Attachments: 2

The response from the State Migration Service of Ukraine (SMSU) establishes a very specific point: under martial law, the issuance of Ukrainian national passports and foreign passports to citizens who are abroad and serviced by consular or overseas divisions is carried out only if those individuals possess valid military registration documents. This is explicitly stated in Part 6 of Article 20 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law,” cited in the SMSU’s letter, and reiterated at the end of the response: passports for male citizens aged 18 to 60 abroad are issued only upon presentation of military registration documents. Importantly, this condition does not apply to passport issuance within Ukraine. Thus, the state has effectively established two separate regimes for access to identity documents: a regular one for citizens inside the country, and a restricted one for citizens outside its borders.

Substantively, this means the following. The applicant had asked on what legal grounds Ukrainian consular and migration authorities require military registration documents when processing passports. The SMSU replied that it acts within its competence, referring to the Law on the Un ... Read more ⇢

Attachments: 3

The request was submitted in order to obtain an official clarification on the following questions:

1. On the basis of which legislative and regulatory acts does a citizen of Ukraine have the right to obtain a passport of a citizen of Ukraine in the form of a booklet (1994 model).

2. Is there a regulatory prohibition on the issuance of a passport in the form of a booklet, and if so — which specific acts establish this prohibition.

3. Does a citizen of Ukraine have a legal right to choose between an ID card and a booklet-format passport.

In its response, the State Migration Service of Ukraine confirmed the following:

The issuance, exchange, delivery, withdrawal, invalidation, destruction, and return of the passport of a citizen of Ukraine is carried out exclusively in accordance with procedures established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. ... Read more ⇢

Attachments: 1

The inquiry raised the issue of whether Ukrainian legislation provides a formalized mechanism for determining and officially confirming a citizen’s national (ethnic) affiliation, as well as whether a state system for recording such information exists.

Particular attention was given to the fact that, in the absence of an official document or a codified procedure, self-identification (e.g., as “Ukrainian,” “Russian,” or “Belarusian”) cannot be considered legally verifiable and, therefore, does not carry legal consequences.

In its official response, theState Migration Service of Ukraine stated that national passports — regardless of their format (paper or ID card) — do not contain a field for “nationality”.

It also confirmed that no centralized system exists at the level of central authorities to record citizens’ national affiliation.

The state does not maintain a registry or any institutional means of certifying ethnocultural identity.

 ... Read more ⇢