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KYIV — Men of conscription age who are dual citizens of Ukraine and another country are now not able to leave Ukraine — prompting a warning from the U.S. embassy to its nationals in the country.
“Under Ukraine’s martial law, men between 18 and 60 are not permitted to leave the country,” the embassy in a statement on Tuesday. “Previously, dual U.S.-Ukrainian citizens in this group could enter and then depart Ukraine if they had deregistered their Ukrainian residency and registered their U.S. residency. This exception was revoked as of June 1.”
A loophole had previously allowed men of conscription age to travel outside of Ukraine — despite the exit ban imposed during martial law — if they could prove they lived permanently overseas. However, a newly enforced mobilization law that entered into force in May removed this exception as of the beginning of June.
The U.S. Embassy advised those dual citizens who are in the country “to shelter in place and obey local orders.” Those who fall inside the category and are not currently in Ukraine have been advised to stay away if they do not wish to stay indefinitely.
Kyiv does not recognize dual citizenship, with Ukrainian passport holders normally being obliged to drop other citizenships, though enforcement of this rule is limited.
“It is likely just codification of existing policy,” a Ukrainian-U.S. citizen, granted anonymity due to risks attached to his citizenship status, told POLITICO.
“There were rumors almost immediately after the full-scale invasion began, that dual citizens were being turned back from the border, so I think they’ve been doing this for a while,” he said. “I suspect I would have never been allowed to leave even before this was officially announced.”
Andriy Demchenko, spokesman of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, explained that border guards indeed treated Ukrainians with dual citizenship as Ukrainians who all must protect the country from the Russian invasion.
“For example, at the border, we have repeatedly discovered male citizens of Ukraine who, at passport control, pretended to be foreigners,” Demchenko told POLITICO.
At the same time, Ukrainian men of conscription age, who had sufficient evidence to prove permanent residence abroad, were previously allowed to travel outside of Ukraine, Demchenko added.
“However, with the change in legislation, this opportunity for them is now limited too,” Demchenko said.
