Elena Spagnol (Facebook).Elena Spagnol (Facebook).

A mother who has been seeking Maltese citizenship for her children for the past four years is asking the authorities to get their act together as she could no longer “suffer the wait and injustices by Identity Malta”.

The Russian woman, who became a Maltese citizen more than five years ago after marrying a Maltese man, said that despite spending hours queuing to ask Identity Malta about the state of the applications of her two children, aged 20 and 12, the only response she got was that she still had to wait.

“I applied for my children to be given Maltese citizenship more than four years ago. They have a right to citizenship because I am already Maltese. However, every time I go to Identity Malta in Valletta to ask about the state of the applications, all I am told is to wait and that the applications are still being processed.

“How can an application take four years to be settled? We are dealing with human beings here. It’s not acceptable that this state of affairs continues in a supposedly modern European country,” Ms Spagnol said.

She said Identity Malta officials came up with “all imaginable types of excuses”. On two occasions she was even told they had lost their applications, she added.

Ms Spagnol said she decided to speak to the Times of Malta because the situation was “really becoming intolerable”.

Her elder son, Semen Ovsyanik, who has been living in Malta for 11 years and works for a private company, was informed by his boss that if he did not become a Maltese citizen by 21 he would be fired, she said.

“Apparently, this is the law… This is not fair. It is not possible that he risks losing his job just because of Identity Malta’s inefficiency,” she continued.

Ms Spagnol said, though, judging by Russian friends’ experiences, the process of citizenship took long in some cases, she knew of nobody else who had to wait for four years. “It seems I’m not lucky enough to know some politician”, she said.

Asked about this case, a spokeswoman for Identity Malta said it was not prudent to provide information on individual applications.

“Upon his request, Mr Ovsyanik can be personally briefed on the status of his application and the issues which need to be resolved and [be] assured that the case is being handled in the appropriate manner,” she said.

She would neither say how many pending applications for Maltese citizenship were being processed by Identity Malta. However, sources at the agency told this newspaper more than 3,000 applications were open.

Unlike citizenship by registration or naturalisation, the government has also introduced the option of gaining citizenship by investment. Applicants would have to pay €650,000 to obtain a Maltese passport. Such applications are known to be fast-tracked.

ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com

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