The Authority agreed to grant the applicant German citizenship. As a condition, however, it required him to renounce his previous Ukrainian citizenship. This requirement to renounce citizenship only lapses after eight years of residence in Germany. But Mr. Kosar would not like to wait another two years. On the other hand, applying to the Ukrainian embassy with a request to renounce citizenship is practically futile. The procedure for processing the request takes years, costs considerable money, is deliberately complicated, and ultimately leads to nothing. Can the Citizenship Authority consider his situation individually?
Sheer bureaucracy
The answer to this is unequivocally no. Igor Kosar's petition was reviewed strictly in accordance with the law. Eight years of residence in Germany give Jewish contingent refugees the right to dual citizenship. Six years of residence are not considered sufficient; here the Citizenship Authority has the right to decide at its discretion. In such a case of accelerated naturalization, the standard requirement is for the applicant to renounce his old citizenship. Exceptions to this rule are possible: this is the case if the foreigner's country of origin arbitrarily refuses to release him from its citizenship or attaches unacceptable conditions to this renunciation.
My clients' accounts of the atmosphere in the Ukrainian embassy in Germany and the treatment of the country's citizens point to acts of arbitrariness and sheer bureaucracy on the part of diplomatic staff. Thus it can be predicted in advance how contacts with the envoys of this 'independent' and 'autonomous' country will end. In this case, the German authorities should not force applicants to spend years begging the embassy of their country of origin to have mercy and grant them permission to renounce their original citizenship.
German authorities set a period of approximately one year during which the applicant must demonstrate his efforts to renounce his previous citizenship (registered letters to the embassy, reminders requesting a response, appointments with the consul, phone calls, etc.). Documentary evidence of arbitrariness on the part of the country of origin provides grounds for a claim to German citizenship as a second nationality.
The slower you go, the further you'll get
In our specific case of I. Kosar's nearly six-year residence in Germany, the following can be said: issuing a guarantee of naturalization (Einbuergerungszusicherung) requires at least six months for the competent authority. This guarantee constitutes the German authorities' consent to grant the applicant German citizenship on the condition that he renounces his previous – in this case Ukrainian – citizenship. Then I. Kosar needs another year to prove the futility or success of his attempts to renounce Ukrainian citizenship. After 7.5 years, it is possible to talk with German officials about meeting the necessary prerequisites for obtaining second German citizenship. These talks may last another one or two years. In total, Igor Kosar's path to the earliest possible acquisition of citizenship may take 7-9 years.
For all the above reasons, I do not consider it advisable to use the legally provided opportunity for naturalization after six years of residence in the country. I recommend submitting a naturalization application after seven years of residence, with a reference to the possibility of painlessly obtaining second citizenship after eight years of life in Germany. The question of whether to retain or renounce one's previous citizenship should be decided on an individual basis.