DS-260 Other Nationality question

[regent 1]

Hi all,

I've search for this on the forums and Google, but can't find an definitive answer. I hope that this is an easy and/or dumb question that someone has encountered before.

I'm in the US and I'm helping my wife in Ukraine fill out her DS-260. Most of the questions are straightforward and simple enough, but the question "Do you hold or have you held any nationality other than the one you have indicated above?" is something we're unclear on.

My wife was born during the days of the USSR. She has never moved from Ukraine or lived anywhere else. Obviously her current nationality is Ukrainian, but would she technically have been a citizen of the USSR prior to Ukraine's independence in 1991? In (political) theory, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was a sovereign state, even when part of the USSR, which would mean that she's never had a nationality other than Ukrainian. But given the de facto nature of the USSR and its total control by the Russian SSR, would she need to enter "Russia" and any relevant information as a prior nationality?

We are both fairly certain that the answer should be "no," but I still have a lingering doubt. We both want her application to sail through as smoothly as possible, and accuracy is definitely helpful in making that happen. Given the number of people who have immigrated from the former Soviet countries, I'm sure we're not the first to ponder this question. And maybe I'm just over-thinking this, which I am totally prone to doing.

Thank you in advance to anyone with useful answers or insights to this question.

[ToddB 10]

Ukrainians who lived in Ukraine when it was under the USSR were citizens of the USSR. They did have a USSR passports, but also in this passport it indicated they're nationality. Living in Ukraine your nationality was whatever "republic" they were from, and what country they listed on the passport forms they filled out when they turned 16. Like most countries...many nationalities exist within its borders. They could have been Moldovan, Lithuanian, Romanian...you get the idea. A Ukrainian with a USSR passport at the time, having always lived in Ukraine was, and is a Ukrainian. BUT your talking about pre-1991. Obviously the USSR is no more. So with that being said no more policies exist from that era. Post 1991 Ukrainians, and other nationalities were awarded Ukrainian citizenship, and received Ukrainian passports.

Yes your over thinking things.

Good luck.

[OLee 64]

Hi all,

I've search for this on the forums and Google, but can't find an definitive answer. I hope that this is an easy and/or dumb question that someone has encountered before.

I'm in the US and I'm helping my wife in Ukraine fill out her DS-260. Most of the questions are straightforward and simple enough, but the question "Do you hold or have you held any nationality other than the one you have indicated above?" is something we're unclear on.

My wife was born during the days of the USSR. She has never moved from Ukraine or lived anywhere else. Obviously her current nationality is Ukrainian, but would she technically have been a citizen of the USSR prior to Ukraine's independence in 1991? In (political) theory, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was a sovereign state, even when part of the USSR, which would mean that she's never had a nationality other than Ukrainian. But given the de facto nature of the USSR and its total control by the Russian SSR, would she need to enter "Russia" and any relevant information as a prior nationality?

We are both fairly certain that the answer should be "no," but I still have a lingering doubt. We both want her application to sail through as smoothly as possible, and accuracy is definitely helpful in making that happen. Given the number of people who have immigrated from the former Soviet countries, I'm sure we're not the first to ponder this question. And maybe I'm just over-thinking this, which I am totally prone to doing.

Thank you in advance to anyone with useful answers or insights to this question.

Good question, and I wish somebody who passed this process answers it. I will go through this journey soon, but haven't started filling the papers yet. When I was born my native country was "under" USSR, but I wouldn't even think I ever belonged to them. Even then in my passport there was written "the Soviet Socialist Republic of Lithuania".

Recently I had to declare my nationality in the UK in order to obtain English Police Certificate, and I stated I am a citizen of Republic of Lithuania, never had any other nationality. Everything went well. It seemed so obvious and I never had a problem.

Just my opinion: if your wife is Ukrainian she is and will be Ukrainian even though Ukraine once belonged to the USSR. USSR was not a nationality, it was just a geographic region.

[regent 1]

Thanks for the quick responses. You are confirming my first thoughts, so we'll just stick with that. Yeah, I do tend to over-think things, but for something this important, I believe I prefer over-thinking to under-thinking...

Thanks again!

Edited October 5, 2014 by regent

[Ryan H 3,812]

Yeah, I do tend to over-think things, but for something this important, I believe I prefer over-thinking to under-thinking...

FWIW, the very nature of this process lends itself to paranoia, over-thinking, and second guessing (was guilty of all 3 when I was in your shoes).