Puneet Varma (Editor)

Ukrainian passport

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Issued by
  
Ukraine

Purpose
  
Identification

Type of document
  
Passport

Eligibility requirements
  
Ukrainian citizenship

Ukrainian passport

Expiration
  
10 years (4 years for persons under 18 years of age)

Cost
  
560/810 UAH for non-chip/biometric document (eq. 22 or 31 USD, 21 or 29 EUR)

The Ukrainian passport is a document issued for the nationals of Ukraine as the main proof of Ukrainian citizenship. There are two types of passports issued by the Ukrainian government commonly known as the internal passport and international passport. The internal passport soft booklet (issued in and before 2016) / credit-card-sized Ukrainian identity card (issued starting in 2016) is the primary identification document of Ukrainian citizens used within Ukraine. The international passport is used for overseas travel.

Contents

International passport

See also Biometric passports in Ukraine.

Passport for travel abroad, commonly known as an "International Passport", is a document used for travel outside Ukraine. The passport information is recorded in Ukrainian and English. Passports are issued upon demand and are valid for 10 years. It is permitted to have more than one passport since December 1, 2012.

The law of Ukraine on a unified state demographic register and identity documents, which envisages the introduction of electronic passports for Ukrainians, came into force on December 6, 2012.

The Ukrainian international passport follows international standards. Machine-readable passports with two machine-readable strings at the bottom of the first page appeared in the mid 1990s. The current Ukrainian international passport is a biometric one. If, based on religious beliefs, a citizen does not wish to receive a biometric passport, he/she can apply for a non-biometric one, providing a written statement before applying for the document.

Photos in the passports issued since 2007 are black and white, laser imprinted. As a security feature, an additional holder's photo is specially imprinted to be seen only when looking to the light through the page of the passport. Previously, passports used to be issued either with a glued-in colour photo or with a colour imprinted photo. The previously issued passports are valid until their expiration date.

New biometric international passports have dark blue cover and contain 32 pages. Covers of the international passports issued in 1990s were red, allowing easy visual distinction from blue-color internal passports.

By default, the first and last names in the international passport are transliterated from Ukrainian to English according to the National transliteration system (1996). However, any person has an option to request the desired English spelling of his first and last name, if he holds any document already having that spelling.

According to law amendments by the Ukrainian parliament of 14 July 2016 each citizen who reached the age of 14 must get a passport. Passports will be issued for four years to persons under 18 years of age, and for ten years for all the rest. Previously International Passports were issued only to citizens aged 18 and older (16 and older in case of permanent foreign residency). Prior to that age, Ukrainian citizens could get a Travel Document of a Child (PR type) similar in appearance to the passport valid for 3 years, and has only 8 pages. In some rare case Ukrainian citizens were allowed to have International Passport before the age of 18 or 16, but it also is valid for only 3 years. If a child holding Ukrainian citizenship has been adopted by a foreign citizen — he or she may get regular International Passport, which is valid for 10 years, just as for adults, instead of getting Child Travel Document.

Identity information page

The Ukrainian passport includes the following data:

The information page ends with the Machine Readable Zone starting with P<UKR.

Law amendments by the Ukrainian parliament of 14 July 2016 abolished the custom of registration in the passport of marriage or its annulment. Since then each spouse was issued a marriage certificate.

Passports typically contain a message from the minister or official in charge of passport issuance addressed to the officials of foreign states, requesting that the citizen bearing the passport be allowed free passage through the state, and if in need be provided assistance consistent with international norms. Today this treatment is expected rather than requested, but the message remains as a tradition. Ukrainian passports bear the message:

In Ukrainian :

Іменем України Міністр закордонних справ України просить усіх кого це може стосуватися, всіма можливими заходами полегшити поїздку пред'явника паспорта, подавати йому необхідну допомогу та захист.

In English :

In the name of Ukraine, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine requests all those whom it may concern to facilitate in every possible way the travel of the bearer of this passport and to provide the bearer with all necessary assistance and protection.

Visa requirements

In 2015, Ukrainian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 79 countries and territories, ranking the Ukrainian passport 59th in the world according to the Visa Restrictions Index.

Internal passport

On July 10, 2015, the Ukrainian government announced that internal passports would be abolished, and replaced with ID cards, starting from January 1, 2016. On January 25, 2016, first new ID cards were issued to young citizens who achieved 16 years of age. Beginning November 1, 2016 ID cards are issued to all Ukrainian citizens.

History

Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) had a single passport for internal and international use. It consisted of 16 pages where first 7 pages contained information about the citizen and the rest were appointed for visas. The information was written in Ukrainian, French and German.

References

Ukrainian passport Wikipedia