The Ukrainian passport is a document issued for the nationals of Ukraine as the main proof of Ukrainian citizenship. It is used for overseas travel. The internal passport soft booklet has been the primary identification document of Ukrainian citizens used within Ukraine until 2016, when credit-card-sized identity card was introduced.
Internal passport
According to law amendments made by the Verkhovna Rada on 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.. Since then, the Ukrainian internal passports are also no longer stamped with a civil status stand, thus abolishing a century-long tradition from the times of the USSR. Instead, a marriage certificate is issued to each of the spouses. 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. On 10 July 2015, the Ukrainian government announced that internal passports would be abolished, and replaced with ID cards, starting from 1 January 2016. On 25 January 2016, the first new Ukrainian 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.
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. Two passports can be issued to those who frequently travel abroad. The Ukrainian international passport follows international standards. The first Ukrainian passports were introduced on 4 June 1994, while the machine-readable passports with two machine-readable strings at the bottom of the first page first appeared in 1997. 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. 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. Previously International Passports were issued only to citizens aged 18 and older. Prior to that age, Ukrainian citizens could get a Travel Document of a Child 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 PPassports 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 : In English :
Other documents for foreign travel
Visa requirements
As of 4 December 2018, Ukrainian citizens with ordinary Ukrainian passports had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 128 countries and territories, thus ranking the Ukrainian passport 41st in the world in terms of travel freedom according to the Henley Passport Index. Additionally, Arton Capital's Passport Index ranked the ordinary Ukrainian passport 24th in the world in terms of travel freedom, with a visa-free score of 135, as of 1 August 2019.
History
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.
