Children born in Ukraine receive a birth certificate. The certificate itself is a document that confirms only the fact of registration of the birth of a child and is not an automatic acquisition of Ukrainian citizenship.
The Law of Ukraine “On Citizenship of Ukraine”, stipulates that a citizen of Ukraine is a person whose parents or one of the parents were citizens of Ukraine at the time of his / her birth. This means that if on the child’s birthday both parents (or at least one of them) were Ukrainian citizens, the child is also considered a Ukrainian citizen.
Procedure for acquiring Ukrainian citizenship
If the child was born to Ukrainian parents, no additional proof of citizenship is required for the child. Such a child is considered a citizen of Ukraine from the moment of its birth.
However, in case, when one of the parents is Ukrainian and the other is a foreigner, it is necessary to further confirm the Ukrainian citizenship of the child. This process is called registration acquisition of citizenship by birth.
The result of this procedure is obtaining a certificate of registration of a person as a citizen of Ukraine, which is a document confirming Ukrainian citizenship. In this case, the child is also considered a citizen of Ukraine from the moment of its birth.
In order to obtain this certificate, an applicant shall personally apply to the relevant department of the State Migration Service of Ukraine at the place of one`s residence. The applicant will be one of the parents who is a Ukrainian citizen.
Among the documents to be provided to the migration service are:
- passport of the applicant-Ukrainian citizen;
- birth certificate of the child. It is important to remember that if a child is born abroad, the birth certificate shall be translated into Ukrainian and translation has to be notarized;
- a photo of the child (size 10х15 cm).
Please note that a certificate issued by the competent authorities of a foreign state shall be legalized (by affixing a stamp “Apostille” or by consular legalization).
Also, when the foreign parent has a temporary or permanent residence permit, you can provide a copy of such a document.
It should be remembered that the acquisition of Ukrainian citizenship by minors (children between the ages of fourteen and eighteen) can only take place with their consent.
Consideration of documents on the acquisition of citizenship by the migration service can take up to 3 months.
Certificate of registration of a person as a Ukrainian citizen is required for:
- registration of the child’s place of residence;
- obtaining the passport of a Ukrainian citizen (the ID card);
- the passport of a Ukrainian citizen for traveling abroad.
In addition, the acquisition of citizenship by a child provides foreign parents with additional opportunities to obtain a permanent residence permit in Ukraine, and after five years of continuous residence in Ukraine, even the opportunity to obtain Ukrainian citizenship.
