On the Citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan
"I am a Ukrainian citizen, I live in Kazakhstan, I got married, and I have children. Can I obtain Kazakh citizenship, and what do I need to do?"
Dual Citizenship
Since 2024, Germany has allowed most naturalizing citizens to keep their previous citizenship — though exceptions still apply for certain countries (§§ 10-12 StAG).
"I've been living in Germany for 8 years with a Kazakh passport, and I want to obtain German citizenship, but I don't know whether I need to renounce my Kazakh citizenship to do so. I've heard something about automatically losing Kazakh citizenship upon leaving the country."
"What is the difference between renouncing Kazakh citizenship and losing it?"
"I was born in Kazakhstan. After the collapse of the USSR, I obtained a Kazakh citizen's passport and moved permanently to Germany. I am now a German citizen, but I don't want to lose my Kazakh citizenship (I have my reasons). I'm interested in the following questions:
— at what point does loss of Kazakh citizenship take effect;
— does the loss of citizenship happen automatically, or only after personally filing an application with the consulate;
— are there any deadlines for appealing a decision depriving someone of Kazakh citizenship?"
These and many other questions come to our law firm from former citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan, from citizens who currently hold Kazakh citizenship, and from people wishing to acquire Kazakh citizenship.
In this article, we will try to answer some of these questions, citing the legal framework that governs this area of law. If this topic interests you and you have further questions, please get in touch with our firm — we are always ready to help.
Citizenship matters in the Republic of Kazakhstan are governed by the Constitution of Kazakhstan, the Law on Citizenship, and other legislative acts issued in accordance with them.
Under the law, Kazakh citizenship is acquired by birth; where a person was resident in Kazakhstan on 1 March 1992 and did not declare their unwillingness to hold Kazakh citizenship by 1 March 1995; or as a result of being granted citizenship. Being granted citizenship is divided into a simplified procedure and the standard general procedure.
Under Article 16 of the Law "On Citizenship," the following persons may be granted Kazakh citizenship: those who have permanently resided in Kazakhstan for at least 5 years; those married to a Kazakh citizen; and those who have a close relative residing in Kazakhstan who holds Kazakh citizenship (for the latter two grounds, the length of residence in Kazakhstan is irrelevant).
The simplified (registration) procedure for granting citizenship is carried out under international agreements concluded by Kazakhstan (currently, Kazakhstan has such agreements with Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Ukraine). The standard general procedure for granting Kazakh citizenship applies in all other cases. The difference between the two procedures lies in the required length of residence in the Republic, the number of documents that must be submitted to the authorized bodies, and which government body has jurisdiction to review citizens' citizenship applications.
We will not provide, within the scope of this article, the full list of documents that must be submitted to the competent authorities of Kazakhstan if you intend to obtain Kazakh citizenship — you can find that list yourself on the website of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, or by contacting our firm.
Our readers are most interested in questions concerning the renunciation and loss of citizenship.
"I live in Germany. Have I automatically lost my Kazakh citizenship, or do I need to formally renounce it? What is required to renounce Kazakh citizenship? And if there was no automatic loss of citizenship, can I still exercise the rights of a Kazakh citizen — for example, voting in elections, traveling to Kazakhstan visa-free on a Kazakh passport, and so on?"
If you are a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan but permanently reside outside it and wish to obtain another country's citizenship, you may file an application to renounce Kazakh citizenship. Residing outside Kazakhstan by itself does not terminate citizenship (permanent residence abroad involves deregistering with Kazakhstan's internal affairs authorities, obtaining permission to leave the country permanently, and registering with the consular office in the country of residence).
In this case, you must submit an application addressed to the President of Kazakhstan through the Kazakh consular office in Germany. You can find the list of documents to attach to the application on the website of the Kazakh Embassy or from our firm as well. Applications to renounce citizenship generally take around 6 months to review.
As for the so-called "automatic" loss of Kazakh citizenship: under Article 21 of the Kazakh Law "On Citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan," Kazakh citizenship is lost if a person permanently residing outside Kazakhstan fails, without good cause, to register with the consulate within 3 years. However, this does not mean that failing to register with the consular office in your country of residence automatically causes you to lose Kazakh citizenship. Under Article 37 of the same law, Kazakh citizenship terminates only at the moment its loss is registered with a state authority, following the procedure set out by law. In other words, unless the President of Kazakhstan has issued a decree on the loss of your Kazakh citizenship, and that loss has been registered with a state authority, you remain a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
But there is another category of citizens who, having moved to Germany permanently as late resettlers, automatically received German citizenship. How should their status be understood — are they citizens of both countries, Germany and Kazakhstan, or does an "automatic" loss of Kazakh citizenship apply after all?
To clarify this situation, let us cite the explanation given in the Resolution of the Constitutional Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On the Official Interpretation of Articles 10 and 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan": "The rule set out in Article 10(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan — 'a citizen of the Republic shall not be recognized as holding the citizenship of another state' — should be understood as meaning that multiple citizenship, including dual citizenship, is not permitted in the Republic of Kazakhstan. This means that a foreign citizen cannot simultaneously be a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The constitutional principle that 'a citizen of the Republic shall not be recognized as holding the citizenship of another state' is given effect through the following mechanism, derived from the meaning of Article 10(3) of the Constitution: if a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan acquires the citizenship of another state, they no longer retain Kazakh citizenship from that moment on; and citizenship of the Republic is deemed invalid if acquired by a foreign national without simultaneously terminating their citizenship of another state."
As you can see, back in 2003, Kazakhstan's Constitutional Council already defined the moment at which Kazakh citizenship terminates — namely, the acquisition of another state's citizenship. Consequently, the consular offices' position that former Kazakh citizens are required to formally process the loss of their citizenship is unfounded, and any requirement to pay a consular fee for processing this loss-of-citizenship procedure is unlawful.
Under Article 41 of the Kazakh Law "On Citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan," an unfounded refusal to accept citizenship applications, a failure to meet the deadlines for reviewing applications, as well as other unlawful actions by officials that violate the procedure for handling citizenship matters and implementing citizenship-related decisions, may be appealed, in the manner established by law, to a superior official in the chain of command or to a court.
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