Ukraine does allow dual citizenship, but only in a narrow way and only starting January 16, 2026. Law 4502-IX, signed by President Zelensky on July 15, 2025, lets citizens of a short list of approved countries hold Ukrainian citizenship without giving up their existing passport. Everyone else still faces the old renunciation rule, Russian citizenship is barred outright, and anyone with two passports is treated as a Ukrainian citizen only while on Ukrainian soil.1U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. Alert – Message for U.S. Citizens: Potential Obligations of Dual Citizens under Martial Law and Mobilization Law
Which Countries Qualify
As of late 2025, five countries sit on Ukraine’s approved list: the United States, Canada, Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. If you are a citizen of one of these, you can naturalize as Ukrainian without renouncing your original nationality. Ukraine has signaled it may add countries later, but the framework is deliberately narrow for now.
Russian citizenship is explicitly prohibited. The law also bars multiple citizenship with any country that does not recognize Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
If you hold a passport from a country not on the approved list, nothing has changed for you. You still need to give up that citizenship to become Ukrainian. And if you hold two foreign passports, one approved and one not, the non-approved one still has to go before Ukrainian naturalization is possible.
How Naturalization Works Under the New Law
For applicants from the five approved countries, the paperwork is lighter. Instead of proving you have renounced your prior nationality, you submit a declaration recognizing yourself as a citizen of Ukraine.
For everyone else, the older rule applies. Foreigners seeking Ukrainian citizenship through naturalization must commit in writing to terminating their foreign citizenship within two years of being registered as a Ukrainian citizen. During those two years you carry a temporary Ukrainian citizen ID card rather than the standard one.2State Migration Service of Ukraine. Acquisition of Ukrainian Citizenship
What “Dual” Really Means Inside Ukraine
The law recognizes that you hold two passports. It does not treat you as two things at once. While you are on Ukrainian soil, you are recognized exclusively as a Ukrainian citizen.1U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. Alert – Message for U.S. Citizens: Potential Obligations of Dual Citizens under Martial Law and Mobilization Law You cannot invoke your other country’s diplomatic protection, and you cannot claim the privileges Ukraine gives to foreigners.
Under martial law, that distinction has real consequences. Men between 18 and 60 are prohibited from leaving Ukraine, and holding a foreign passport does not create an exception. The U.S. Embassy warns there is “an extremely high risk you will not be allowed to depart, even with a U.S. passport.” A former “residence abroad” exception that once helped Ukrainian men living overseas leave the country was eliminated on June 1, 2024. Deregistering your Ukrainian address and registering one abroad no longer helps.1U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. Alert – Message for U.S. Citizens: Potential Obligations of Dual Citizens under Martial Law and Mobilization Law
A few narrow exceptions still exist: men removed from military registration, fathers of three or more minor children, men with certain disability classifications, some men aged 18 to 22, and reserved employees on official business trips. The rules change often as mobilization policy is updated.
There is also a trap for people who never thought of themselves as Ukrainian at all. If you were born in Ukraine or born to Ukrainian parents, you may already hold Ukrainian citizenship. It does not lapse on its own, and never having applied for a Ukrainian passport does not mean you are not a citizen. The U.S. Embassy recommends anyone with family ties to Ukraine check their status with a Ukrainian consulate before traveling, and it strongly advises against travel to Ukraine for male dual citizens aged 18 to 60 who do not intend to stay indefinitely.1U.S. Embassy in Ukraine. Alert – Message for U.S. Citizens: Potential Obligations of Dual Citizens under Martial Law and Mobilization Law
Who Is Still Barred From Holding Two Passports
Some roles are closed to dual citizens regardless of the new law. Civil servants cannot hold foreign citizenship at all. If a civil servant is discovered to have foreign citizenship, or acquires it while in service, the appointing authority must dismiss them within three days. Judges face the same restriction, rooted in the Constitution.
Elected officials are treated differently. Holding a foreign citizenship is not grounds for terminating the powers of the President, members of parliament, local council members, or mayors, and it does not bar someone from running for those offices.
Losing Ukrainian Citizenship
Ukrainian law treats voluntary acquisition of a foreign citizenship as adult as grounds for loss of Ukrainian citizenship, along with fraud in obtaining Ukrainian citizenship and voluntarily enlisting in a foreign military where service is not compulsory.3ECOI. Law of Ukraine On the Citizenship of Ukraine
Loss is never automatic. It requires a formal presidential decree, and the date of the decree is the official date citizenship ends.3ECOI. Law of Ukraine On the Citizenship of Ukraine A safeguard prevents any of these grounds from being applied if doing so would leave the person stateless.
The practical result surprises many people. Getting a foreign passport does not end your Ukrainian citizenship on its own. Until a decree is signed, you remain a Ukrainian citizen, with every obligation that carries. Many people who naturalized elsewhere years ago still legally hold Ukrainian citizenship without realizing it.
Tax Exposure in Both Countries
Two passports can mean two tax authorities. Under Ukrainian tax law, you are generally a tax resident if you spend 183 or more days in Ukraine during a calendar year. Days are not the only test. You may also be treated as a Ukrainian tax resident if your center of vital interests is in Ukraine, meaning your family, primary home, registered employment, or main source of income sits there. Living abroad most of the year does not by itself put you outside Ukrainian tax residency.
When both countries claim you, double-taxation treaties can prevent the same income from being taxed twice. Ukraine has agreements with dozens of countries that allow credits or exemptions, and you typically need a tax residency certificate from the country you treat as primary. Working this out before an authority sends a notice is easier than fixing it afterward.
Renouncing Ukrainian Citizenship
If you decide you do not want to hold Ukrainian citizenship, the exit runs through the President’s office. You apply through a Ukrainian consulate or the State Migration Service, provide documentation of another citizenship so you do not become stateless, and wait for a presidential decree. The wait can be long, and until the decree is signed you remain a Ukrainian citizen with every associated obligation.
Wartime conditions add a serious complication for male citizens between 18 and 60. Entering Ukraine to handle the paperwork in person could trigger the travel ban and make it difficult to leave again. If renunciation is on the table, work through a Ukrainian consulate abroad rather than trying to manage it from inside the country.