Law or policy reform enabling automatic acquisition of nationality Recognition of stateless former USSR citizens as citizens and simplified naturalization procedures through the 2007 Citizenship Law Recognizing that many individuals had yet to replace USSR passports and confirm their citizenship, Kyrgyzstan adopted the Law on Citizenship of the Kyrgyz Republic in 2007 (2007 Law).20 Shortly thereafter, Presidential Decree #473, “Regulation on Procedures to Consider Issues of Kyrgyz Republic Citizenship” was issued, providing implementing rules for the new law. Article 5 of the 2007 Law automatically recognizes as Kyrgyz nationals former USSR citizens who have permanently resided in the Kyrgyz Republic for the last five years (from the moment of approaching an organ of the Ministry of Interior) and who have not declared that they possess the citizenship of another State.21 Individuals falling within this category are required to lodge an application with a citizenship determination commission in the territorial passport unit. These citizenship commissions may then confirm if a person is a Kyrgyz citizen, or a stateless person. This is significant, considering that the process whereby citizenship is granted in Central Asia and elsewhere in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region is usually highly centralized, with naturalization decisions in most cases taken by the President. The decentralized, non-discretionary procedure in Kyrgyzstan has meant that a large number of cases have been processed in only a few years’ time (nearly 45,000 citizenship determinations and replacements of USSR passports between 2009 and 2012). The procedure for citizenship determination is also characterized by a remarkable degree of flexibility and contains some important procedural safeguards, as described below. Another important innovation in the 2007 Law was the inclusion of simplified procedures for naturalization of foreign citizens and stateless persons. Article 13 sets out the ordinary naturalization procedure, under which foreign citizens and stateless persons who reach the age of 18 can apply to naturalize if they meet certain criteria.22 20 Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Citizenship of the Kyrgyz Republic [Kyrgyzstan], available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/ docid/4693a5e514f.html 21 This means that from the moment the individual applies for determination of Kyrgyz citizenship, the authority competent to make the nationality determination counts backwards to see whether an individual contacted a department of the Ministry of Interior five years ago or more (usually to regulate their residence status). 22 These include: a minimum of five years of permanent and continuous residence in the Kyrgyz Republic; ability to speak the state or official language at a level sufficient for communication; a commitment to respect the Constitution and laws of the country; and a source of income. U N H C R > G P P A C T I O N 1 : R E S O LV I N G E X I S T I N G M A J O R S I T U AT I O N S O F S TAT E L E S S N E S S 23