Birth of a child abroad: how Ukrainians can apply for documents and receive assistance

The war forced millions of Ukrainians to temporarily leave the territory of their country and seek safety in the countries of the European Union and beyond. According to official EU data, more than four million Ukrainian citizens are currently in EU member states under the temporary protection regime, which has already been extended until March 2027. Over the years, some of them not only arranged their lives in new conditions, but also created or expanded their families. For many Ukrainians, the birth of a child does not take place at home, but on the territory of countries that have provided shelter. Along with the joy of the birth of a child, there is also the practical side of the question: how to issue the newborn’s documents, what citizenship will the child receive, and how to use the right to state assistance provided for by the legislation of Ukraine, even when the family is abroad.

Registering the birth of a child: the first step for help

Despite the fact that children are born outside of Ukraine, domestic legislation provides for the possibility of obtaining assistance at the birth of a child even for those families who temporarily live abroad due to the war. The system reserves for them the right to social assistance provided for by the legislation of Ukraine, if the family follows the specified procedure of registration and submission of documents.

The first and fundamentally important stage is the registration of the child’s documents. In each country where a Ukrainian family resides, a local birth certificate is issued to a newborn. However, in order to obtain Ukrainian citizenship and receive state benefits, it is necessary to register the birth of a child at the Ukrainian consulate.

Parents should contact the consular office of Ukraine at their place of residence. If the certificate was issued by the authorities of the host country, it must be translated into Ukrainian and legalized or certified at the consulate. The consular institution issues a Ukrainian birth certificate, which becomes the basis for further legal actions: registration of Ukrainian citizenship, issuance of a foreign passport for the child and receipt of social assistance.

Ukrainian legislation does not provide for the automatic granting of dual citizenship, so even if a child automatically receives the citizenship of the country of birth, from the point of view of Ukraine, he remains a citizen of Ukraine after proper registration.

Preparation of documents: what to collect

After receiving a Ukrainian birth certificate, parents can proceed to the registration of state assistance at the birth of a child. For this, it is necessary to collect a basic package of documents:

• a copy of the child’s birth certificate;
• an application from one of the parents to receive assistance;
• copies of parents’ passports;
• copies of identification codes.

Depending on the circumstances, other documents may be required, in particular, in case of special family or legal circumstances.

Submission of documents is possible in several ways: by mail to Ukraine or in electronic form through the Diya portal. It was the development of digital services that allowed many families to issue assistance even when they were thousands of kilometers away from Ukraine.

Deadlines: when to apply

Ukrainian legislation provides clear deadlines for applying for assistance: the application must be submitted no later than 12 months after the birth of the child. Violation of this term deprives the family of the right to payments.

Therefore, for many Ukrainian refugees, it is critically important not to delay the processing of documents after the birth of a child abroad: consular registration, translation of documents and preparation of the application can take some time.

Amounts of aid: what the state pays

As of June, childbirth allowance in Ukraine amounts to 41,280 hryvnias. This amount is paid in installments: a one-time payment of 10,320 hryvnias is provided immediately after the aid is awarded, the rest of the amount — in equal monthly payments of 860 hryvnias over the next 36 months.

Despite the fact that this amount is not always able to fully cover the needs of the family, especially under living conditions in EU countries with a higher level of prices, it remains an important financial support, a symbolic link to the Ukrainian social protection system and legal confirmation of the child’s status as a citizen of Ukraine.

Methods of receiving payments: account or Ukrposhta

The family can receive the allocated funds both to a bank account in Ukraine and through Ukrposhta payments. The choice of receiving channel depends on the financial and logistical capabilities of the family. Some refugees keep Ukrainian bank accounts and cards even while abroad, which allows them to quickly receive the appropriate payments.

Separately, it is worth noting that in order to receive payments, it is important to notify the Ukrainian social security authorities in time in case of changes in the composition of the family, place of residence or bank details.

Refusal to assign assistance at the birth of a child

An important factor that directly affects the possibility of Ukrainian parents to receive state assistance at the birth of a child remains compliance with the application deadlines defined by legislation. The law stipulates that in order to register the right to assistance, parents must submit an application no later than 12 months after the birth of the child. Failure to comply with this deadline is a formal basis for refusing to grant assistance.

However, the analysis of the practice of reviewing applications shows that in a number of cases, refusals to provide state aid have a deeper nature and relate not so much to the actions or inaction of the applicants themselves, but to circumstances that objectively make a proper application impossible.

In particular, it was established that a common reason for refusals is the lack of a competent body of social protection of the population that could consider the parents’ application. Such a situation arises when the registered place of residence of the applicant is located in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. The social protection bodies of the population at the place of residence do not actually exercise their powers, and in the territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, the relevant body is not identified or authorized to accept such appeals from persons registered in the temporarily occupied territories.

As a result, parents who have given birth to a child and seek to issue legal assistance find themselves in a situation of legal uncertainty: formally, they must apply for a place of registration, but in fact such an opportunity does not exist. This creates grounds for denial of requests for reasons beyond the control of the applicants.

The problem is of a systemic nature and requires a separate settlement by the state, since the continuation of hostilities, the presence of occupied territories and the forced displacement of citizens create numerous situations in which a formal approach to the terms and territorial competence of social protection bodies leads to the de facto deprivation of people of the right to assistance guaranteed by law.

Children of War: The New Demographics

Today, more and more Ukrainian children are being born in Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, France and dozens of other countries that opened their borders to refugees after the start of a full-scale war. These children actually become a new wave of the Ukrainian diaspora, which from the first days of life receives international experience and finds itself in a special situation of dual belonging: to the host country and to Ukraine.

At the same time, the state of Ukraine continues to fulfill its obligations to these families, guaranteeing children citizenship and payments that maintain ties with their homeland. That is why a clear understanding of the procedure for receiving assistance is an important tool for families who are far from home, but remain in the legal field of Ukraine.