Victoria’s story:
Victoria was born in 1991 in Lugansk, Ukraine, as a Ukrainian citizen. She later moved to Yalta,
Crimea, and lived there with her family until she was 8. She came to Poland together with her
mother in 1999 (on a visa) and for 17 years she lived in Poland on the basis of a temporary stay
permit. She graduated from Polish schools and started her studies at a Polish university.
In 2010, Victoria and her mother filed a motion to the Polish President (via the Mazoviecki Voivod)
for conferment of Polish nationality. In February 2011, Victoria was informed by the Ministry of
Interior and Administration that her motion was submitted to the President. In April 2012, Victoria
and her mother were issued the so-called ‘promise’ from the President of Poland to receive Polish
nationality on the condition that within a period of two years they provide proof of loss of their
Ukrainian nationality. They initiated the procedure aimed at renouncing Ukrainian nationality. This
procedure turned out to be extremely complicated. The Ukrainian Embassy in Warsaw demanded
documents they had to retrieve from Ukraine before they submitted the motion to renounce
Ukrainian citizenship. They had to sell their property in Yalta. When they returned with proof of the
sale of their property, the authorities demanded proof of deregistration with Crimean residence
and tax authorities which could only be issued by the authorities in Crimea. They travelled to
Crimea and when they returned to the consulate it turned out that other documents were needed.
Victoria was worried and asked the Chancellery of the President of Poland to give her nationality
without fulfilling this condition but she was refused. At the end of 2013, Victoria went to Ukraine
to obtain the remaining documents needed in the procedure. Her Ukrainian identity card was
taken away from her. In December 2013, the Embassy finally accepted their motion to renounce
Ukrainian nationality. In 2015, she was refused a temporary stay permit by the Polish authorities.
She had to go back to Ukraine to get a visa. Before going back she went to the Embassy to learn
about her motion to renounce Ukrainian nationality. She then received the decision confirming
that she had lost her Ukrainian nationality in September 2014. She was not informed earlier
about this decision. When she was handed this decision her passport was taken. As a result,
she could not travel to Ukraine in order to get a visa and to legalize her stay in Poland. She thus
became a stateless person staying illegally in Poland – without documents, insurance, without the
possibility of continuing her studies. Victoria asked the President to confer her nationality due to
the difficult situation in which she found herself in. The Chancellery replied that it is not possible
as her ‘promise’ to get Polish nationality was no longer valid and that she could apply for Polish
nationality in the procedure before the Voivod. She was not eligible because her stay in Poland was
not legal. An NGO successfully helped Victoria to regularize her stay in Poland and to obtain Polish
nationality (she was conferred Polish nationality in June 2017).
“I think both Ukrainian and Polish authorities are to blame for the situation. The unfortunate turn of events
has made me very afraid. I was scared because I had no social security; I had to face up to the fact that I
would have nothing but my private means in the event I had health problems or an accident. I was afraid
whenever I saw a police car and policemen. I was scared I would be placed in a detention centre even
though I had lived legally in Poland for over 18 years. I lived in constant stress. I had to endure the fact
that all members of my family were subject to the same pressure. I was put on the margins of the society
because I had no identity documents.”
UNHCR POLAND, SEPTEMBER 2019
45