Vladimir’s story
Just one month and three offices that accepted documents in Crimea (then their number was increased to 8 – Editor’s note) were allowed to make the renunciation of the Russian citizenship. I made a principled decision not to change my citizenship and documents.
I sent my documents with a list of enclosures at the Federal Migration Service (FMS) of Crimea by mail within the allotted month.
It is their mistake that I could send it by mail – they didn’t write or forgot to write about the way of renunciation and we took advantage of that.
Then there was a long period of silence – we didn’t know whether these documents were received or not. At that time, FMS had its page in Facebook, where various materials and answers to questions of citizens were published on a timely basis. I asked my question: what should I do if I don’t know whether they received my documents or not. I was told that they have received it.
I sent documents (to renounce the citizenship – Editor’s note) on April 7, but I still don’t get a document confirming my residence permit.
The procedure to obtain it is not easy. First of all, we had to make notarized translations of foreign passport, internal passport and birth certificate. All copies should be provided to the passport office, which is located almost in the periphery of the town. After the first trip it became clear that the assigned mission is impossible. I could get there only in December, having stood in line for 6 weeks before that. In the office they took all my copies, but at the same time I didn’t fill out any documents or forms and it was very strange for me. I was told that everything would be made just late January – early February, although the law says that 7 days reserved for this.
After one and a half month I found my name on the list that was put on the door of the required office, where I was informed that they needed my personal account from the housing and utilities department.
The problem is that there are no clear instructions on what documents should be provided. The law says nothing on this topic at all, there is even no reference to the existing law of the Russian Federation.
There were huge queues to the housing and utilities department and I got my document only after two weeks. When I brought everything to the FMS department, I was told that they changed the conditions and wouldn’t put the registration to the documents of such groups of people like me. “You either receive documents without registration or get registered at your neighbors,” they told me.
I asked: when were the conditions changed? They answered that it happened at the beginning of the year. “Why did you tell me about that before?” I asked them. They said that they didn’t know about it themselves.
“All people who got a residence permit have temporary residential registration now. They should send a notification of staying in Crimea once a year, provide information about their source of income and not leave the peninsula for more than 180 days.
Since we didn’t have time to submit documents for a residence permit within the allotted time (until the end of the year), we apply to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation in order to secure ourselves: they have a website with the form. We sent the copy of our application to Lutkovska (Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights – Editor’s note). I didn’t get any response from the Russian ombudsman, from the Ukrainian one – I was informed that my letter will be given to the chief. After a while the Ukrainian ombudsman sent us a copy of the letter that came to her from the Russian colleague. In this letter Panfilova (the Russian ombudsman – Editor’s note) speaks of groundless claims advanced by the Ukrainian side about insufficient time to renounce the citizenship in Crimea. Panfilova wrote that the very few people applied to her and all issues were resolved and considered on a case-by-case basis.
Prior to that I also applied to her at the Russian FMS website (there is also a form for public appeals), but I didn’t get any response as well.
The law said about a simplified procedure for obtaining a residence permit by “refuseniks” (this word was written on the top side of our files in the passport office), but this procedure is not described in practice.
Now I should make a rental agreement with the executive committee but the government doesn’t sent its form to the institution. I need to bring a copy of this agreement to the passport office, they will put a registration stamp into my document on its basis. Those people who live in dormitory accommodations also can’t get a registration.
