Евразийское экономическое сообщество

AGREEMENT

between the Republic of Belarus,

the Republic of Kazakhstan,

the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation

on simplified procedures of citizenship acquisition

of 26 February 1999¹

The Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation, hereinafter referred to as the Parties,

guided by the endeavor of the peoples of the four countries to preserve and reinforce their historically close ties,

confirming commitment to their obligations as regards the provision of rights and freedoms of people in compliance with generally accepted international standards,

wishing to ensure favorable conditions for citizens to implement the right to choose and acquire citizenship of another Party on the basis of free expression of popular will,

have agreed as follows:

Article 1

1. Each Party shall provide the right to acquire citizenship through a simplified (registration) procedure to the citizens of another Party arriving on its territory, given one of the following conditions:

a) the applicant is a citizen of the Belarus Soviet Social Republic, the Kazakh Soviet Social Republic, the Kyrgyz Soviet Social Republic or the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and concomitantly, a citizen of the former USSR, was born or lived on the territory of the Party of the citizenship to be acquired before December 21, 1991;

b) a close relative of the applicant permanently resides on the territory of the Party of the citizenship to be acquired, and is a permanent citizen thereof: a spouse, a parent (foster parent), a child (including an adopted child), a sister, brother, grandfather or grandmother, a grandson or granddaughter.

2. The procedure indicated in Paragraph 1 hereof applies to citizens of the Parties who are permanent residents on the territory of another Party, regardless of the period of residence on the territory of the Party of the citizenship to be acquired.

Acquisition of the citizenship of one of the Parties and withdrawal from the citizenship of another Party shall be effected on the basis of free expression of will of the interested parties in compliance with the legislation of the Parties and the provisions of this Agreement.

Article 2

1. A citizen of one of the Parties shall submit the following documents to the corresponding authorities of another Party for the purpose of acquiring citizenship:

an application completed in the form approved by competent authorities of the Parties;

a passport or other identification document confirming the citizenship of one of the Parties;

notarized copies of the birth and marriage certificate;

a document confirming one of the categories provided for in Paragraph 1, Article 1 hereof.

2. Internal affairs agencies shall register the acquisition of citizenship of one of the Parties in compliance with this Agreement no later than 3 months after submission of the documents, in compliance with requirements provided for by the national legislation of this Party.

3. If the citizenship of one of the Parties is acquired with the simultaneous loss of the citizenship of another Party, according to the national legislation of this Party, the applicant shall preserve the citizenship of the other Party until a positive decision is reached in respect of his/her application.

Article 3

If parents change their citizenship, consequently becoming citizens of ano ther Party, the citizenship of their under-age children shall change correspondingly.

If one of the parents of under-age children is a citizen of one of the Parties and the other parent acquires the citizenship of another Party, the citizenship of the children shall be established by agreement of the parents, according to national legislation that should be expressed in the application submitted, in compliance with Article 2 hereof.

The children of separated parents shall preserve the citizenship of the parent caring for them, unless the parents have agreed otherwise.

If one parent has the citizenship of one Party and the other of another Party, the citizenship of the children established upon their attainment of majority can be changed in compliance with the legislation of the Parties.

The citizenship of children shall not change when parents deprived of parental rights change their citizenship. No consent of parents deprived of parental rights is required for their children to change citizenship.

Article 4

Competent authorities of the Parties shall agree on the forms, amounts and timeframe for exchanging information related to implementing Articles 2 and 3 hereof.

Article 5

If the national legislation of a Party or international agreements in which the Party participates establish more beneficial terms for acquisition of citizenship, the norms of the national legislation or corresponding international agreement shall be applied.

The Parties shall take measures directed towards unification of their legislation on citizenship.

Article 6

The issues related to interpretation or application of this Agreement shall be resolved by consultations among the Parties.

Article 7

This Agreement shall be subject to ratification.

Instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Integration Committee that acts as the depositary of this Agreement.

The Agreement shall be open for accession thereto, with consent of the Parties, of other CIS member states that share the objectives and principles of this Agreement, by submission to the depositary of the ratification instruments concerning such accession.

Article 8

This Agreement shall come into effect on the thirtieth day after depositing the last instrument of ratification.

This Agreement shall come into effect for each state that accedes to it on the thirtieth day after depositing its instrument of ratification.

Article 9

Each Party may withdraw from this Agreement upon submitting a written notification to the depositary. This Agreement shall terminate in respect of this Party six months after the depositary received the notification.

Done at Moscow on February 26, 1999, in one original copy in the Russian language.

The original shall be deposited with the Integration Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan, which shall transmit a certified copy to each state that has signed this Agreement.

For the Republic of Belarus                                A. Lukashenko

For the Republic of Kazakhstan                         N. Nazarbayev

For the Kyrgyz Republic                                     A. Akayev

For the Russian Federation                                B. Yeltsin