Citizenship of the European Union by origin: which Ukrainians have the right to receive it
The issue of EU citizenship by descent is increasingly going beyond family conversations and into a practical plane, because for some Ukrainians it is connected with the history of their own family. In this case, the decisive factor is not family ties or DNA test results, but a consistent package of official documents that connects the applicant with an ancestor who had citizenship of a certain state.
Historical map of the place
At the heart of such cases is the principle of jus sanguinis, that is, the right to citizenship by descent. Most EU countries recognize the possibility of restoring or acquiring citizenship for descendants of their former citizens, but each such case is based on an uninterrupted documentary chain, where each generation must be confirmed by civil status acts, archival records, passports or other state documents.
The starting point is always not the desire to find “European roots”, but the historical map of the place where your ancestors lived, because it is this that determines which country you should move towards. Parts of the modern territory of Ukraine were part of other states at different times, so the place of birth of a great-grandfather or great-grandmother may be more legally important than family assumptions.
For families from Chernivtsi and parts of southern Ukraine, the Romanian period may be decisive, for Galicia before 1939 – Polish or Austro-Hungarian jurisdiction, for Transcarpathia – Hungarian or Czechoslovakian. Therefore, the search should begin with the exact establishment of the old name of the settlement, the year of birth of the ancestor, the religion of the family, possible changes of the surname, facts of deportation, service in the army or departure abroad, because it is these details that often lead to the necessary archive.
The basis of any case of citizenship by descent consists of civil status records that connect generations, as well as documents confirming the citizenship of an ancestor. Such a package includes birth, marriage and death certificates, archival certificates, records from registry books, old passports, military documents, residence certificates or registration records.
Family archives often provide the first thread for the search, so it is worth reviewing old certificates, letters, certificates, pre-war papers, Soviet documents and any records with foreign addresses. Individual documents are often stored in different branches of the family, which is why the result depends on how completely it is possible to collect everything that is left in the family.
Where to look for confirmation
After the family archive, the search usually moves to state and church institutions, because it is there that the records, registry records and certificates are stored, which can fill in the gaps in the chain. To do this, they turn to regional archives, civil registry offices, church archives, and foreign archival institutions if the document was created in another country.
A separate role is played by digital genealogical platforms, where some of the records from Poland, Romania, Hungary, and the former Austria-Hungary have already been digitized. Such resources help find mentions of birth, marriage, or death, although official extracts, certificates, or properly executed copies will still be required to submit the case.
When submitting documents, you will have to take into account another mandatory requirement: the papers must be apostilled and translated by a sworn translator into the language of the country that is considering the application. Without this, even the original document may be left out of consideration.
In which countries is there a chance to obtain citizenship by descent
The procedure in Poland requires a particularly careful check of the continuity of citizenship, because in such cases the moment of naturalization of the ancestor in another state is of great importance. If he lost Polish citizenship before the birth of the next generation, this can destroy the entire chain. For confirmation, Polish passports, records from population registers, civil status acts and archival certificates are usually sought.
Italian citizenship by descent was long considered one of the widest mechanisms in Europe, but after the changes in 2025, the circle of applicants became narrower. For new cases, the key is considered to be a connection with a father or grandfather who was a citizen of Italy, while previously the boundaries were wider. In any case, such a case will not progress without a full package of documents from the applicant to the Italian ancestor.
For some Ukrainians, one of the most practical directions remains Romania, since the right to restore citizenship extends to descendants of people who lived in territories that once belonged to the Romanian state. Most often, this path is associated with the Chernivtsi region and part of the Odessa region, and the key evidence is the ancestor’s civil status records, confirmation of the place of birth, and documents certifying his civil status.
Bulgarian citizenship can be obtained by children, grandchildren, and sometimes great-grandchildren of Bulgarian citizens or ethnic Bulgarians. Here, archival confirmations of origin, entries in church books, as well as certificates recording the Bulgarian nationality of the ancestor are of particular importance.
The Irish system allows citizenship to be obtained through the Foreign Births Register for grandchildren of Irish people, and for great-grandchildren, the decisive factor is whether their parents managed to register before the child’s birth. In the absence of such a record, the hereditary transfer of citizenship is interrupted, so in cases involving Ireland, the timeliness of family registration is of great importance.
The Slovenian procedure provides for the possibility of repatriation for descendants of Slovenian emigrants, but with increasing distance between the applicant and the ancestor, the requirements for evidence become stricter. Therefore, success depends on how accurately the entire family chain can be reconstructed on the basis of official records and archival materials.
The Spanish path is primarily associated with the “law of grandchildren”, which applies to descendants of people who left the country due to political persecution. In such cases, it is not enough to simply establish kinship, as the reason for emigration must also be proven. For some applicants, classical citizenship by descent also applies, but the circle of persons in it is narrower.
In the case of Slovakia, confirmation of Slovak nationality or citizenship of an ancestor is key, and the main sources often turn out to be census records, church books and local archival funds. For families from territories that historically belonged to other states, such a search often turns out to be difficult due to changes in administrative boundaries and names of settlements.
The Maltese rules depend on the applicant’s date of birth, as well as which of the parents or grandparents had citizenship. It is important to check whether the ancestor retained citizenship at the time of the birth of the next generation, because losing this status by the relevant date may make the transfer impossible.
Why DNA testing does not work as evidence
Interest in genealogical services and DNA testing has now increased, but no EU country grants citizenship on the basis of genetic analysis. For a consulate or court, acts, registers, passports and archival records are important, while the percentages of “Polish”, “Italian” or “Irish” origin remain only an auxiliary clue for the search.
There is still a practical benefit to such tests, because they can narrow the geography of the search or lead to distant relatives who have already researched a certain branch of the family and have saved copies of documents. Such a result has no legal force, so the path to citizenship begins and ends with papers.
Why cases are most often ruined
The most common difficulties arise where the same name or surname was written differently in documents from different countries and different eras, which is why one person can appear in the archive under several spelling options. An equally serious problem is the lack of a marriage certificate, which explains the change of surname, because without such a document the chain of kinship loses its integrity.
Often, the naturalization of an ancestor in another country before the birth of his child also ruins the case, since for some countries such a circumstance means the termination of the transfer of citizenship by descent. A separate block of errors is associated with technical things: documents without an apostille, translations without proper registration, as well as confusion between modern and historical names of cities, villages and regions.
Before starting the procedure, you need to establish three things: where and when the ancestor was born, what citizenship he had at that time and whether he retained it at the time when the next generation was born. Only after that does it make sense to collect archival certificates, order extracts and build a complete package of documents.
For Ukrainians whose families come from border regions and have confirmed ties with former citizens of European states, the path to an EU passport through origin really exists. Success in such a matter is determined not by a beautiful family history, but by the accuracy of archival search, attention to dates and the ability to prove each link in the family connection with official records.
