He became a Canadian citizen in Ukraine, but now he can not get home

© Submitted Illya Swan, right, and his fiancée Liza Piatko enjoy dinner together in more suitable times. The couple grew to become engaged previous this month, however their future is doubtful as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

past this month, Illya Swan realized a decade-lengthy dream by fitting a Canadian citizen. 

however Swan — his favourite, anglicized version of his usual surname, Lebedyntsev — swore his oath of citizenship by the use of Zoom from a rented room in western Ukraine, where he's been avoided from leaving the nation together with his fiancée to return to their domestic in Vancouver.

The reason is frustratingly bureaucratic: as a result of the continuing Russian invasion, Swan, 27, has been unable to obtain the physical documents he needs to prove his citizenship and evade military conscription. even though he can get them, he's not definite they will be his ticket out.

"i am still caught right here unless they change the suggestions for leaving," Swan advised CBC from Ukraine's Zakarpattia location, the place he's been staying together with his fiancée and her family when you consider that fleeing Kyiv late final month, almost immediately after the invasion started.

The vicinity, roughly 800 kilometres west of the capital and 250 kilometres southwest of Lviv, borders Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, and has up to now been spared the brutality that has engulfed other materials of the nation.

Swan believes they're some distance adequate from the fighting that if Russian troops did enhance on the region, there would be satisfactory warning to get his fiancée, Liza Piatko, 25, her mom, grandmother and sixteen-yr-ancient brother throughout the local border.

"it be relatively secure, since you have the time to devise if that were to ensue," Swan mentioned, including he and Piatko's father may have little choice however to reside behind to fight if it involves that. 

"If it gets that unhealthy i might quite have a gun, actually."

Arrived in Canada 10 years ago

Swan arrived in Canada on a pupil visa in 2012, learning business at Vancouver's Langara faculty. He grew to become a permanent resident in 2018, and now works for CoinPayments, a corporation that helps facilitate cryptocurrency transactions. Piatko, a permanent resident of Canada, designs social media content material for the same enterprise.

Swan started his bid for Canadian citizenship in September 2020, and handed his citizenship verify remaining year. The handiest element left became to take his oath, however despite his repeated attempts to finished the process, that final step didn't ensue.

They had been already working remotely because of the pandemic, so the couple decided to take the chance to trip lower back to Ukraine in December to see their families. both entered the country with their Ukrainian passports, planning for a protracted visit.

They had been staying with Piatko's folks in their good-ground residence in Kyiv when the invasion begun on Feb. 24. Early the subsequent morning, from the relative defense of a neighbour's downstairs flat, they heard the first explosions.

"that's when every person freaked out and Liza's family determined to depart the metropolis," Swan noted.

They weren't the best Kyiv residents to make that determination. Swan mentioned it took the family unit 4 hours just to attain the highway leading out of the metropolis, and three days to attain Zakarpattia. As they drove west, Swan spoke of, columns of Ukrainian military vehicles passed them heading in the opposite course.

At one element, air raid sirens compelled the civilian convoy to halt and the individuals to leave their cars and take cover underneath an overpass.

Engaged in a war zone

Swan is splitting the can charge of their lodgings, which he calls "comfortable however high priced," with Piatko's parents. His father remains in their domestic city west of Kyiv, the place he is assisting construct defences and take care of Swan's grandparents. Swan's mother, who spent about every week in Zakarpattia, has now taken her more youthful son to the Czech Republic to attend college.

Two weeks in the past, despite the invasion, Swan and Piatko grew to be engaged. but their future together is anything however certain.

across the equal time, Swan intensified his efforts to finalize his Canadian citizenship. With the help of his chum Olenka Reshitnyk-Bastian, a volunteer co-ordinator with the Ottawa branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, he reached Ottawa immigration legal professional Jacqueline Bonisteel, who agreed to take on his case professional bono.

through her contacts, Bonisteel become in a position to prepare Swan's oath-taking ceremony within days, and on March 5, he grew to be a Canadian citizen.

When he begun the system 16 months past, Swan referred to he'd initially deliberate to fly his family unit to Vancouver for the ceremony. as a substitute, it took location over the internet in a rustic under siege.

"i am not going to lie, it turned into a bit bit anti-climactic," he noted.

looking forward to documents

Nor did the far off ceremony deliver him with the signed files he needs to show his citizenship to Ukrainian officials. Swan mentioned he's followed up with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) through their particular hotline for Ukraine concerns, however changed into unable to acquire even a digital copy of his citizenship certificates.

"The truth is that they don't have any clue what to do," noted Swan, who counseled IRCC for devoting added supplies to the situation in Ukraine, in spite of the fact that he's been pissed off via the response to his own case.

Bonisteel now has the certificate in her possession, but has no clear method to get it to Swan since the battle has closed most common start channels. they're now understanding a method to send the certificate to Swan's mom in the Czech Republic, who would then have to find a way to deliver it to him in Ukraine.

"it's one thing to assert you might be a citizen. it be yet another element to have the exact documentation to get a passport or go back and forth document of some form and use it to get out of Ukraine," noted Bonisteel, lead legal professional for the Ottawa workplace of corporate Immigration legislations enterprise.

"The IRCC has introduced these exceptional particular measures that are in fact very brilliant to us and truly sweeping and remarkable from what we have now considered in disaster situations, however the logistical concerns are massive. And so this is just an instance of that," Bonisteel stated.

Bonisteel stated Swan is now eligible to add his name to a govt registry of Canadians living in Ukraine, but it surely's now not clear how a good way to aid him.

CBC news contacted IRCC Friday morning to request extra counsel about Swan's case, but was advised it may be Monday earlier than the department is able to supply solutions.

'more useful' with a job than with a gun

Even with the certificate, or not it's unclear whether he'd be allowed to leave the country, whose charter doesn't respect twin citizenship. Nor would it not guarantee him an exemption from militia carrier if and when he is drafted as a Ukrainian citizen.

"I do think torn, however I consider torn just by means of being right here [in Zakarpattia], so it does not count to me regarding the ethical viewpoint of being right here or 100 kilometres west throughout the border. It would not alternate an awful lot," Swan observed.

He feels his ongoing financial contributions, both to the defence of Ukraine and to his household, are way more useful than any militia function he could play.

"i'm trying to focus on the things that i can truly contribute, and that i know so that you can educate in combat and stuff, however I do feel like my family unit does depend on me," he stated. "So all of this i'm hoping will convince [Ukrainian officials] that i am greater beneficial with a Canadian job, working, than with a gun, and not using a defense force event."

For now, the younger couple is still collectively in the relative protection of western Ukraine, however be aware of that any day the winds of war may shift in their course and force them apart.