With the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022, more and more foreigners and stateless persons began to be interested in the topic of obtaining an official Ukrainian document. Thus, the question of officially obtaining Ukrainian citizenship is faced by both active volunteers, defenders and other foreigners who are in the territory of Ukraine, as well as citizens of other countries abroad.
However, few people know that citizenship of the Ukrainian state for some individual citizens of other democratic countries can be obtained through a simplified procedure, which we will discuss in our material below and provide a complete list of countries whose citizens have the right to do so.
Read also: Peace in Ukraine: when will it happen and what are the forecasts for 2026?
The procedure for obtaining Ukrainian citizenship under a simplified procedure
To begin with, let’s explain how the simplified procedure for obtaining Ukrainian citizenship for individual citizens of foreign countries differs from the general procedure for obtaining a Ukrainian passport.
The simplified procedure for acquiring Ukrainian citizenship provides for the registration of citizen status in a much shorter time (3–4 months instead of several years) without the need to obtain permission from the President of Ukraine – the decision is made by the head of the State Migration Service (SMS) .
In particular, before the changes in May 2026, this list included the following countries whose citizens had the right to a simplified procedure without the signature of the President of Ukraine: Canada, Germany, Poland, the USA, and the Czech Republic.
However, after the Cabinet of Ministers expanded the list of countries for simplified obtaining of Ukrainian citizenship in accordance with Resolution No. 589 of May 8, 2026, the following countries have now joined the list of citizens of other countries who have the right to a simplified procedure for obtaining a passport of the state of Ukraine: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Greece, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Hungary, Finland, France, Croatia, Switzerland and Sweden.
28 countries were added to the list at once, the detailed text of the resolution is available for reading below.
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