigration law requires Americans to use U.S. passports when entering or leaving the United States, Russian law likewise requires Russian citizens to use Russian passports to enter and depart Russia.
There have been several instances in which U.S. citizens who also have Russian citizenship have entered Russia using their Russian passports, but then could not leave as planned because their Russian passports had expired during their stay in Russia, or because they lost their Russian passports. Since these travelers had not obtained Russian entry/exit visas in their U.S. passports, Russian authorities did not permit them to depart using their U.S. passports.
It can take several months to obtain a new Russian passport in order to satisfy Russian requirements for departure. Dual citizens who plan to enter Russia using their Russian passports should make sure that their Russian passports will be valid for their entire stay in Russia.