Post
by Denis888 » Thu Jul 06, 2017 3:35 am
@JAJ, thanks a lot for your feedback and suggestions. I will answer each suggestion and point that you made.
1- Both my maternal(British)grandparents were born in England. I do have a great-grandparent who has an Irish surname, but even she was born in England(Yes I know all about my family tree). So I think that route is out of the question. As for my wife, I asked her about any possible foreign heritages that she had about a month ago and as far as we know,both her parents are fully Ukrainian and the same applies to her grandparents. However we don't fully know about her great-grandparents. But it is interesting that you suggested this route as we talked about it not long ago. As I am sure you know, Ukrainians of Polish,Hungarian and Romanian(I am not sure if there are more countries,these are the most common when it comes to applications) ancestry can apply for citizenships of those respective countries. Of these 3 countries, it seems Romanian is the easiest to get. There have been documentaries about how Ukrainians with no Romanian ancestry have received Romanian citizenship. These companies add a Romanian person/name to the family tree and then you apply for Romanian citizenship on the basis that you have a Romanian grandparent or something. But we do not want to take the risk on something like that, even though it is tempting as many Ukrainians have taken that route to claim Romanian citizenship.
2- Yes, your right about my situation with my mother being British by descent. If I was from a Commonwealth Country, I could at least apply for an Ancestry Visa, but being Russian, I can't even do that. I think the only benefit that I have with my mother being British, is that it probably makes it easier when I apply for tourist visas into the UK, Apart from that, there are no real tangible benefits from what I can see, which is really frustrating. She is as English as you get, with almost no other ancestry(apart from a little Irish going way back).
3- Interesting about my mother helping us work in Europe by setting up a business there. I have looked for such information online, but information on such a thing is hard to find. Any recommended EU countries which would allow this? and which EU country would offer the best deal(less requirements) as far as this is concerned? Being sponsored by my mother was what I was thinking about, but which countries give the best deals or the best opportunities on this front? We also don't want to have to wait 10 or more years to get citizenship, but 5 or 6 or even 7 years would be acceptable. I know the UK is intending on leaving the EU in 2019, but I am pretty sure we will remain in the single market, despite what Teresa May is pushing for(that's just my opinion).
4- Which EU countries would be the easiest for us to get work visas in? With the knowledge that these visas would help us attain permanent residence and then citizenship? I know that Poland has a scheme whereby Ukrainians are offered work there for 6 months, but I am not sure if that scheme can lead to permanent residency and then potential citizenship.
5- Yes my friend I have considered EU states with similar cultural affinity. Bulgaria in particular seems appealing from our perspectives for a number of reasons. But states with cultural affinity to ours don't really make it any easier for us to move there. It's funny you should mention Serbia as well, because I was considering this country only last week, with the knowledge that Serbia is a candidate for joining the EU. I looked into their scheme where they give you Citizenship if you buy a property in Serbia. However on further research, I found the extra fee's alone would cost in excess of 35,000 Euros. Add the face that I have read that it would be hard to get your money back on the properties when you are allowed to sell them 5 years down the line(this is not such a problem as I am sure we would get most of our money back). But the 35,000 Euros on fees, seemed a bit steep, that's money we would never see back. If Serbia was currently an EU state, we would give it more consideration, but as there is no guarantee that Serbia will be allowed to join the EU, this offer sounds less tempting. Albania offers a similar scheme, all be it, slightly cheaper.
6- To be honest, our citizenships are not that important for us. We are practical people and we want to live in countries which will offer us the possibility of a real productive future. Russia and Ukraine limit us as far as this is concerned, our prospects aren't good here. It's true that dual citizenship is not allowed in Ukraine. However, in Ukraine there is an estimated 5 million people who have dual citizenship. Even several politicians and billionaire business men have more than one citizenship, this is no secret, everyone here knows about this. But losing our citizenship's is not so much of a problem, if it means we can move to a country with better opportunities and a country which will give us citizenship after a few years.
7- We would prefer to live in the EU and become a citizen of an EU country, rather than a country in the Americas. I have considered Canada in the past, but only because it is a Commonwealth country(I have considered other Commonwealth Countries as well). Because if I get Canadian citizenship, I would be able to move to the UK with my wife on an Ancestry Visa. But as far as I know it would take a lot of time to get Canadian citizenship, maybe you could enlighten me more on this.
8- I would also like to ask, what are the Commonwealth Countries which allow citizenship the easiest? There are some really poor countries in the Commonwealth, one would think that some of these countries would allow others to attain citizenship of their countries with relative ease. But as far as I know, St Lucia and Dominica sell their citizenships for around $110,000(this is including the extra fees) and this is the cheapest scheme from all the Commonwealth Countries on offer. If I had to pay half this amount, I would consider it, but $110,000 is a bit excessive for us, even though we can actually pay that amount. Because that is money we will not get back, it goes into their pockets. There are some really poor countries that are a member of the Commonwealth, I mean countries like Zambia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Rwanda are some of the poorest countries out there. Do they not sell their citizenships in order to boost their economies, like other countries have done. It's not as if people will be lining up to get citizenships from these countries, the locals are not going to get swamped by foreigners. It's people like me who would consider these countries, to help me get to the UK.)
Thanks and I look forward to your reply.)
