Draft bill #10205 of November 1, 2023
Sponsor: the Cabinet of Ministers
Status: sent for review to the dedicated parliamentary committee
Who is affected: ethnic Ukrainians without Ukrainian citizenship living abroad, the National Commission on Foreigners of Ukrainian Origin (National Commission), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Summary:
- grants the National Commission the power to request information from the Security Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine
- to get the status of a foreigner of Ukrainian origin, a person will have to provide documents confirming Ukrainian ethnicity
- the list of grounds for refusal in the status of a foreigner of Ukrainian origin will be extended. In particular:
- the person has committed actions that threaten the national security or national interests of Ukraine
- the person is a citizen of Ukraine
- the person supports the aggressor state in the war against Ukraine.
What is right:
- the bill defines the procedure for the National Commission to receive information from other state bodies
- persons who support the aggressor country will not be eligible to get the status of a foreigner of Ukrainian origin
- the bill introduces a procedure to deprive of the status of a foreigner of Ukrainian origin a person who supports actions that threaten the national security or national interests of Ukraine.
What is wrong:
- the bill does not define a procedure for the background check of an applicant for the status of a foreigner of Ukrainian origin.
Additional information:
the National Commission was created by the Cabinet of Ministers to manage issues regarding the status of a foreigner of Ukrainian origin (Article 2 of the Law on Foreigners of Ukrainian Origin).