Yeap – no
citizenship, no rights, no nothing… One day before my trip to Norway (already
booked flight, hostel) I got a letter – letter from Ukrainian Consulate. It was
short, and explicit “we have taken your citizenship, it’s deprived, you are
reported to give back your passport”. I felt like I would die. Letter was
deleted for almost 3 weeks, so luckily or not I got it before any trip – I
still haven’t visited Norway! L And I was stateless for 3 months – until I got Polish
one. I had some troubles and funny situations – calls from banks, inability to
derive money (Facebook was my only and real identification). When municipal police
stopped me to check for my documents, I told them – I’m stateless, have no
document. I think it sounded like “I’m monkey, I’m blond, let me go” and they
did! And in November I had flown to Ukraine with special Passport (it was kind
of a passport for people in strange situation) – on the airport customs
officers were asking me “who am I, why do I speak Russian, am I here for a
football game – what, me? Yeah, right! And so on, and so on… J If someone wants to give up citizenship, he/she
should be prepared for a long, arduous process. Anyway those 3 months were more
funny than stressful – or it was just my ability to deal with unusual stuff.
I wanted
to give up my Ukrainian citizenship when I came to Poland (I think I was 13
when I claimed for the first resident permission). So after 10 years I got it! It
requires patience, collection of many documents, but eventually you get it. I
don’t regret, of course now I can’t go to Russia without visa… it sucks, cause
my family and friends live there. I can’t tell if it’s better to have Polish
citizenship, or stay with Ukrainian, I just know that it’s always hard to get
through all that bureaucracy. No meter where you are or what you have to pass
through, just stay positive!
At least I
have some unusual stories for my friends!
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