ISSUING A PASSPORT OF UKRAINE ABROAD

Due to the war in Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians were forced to leave the territory of Ukraine. In the first months of martial law, in agreement with the governments of neighboring European countries, our citizens had the right to cross the border if they had at least some identification documents - a driver's license, a birth certificate (for children), even expired internal or foreign passports. At the same time, a rather complicated situation has arisen, when citizens need up-to-date Ukrainian passport documents for their legalization abroad: internal and foreign passports, but the road home is currently still very difficult and dangerous. To solve this problem, on June 10, 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution to implement an experimental project on issuing domestic and foreign passports outside of Ukraine.

We would like to remind you that until now it was possible to issue an internal passport in the form of an ID card (domestic passport) for the first time, to exchange a lost or damaged one, only on the territory of Ukraine. Foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine have the competence to issue foreign passports to citizens, but only on the basis of a valid domestic passport of Ukraine. If a citizen of Ukraine has lost both passport documents abroad, he can apply to the Ukrainian embassy in the country of residence with the existing documents and their copies. The embassy must establish the identity of the applicant and his or her citizenship of Ukraine and issue an identity card to return to Ukraine. An identity card to return to Ukraine is a one-time document that gives the right to cross the border of Ukraine for entry, after which the citizen must apply to the migration service for a passport of a citizen of Ukraine and a passport for traveling abroad during the period of validity of the card. Such a procedure existed and still exists. However, the Cabinet of Ministers by its resolution proposes to create separate units of the Passport Service, which will function in some countries and will have the opportunity to receive and process documents for obtaining an internal passport of Ukraine directly without the need to go to Ukraine.

This resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers enters into force on June 25, 2022, but will be implemented within 2 years. At the moment, the procedure according to which the foreign institutions of the Passport Service will function has not yet been adopted, and it is also not known in which countries it will be possible to use such services.