Renunciation of Kazakhstani citizenship in 2021: exit procedure, documents

Does Kazakhstan legislation allow second citizenship for its citizens?

According to the latest data, the Republic of Kazakhstan is economically the most successful among the other former Soviet republics. But despite this, the outflow of young people from the country is increasing every year. Russia is especially popular among Kazakh migrants.

Many have lived in the Russian Federation for years, started families here and received a residence permit. The next step to gain a foothold in the country is to acquire Russian citizenship. And this is where difficulties arise - after all, not everyone is ready to give up their passport, preferring to have dual citizenship.

The legislative framework of the Republic of Kazakhstan gives a clear interpretation of this situation - citizens of the republic can, at their own will, withdraw from citizenship, but having dual citizenship is prohibited and is punishable by law.

Sometimes confusion arises due to the fact that there is an agreement between Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation on simplified acquisition of citizenship. But at the same time, the agreement states that during the procedure one of the citizenships will have to be renounced.

Based on all of the above, we can conclude that Kazakhstanis planning to acquire Russian or any other citizenship must go through the procedure of renouncing the citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

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When renouncing citizenship, you apply for it yourself. But there are cases when a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan can lose citizenship even against his will, although he contributes to this indirectly. What are the grounds for loss of citizenship and the procedure for its registration?
In accordance with the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Citizenship”, citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan are not persons:

who submitted a written statement of unwillingness to be a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the relevant government bodies at their place of former residence before December 31, 1995;
those who did not reside permanently (or, to put it in the old way, did not have permanent registration) on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan at the time the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Citizenship” came into force, namely on March 1, 1992;
who registered the loss of citizenship or issued a renunciation of citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

We will talk in more detail about the loss of citizenship in this article.

Grounds for loss of citizenship

In accordance with Art. 21 of the Law “On Citizenship”, citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan can be lost by you:

as a result of entering military service, the security service, police, justice authorities or other bodies of state power and administration of another state, with the exception of cases provided for by interstate treaties of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
if citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan was acquired as a result of providing knowingly false information or false documents;
on the grounds provided for by interstate treaties of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
if you, permanently residing outside the Republic of Kazakhstan, have not registered with the consulate without good reason within 3 years.

Procedure for registering loss of citizenship

Internal affairs bodies carry out the necessary verification upon receipt of information or statements that a person residing on an identity card or passport of a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan is not a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan. If they establish the facts of entering the military service of another state and acquiring citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan as a result of submitting knowingly false information or false documents, they register the loss of citizenship.

Consular offices register the loss of citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan:

if in relation to a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan there are documents or other reliable information confirming his entry into military service, security service, police, justice authorities or other government bodies of another state. If you do not lose the citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan if you conclude an agreement with the specified bodies to perform duties in blue-collar professions (driver, mechanic, cleaner, electrician, etc.);
if a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan has not registered with the consulate without good reason within 3 years of permanent residence abroad. The 3-year rule does not apply to persons under 16 years of age. Depending on the circumstances, the head of the consular office independently assesses whether the reasons why a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan did not register with the consulate in a timely manner are valid;
if it is established that citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan was acquired as a result of the submission of knowingly false information or false documents.

Registration of the loss of citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan is carried out only after notifying the citizen himself of the reasons and grounds for making a decision to lose his citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan periodically submit information about persons who have lost citizenship to the State Legal Department of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Certificate of loss of citizenship

To obtain citizenship of another state, you may need a certificate of loss of citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

To issue such a certificate, you must personally or through a representative (by power of attorney, notarized) provide the following documents to the Consular Section of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in the country of location:

a personal statement addressed to the consul (or made by your representative using a notarized power of attorney);
a document confirming the citizenship of Kazakhstan (for example: a passport or identity card of a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, or a USSR passport of the 1974 model with a stamp of Kazakhstan citizenship, or a certificate of citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan from the passport office at the place of former residence in Kazakhstan, or a USSR passport of the 1974 model year with marks of permanent residence in Kazakhstan as of March 1, 1992 and an extract from the place of residence from Kazakhstan);
identification document;
photocopy of an identity document;
certified copies of documents confirming permanent residence in the territory of another state;
receipt of payment of the consular fee.

If necessary, the Embassy makes a request to the competent authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan at the applicant’s last place of residence.

Other grounds for loss of citizenship

The previous sections described all cases of loss of citizenship established in the Law “On Citizenship”, but this list is not exhaustive. Currently, there is an active discussion regarding another basis for the loss of citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which is not mentioned in this Law, but is based on the meaning of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 10 of the Constitution, a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan is not recognized as the citizenship of another state. Until recently, there were two opinions regarding the interpretation of this provision of the Constitution. The first interpretation was that if a citizen of Kazakhstan is not recognized as having another citizenship, this means that such a citizen retains the citizenship of Kazakhstan, and the other citizenship is simply ignored and has no legal force on the territory of our country.

The second interpretation was that since the citizenship of another state is not recognized for a citizen of Kazakhstan, it means that if this other citizenship is adopted, the citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan is lost in order to prevent the emergence of the institution of dual citizenship.

On December 1, 2003, a Resolution of the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan was adopted on this issue, which states that:

“The norm of paragraph 3 of Article 10 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan - “a citizen of the Republic is not recognized as the citizenship of another state” should be understood as the unacceptability of multiple, including dual, citizenship in the Republic of Kazakhstan. This means that the foreign citizen is not at the same time a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The constitutional principle “a citizen of the republic is not recognized as the citizenship of another state” is ensured by the following mechanism, arising from the meaning of paragraph 3 of Article 10 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan:

if a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan acquires citizenship of another state, then from that moment on he does not retain citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

Citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan is considered invalid if it is acquired by a foreigner without simultaneously ceasing citizenship of another state.”

Thus, the indicated resolution of the Constitutional Council established a new basis for the loss of citizenship of Kazakhstan - the acquisition of citizenship of another state. However, other legislative acts regulating issues of citizenship do not contain such a basis; only in May 2004, the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan introduced a draft law on amendments to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On Citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan” to the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and currently this draft not yet accepted.

From this we can conclude that the adoption of citizenship of another state is still a basis for the loss of Kazakhstani citizenship, but it will be applied in practice after appropriate amendments are made to the Law “On Citizenship”.

12.07.2004

Renunciation of Kazakhstan citizenship

The procedure for renouncing citizenship is quite lengthy and can be initiated in two ways.

How to renounce citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the territory of Kazakhstan

If a resident of the republic plans to time the renunciation of citizenship to coincide with leaving the country for permanent residence, then it is best to initiate the refusal 12 months before departure. To do this, you must generally contact the police department, namely the department dealing with migration issues.

Before visiting the police, you must pay a state fee. It is directly dependent on the minimum wage and changes as it increases. This year, applicants will have to part with an amount of 2,405 tenge.

At first glance, the refusal procedure itself looks simple:

Renunciation of citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the territory of the Russian Federation

Kazakhstanis living in Russia must not travel outside the country to initiate the exit procedure. They can go through all the stages in the Russian Federation.

To do this, you need to contact the diplomatic mission. Documents must be submitted in person only; sending by mail or courier service is not permitted.

It is best to pay for the service directly at the embassy in dollars or at the internal rate in rubles. You will have to pay from 30 to 300 dollars to renounce citizenship. The amount varies periodically, so to obtain up-to-date information at the time of submitting documents, you need to go to the official website of the diplomatic mission (www.kazembassy.ru).

Only those persons who do not have registration on the territory of Kazakhstan can renounce citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan outside the country. If the applicant did not take care of deregistration before leaving, he will have to go through the procedure at home.

In order to formalize the renunciation of citizenship, you must prepare the following papers:

Application form to be filled out in 2 copies;

Three 4 x 5 photographs;
Autobiography in 2 copies (it is written in free form);
A receipt for familiarization with the legal consequences of the applicant’s actions.

The listed documents are required in original. Copies must be made from:

Residence permit or permanent residence permit;
Passports (consulate staff will be interested in the mark of crossing the Russian border).

The last document can be replaced with a departure slip. It is issued at the Kazakhstan police department.

In addition to the above, it is necessary to provide the diplomatic mission employee with copies of the following certificates certified by a notary:

On marriage/divorce;
About the birth of children;
About adoption;
About the death of a husband/wife.

Reception at the consulate is strictly by appointment. Therefore, the document submission procedure will look like this:

Pre-entry;
Visit to the diplomatic mission;
Payment of duty;
Delivery of papers.

Refusal of Kazakh citizenship for minor children and incapacitated persons is formalized identically to the first case described above.

When submitting papers to the consulate, you will have to wait about a year for a decision. It comes into force immediately after the president's signature.

When you renounce your citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan, you still have the right to keep the accumulated part of your pension and even take it with you. But only those Kazakhstanis who have received a residence permit or permanent residence permit in a third-party state can do this.

The issue is resolved through the Pension Fund, where you need to submit:

Application (it is issued and filled out on site);
Migration card (copy);
Identity card (copy);
Agreement between an individual and the Pension Fund.

In most cases the decision is made in favor of the applicant.

Tokayev changed the procedure for registering loss of citizenship of Kazakhstan

Nur-Sultan. May 24. KazTAG – President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has changed the procedure for registering the loss of Kazakhstani citizenship, the agency’s correspondent reports.

In particular, paragraphs 28 and 29 of the regulations on the Commission on Citizenship Issues under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the decree of the head of state “On the Commission on Citizenship Issues under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan” are stated as follows:

"28. Internal affairs bodies register the loss of citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan:

as a result of a person entering military service, the security service, police, justice authorities or other public authorities and administration of another state, except for cases provided for by interstate treaties of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

if citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan was acquired as a result of providing knowingly false information or false documents;

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on the grounds provided for by interstate treaties of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

if the person has acquired citizenship of another state;

if a marriage with a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which served as the basis for the person to acquire citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan, is declared invalid by the court;

by the voluntary expression of the will of a child who is a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, transferred for adoption to foreigners upon reaching adulthood;

due to a person’s participation in foreign armed conflicts, extremist and (or) terrorist activities on the territory of a foreign state.

Foreign institutions register the loss of citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan in relation to persons living outside the Republic of Kazakhstan:

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if citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan was acquired as a result of providing knowingly false information or false documents;

on the grounds provided for by interstate treaties of the Republic of Kazakhstan;

if the person has acquired citizenship of another state;

if a marriage with a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which served as the basis for the person to acquire citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan, is declared invalid by the court;

by the voluntary expression of the will of a child who is a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, transferred for adoption to foreigners upon reaching adulthood;

due to a person’s participation in foreign armed conflicts, extremist and (or) terrorist activities on the territory of a foreign state.”

The new version of the decree has already been put into effect.

Reasons why renunciation of Kazakhstani citizenship may be denied

The grounds for refusal are clearly stated in the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This list includes:

A criminal record that has not yet been expunged;
Being under investigation;
Possession of secret information, the disclosure of which would harm the security of the state;
Availability of different types of debt.

The last point raises a large number of questions, since it includes not only monetary debts, but also other obligations.

Applicants for renunciation should be prepared for refusal if they:

They have a debt to the state (unpaid taxes, for example);
The loan was not closed;
Did not pay the fine;
Have not served in the army;
Did not comply with the court decision;
They didn't pay child support and so on.

These list items are checked first and often become grounds for refusal to renounce citizenship.

Responsibility for having a second citizenship among Kazakhstanis

The laws of Kazakhstan do not allow dual citizenship, so special raids are carried out to identify such cases.

If a second passport is discovered, the following sanctions may be applied:

Automatic loss of citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
Five-year ban on holding a republican passport;
Fine in the amount of 100 minimum wages;
Penalties in the amount of 200 minimum wages;
Expatriation.

If a citizen of Kazakhstan has acquired citizenship of another state, he must report this and surrender his passport to the Republic of Kazakhstan within 3 days. After this, he is considered to have automatically lost his Kazakh citizenship.