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“You Will Never Get It”: The Story of Khoshydel, Who Was Granted Ukrainian Citizenship

May 21, 2026

Khoshydel's family lived in Rwanda: his parents and ten children. In 1988, he came to Ukraine to study as part of a collaboration between Rwanda and the USSR. After completing preparatory courses in Kharkiv, he began his studies at the Kyiv National Economic University (now the Vadym Hetman Kyiv National Economic University).

The plan had been to get an education and return home. However, everything changed dramatically with the outbreak of war in Rwanda. In 1994, genocide began in the country. His mother and some of his relatives were killed.  

Returning home became impossible, and following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the situation of students from Rwanda remained unresolved.

“None of us thought at the time that the war would last so long. We all hoped that it would all end quickly and that we would finally return home,” the man said.

Khoshydel remained in Ukraine, working and trying to build a life for himself. After the UNHCR began operating in Ukraine, he received assistance from the organisation. He was granted refugee status and issued with a certificate, which he had to renew every five years. Throughout this time, he did not leave Ukraine and never saw his family again. In 2006, he lost his sight, which made his situation even more difficult. Despite this, he aspired to become a Ukrainian citizen, having lived there for many years and started a family. The process proved to be difficult: after his first application, he was told that he would "never get it".

In 2008, Khoshidel sought assistance from the HIAS office in Ukraine (Right to Protection was established in 2013; prior to that, the Fund had been part of this organisation since 2001).

Since then, R2P has been assisting him in his attempts to obtain citizenship.

In 2018, Khoshydel submitted another application, which was accepted. Despite passing all the checks, his documents were left pending the President of Ukraine’s signature for a long time. Over the years, the Fund’s specialists made repeated enquiries regarding the progress of his case. After almost 40 years of living in Ukraine, in the summer of 2025, Khoshydel was granted Ukrainian citizenship and a passport.