Adjustment of the Law “On Citizenship”

The plenary meeting of the Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic on May 15 began with a minute of silence in memory of deceased former statesmen. Deputy of the fourth convocation of parliament Oleg Gudymo passed away on May 8, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Vladimir Yastrebchak passed away on May 11.

Parliamentarians moving on to the agenda considered amendments to the Constitutional Law “On Citizenship of the PMR”. The authors of the law-in-draft are deputies of the Committee on Legislation, Protection of Rights and Freedoms of Citizens proposed to simplify the acquisition of Pridnestrovian citizenship for children. As explained by co-author, Deputy Chairman of the Committee Grigory Dyachenko, the law currently stipulates that in order to acquire Pridnestrovian citizenship, minors need an application from two parents who are citizens of the PMR. A group of deputies of the Committee on Legislation, based on requests from citizens, proposed adjusting this norm.

The deputy corps agreed with the opinion of the authors and adopted the law-in-draft at a plenary session in two readings at once, taking into account the amendments received. Now the Constitutional Law “On PMR Citizenship” will stipulate that a child living in our republic will be able to obtain PMR citizenship if one of the parents applies to the passport department. The consent of the second parent is no longer required.

The law-in-draft provides for the possibility of acquiring citizenship by a child not only if one of the parents has PMR citizenship, but if the other parent acquires PMR citizenship together with the child. The consent of the second parent is also not required in this case.

The adopted amendments to the Constitutional Law “On Citizenship of the PMR” will come into force after signing on the day following the day of official publication.