Mediaboss Marketing

Original civil documents (called in general certificates of state registration of the acts of civil status) issued or re-issued on the territory of Ukraine are accepted regardless of the country (USSR, Poland, or Ukraine) or date of issuance.

Re-issuance of a certificate of state registration of the act of civil status is done on the basis of the records of civil status. Re-issuance applies to the cases when the original certificate was stolen, lost, damaged or destroyed or in case of changes to the record of civil status or its renewal. The application must be submitted by the person, for whom the record was made, or parents, adoptive parents, guardians, a representative of health, education or other child care facility where the child permanently resides, or a guardian authority. It is possible for a third party to request the re-issuance if that person has a proper power of attorney. Certificate of state registration of act of civil status is issued to representatives of the education or other child care facility where the child permanently resides, or a guardian authority upon presentation of a proxy issued by the institution and documents proving the persons identity.

Persons 16 years of age may apply for the re-issuance of a certificate upon presentation of a passport (a passport document).

Persons who have applied to the Department of state registration of acts of civil status (at the location of the birth record) personally may receive the re-issued certificates of state registration of acts of civil status the same day upon presentation of their passport or a passport document. If the application for re-issuance of the certificate has been received by mail (by the department at the location of the birth record), the certificate is issued in 15-day period and sent to the department of state registration of acts of civil status at the place of residence of the applicant.

The documents intended for use abroad in all countries that are parties to the Hague Convention on the Abolition of Legalization of Documents need to be apostilled. Documents which have been certified by RAGS or a local notary office can be affixed with an apostille by the Ministry of Justice. Documents that bear an apostille need not be authenticated by an American consular officer for use in the United States. Documents issued in Ukraine are apostilled by the Ministry of Justice, located at: 73 Artema St. in Kyiv at these phone numbers: +38-044-486-4216 (civil registry documents, i.e., death, birth, marriage, divorce certificates, etc.) in Room 155; and +38-044-486-4988 (notarized documents) in Room 118. Hours are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:00 am until 12:00 noon. A regular apostille takes one day. However, in certain cases the process may take up to 20 business days if the Ministry does not have a copy of the seal and/or signature on file.

An e-Register of Apostilles was introduced in Ukraine in October 2015. The e-Register of Apostilles is a single database of apostilles put on documents issued by judicial and court agencies, as well as documents executed by notaries of Ukraine and on all other kinds of documents. The e-Register of Apostilles can be accessed here.

Some civil records were destroyed during World War II. Local authorities generally will issue a certificate to that effect; the process may easily take several months. In other cases, records of persons in what used to be Ukraine were transferred to neighboring countries when borders shifted.

Any documents, including vital records certificates, issued by Russian authorities in illegally occupied Crimea as well as documents issued by so-called authorities in Donetsk and Lugansk regions occupied by Russia-backed separatists are not recognized as legal documents. Only official documents issued by the lawful Ukrainian authorities are valid.

Since Ukrainian authorities do not have access to vital records registered in Crimea from before or after the illegal occupation, they cannot issue Ukrainian birth/death/marriage certificates based solely off Russian-issued certificates. Because of the special circumstances, Ukrainian law has been amended to allow those with Russian-issued certificates to initiate proceedings in court on mainland Ukraine to receive a court decree ordering the issuance of a Ukrainian vital record document.

Notarized/certified copies of civil documents are not accepted and therefore not created in Ukraine.

General Issuing Government Authority Information:

Civil documents are generally available in Ukraine through local or oblast (district or regional) departments of state registration of acts of civil status (DRATsS). Diplomatic missions and Consular sections of Ukraine abroad, and also the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine can also accept requests for civil documents.

Go here to see the original:
Ukraine Country Specific Information - travel.state.gov