Citizens of Russian Federation can obtain residence permits in Ukraine – Migration Service

Viacheslav Guz, head of the Central Interregional Department of the State Migration Service in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast, td Ukrinform in an interview.

According to him, in November 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers allowed Russian citizens who have a family or employment in Ukraine to exchange their expired residence permits for temporary residence, which means that they can actually extend their legal residence in Ukraine. Then the acceptance of expired permits from Russian citizens was stped.

"Today, they can exchange their residence permit until the last day of its expiration, but only on the grounds of marriage, family reunification or employment. For this purpose, a novelty has appeared in the legislation – a procedure for extending the term of temporary residence for the period necessary for documentation with a residence permit. That is, Ukraine, despite everything, demonstrates a humane attitude towards Russian citizens who have been living in Ukraine for a long time, have strong family ties and have lost any relations with Russia," Guz said.

He explained that the documents from Russian citizens, which were accepted by the Migration Service in February 2022 before the invasion, were processed in accordance with the requirements of the legislation, which at that time did not provide for any restrictions on this category of citizens, and therefore the documents were issued to them. Since the beginning of hostilities, citizens of the aggressor country have not been issued residence permits. According to international law, they enjoy the protection of the state of their citizenship, do not lose contact with it and are subject to the laws of the country of their citizenship, i.e. Russia.

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"Now, for the first time, Russian citizens are documented with temporary residence permits if they enter the territory of Ukraine on a long-term visa D. This is a consequence of the introduction of a visa regime with Russia," said the Migration Service representative.

He also added that other categories of citizens, such as vunteers, students, etc., receive a residence permit if their applications are supported by a written request from the central executive body of Ukraine, which has jurisdiction over the activities of such persons.