Since April 1, the cost of issuing a document for traveling abroad (passport) has increased. However, these changes in no way concern the issuing of passports to orphans and children deprived of parental care. Now the processing of documents for them is free not only in Ukraine, but also in diplomatic missions of the country abroad (embassies and consulates in various countries).
At the beginning of the year, Iryna Vereshchuk, the Minister of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, took the initiative to make obtaining Ukrainian passports for traveling abroad free of charge for orphans, regardless of their place of residence. This issue was brought up for consideration by the Coordinating Headquarters for the Protection of Children’s Rights in Martial Law.
Social services, together with representatives of OVA, confirmed the need to prepare documents for a large part of children deprived of parental care. In particular, the regions reported on the number of children who were taken to safe places abroad.
“Legal representatives of the children have already started work on preparing and submitting packages of documents to foreign diplomatic institutions of Ukraine for the issuance of passports. Such packages have already been created for pupils of institutions from the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions, as well as the city of Kyiv, who moved outside of Ukraine as part of the institutions. Others oblasts are also actively cooperating with diplomatic agencies in the countries where the children are staying with the aim of resolving this issue as soon as possible”, – noted in Ministry of Reintegration.
It will be recalled that due to the war, minors were allowed to travel to other countries without a foreign passport. However, it was a decision made in emergency conditions. Now representatives of children can issue documents at consulates.
It is worth noting that from April 1, obtaining a passport of a citizen of Ukraine for travel abroad, which is issued within the standard period (up to 20 working days), worth 102 hryvnias more – UAH 958 (UAH 352 – the cost of administrative services and UAH 606 – the cost of the form). Accelerated processing of documents (within 3 – 7 days) costs UAH 1,598.
