Moldova: law on citizenship will change to eliminate risks for state security

More stringent rules will be included in the legislation of Moldova, designed to eliminate risks for the security of the state and public order in the procedure for recognizing citizenship of the republic.

The corresponding draft amendments to the law on citizenship is adopted today in parliament in the first reading, reports Moldipres.

The document was developed by the deputy of the Faction of the Party “Action and Solidarity” Igor Kiriyak. In his opinion, amendments are necessary in the context of the risks caused by the conflict in Ukraine.

“Over the past two years, there has been an increase in the number of applicants for the citizenship of the Republic of Moldova, 70 percent of which are from the Russian Federation, and 20 percent from Ukraine. Moreover, the authorities also revealed attempts to deceive the citizenship of the Republic of Moldova,” the said In an informative note to the project.

The deputy proposes a series of changes to the law on citizenship of the Republic of Moldova. Thus, not all persons who were born and lived in the territory of the Republic of Moldova, who do not have citizenship of other states and petition for recognition of citizenship of our country, will receive it.

The exception applies to persons who, during the consideration of the statements, are serving or must serve a criminal sentence of imprisonment by the court sentence, have outstanding criminal record or are under investigation.

Applications submitted by these persons will be rejected, as well as applications for determining the citizenship of the Republic of Moldova or the recognition by citizens of Moldova who will contain false information or hide the relevant data.

In this context, it is proposed to introduce the obligation to coordinate these requests with the information and security service. The deadline for consideration of applications for obtaining citizenship is proposed to extend for another 6 months.