Dokument #1263693
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
According to the World Human Rights
Guide, dissidents, defecting tourists, artists, etc., may be
deprived of their nationality. [ Charles Humana, World Human
Rights Guide (London: The Economist Publications, 1986), p.
292.] It should be noted, however, that the date of publication is
1986. According to the attached article from Report on the
USSR,
"Whereas in the past people who left the USSR to settle
permanently in a 'capitalist' country immediately became nonpersons
whose names it was forbidden to cite in print in any positive
context (even in footnotes to scientific works), nowadays many
Soviet literary journals are publishing the works of
émigrés ... Writers and artists who were granted
political asylum in the West visit the Soviet Union as a matter of
course...Soviet citizens are now allowed to visit their
émigré friends and relatives ... [ John Stavis and
Julia Wishnevsky, "The Impact of Glasnost on Soviet
Emigration Policy", Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Report on
the USSR, Vol. 1, No. 40, 6 October 1989, p.4.]
Although those who were expelled from the
Soviet Union may have regained recognition and are permitted to
travel to the Soviet Union, there is no information in the sources
regularly consulted by the IRBDC as to whether or not these persons
have been permitted to regain their citizenship if they had been
deprived of it.
According to the Refugee Affairs section of
the Department of External Affairs, the fact that a person has a
Soviet passport is no guarantee that they have the right to Soviet
citizenship. [ As reported in Information Request #SUN1615, 26 July
1989.] Each application for citizenship by a citizen who has been
outside the Soviet Union for a great length of time is reviewed on
a case-by-case basis. In addition, each time a Soviet citizen
returns to the Soviet Union they must reapply for residence status
which is also reviewed on a case-by-case basis and is not
automatically guaranteed. [ Ibid.]
A more recent report from External Affairs
states that:
Under existing regulations persons who left the USSR illegally and
return to the country are liable for two to four years'
imprisonment. Also, persons who overstay legal visits abroad and
return to the USSR are liable for a fine of approximately $15.00
Cdn for each year of unauthorized over-stay. The Soviet Embassy
indicates that these penalties are not usually imposed and that the
new emigration and foreign travel law is expected to abolish them.
[ External Affairs, "Emigration/Family Visit Regulations, Eastern
Europe", 19 March 1990.]
According to the United States Department
of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988
(Washington: Government Printing Office, 1989):
During 1988 thousands of Soviet citizens residing abroad
permanently as well as former Soviet citizens were permitted to
return on short family visits or for other reasons. ... In 1988
Soviet authorities continued a trend begun in 1987 to permit
emigrants to return for tourist visits to the USSR, both those who
had retained Soviet citizenship and Soviet passports and
thoseprimarily Soviet Jews who had emigrated on Israeli vyzovswho
had been stripped of Soviet citizenship. However those who had
obtained a second citizenship were not permitted a grace period to
determine if they wished to return permanently. As soon as a
returning former citizen requested housing or medical services or
even a residency permit, local authorities required the surrender
of the Soviet foreign travel passport or Soviet exit visa and the
acceptance of an internal passport before services could be made
available. [ Country Reports 1988, pp. 1227-28.]
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