TSK, Pension Fund and “Diia” may receive data on births, deaths and marriages of Ukrainians abroad: what changes are proposed

In Ukraine, it is proposed to allow the entry of data on births, deaths, marriages, and other civil status acts issued abroad into the state registry. The initiative envisages the creation of a mechanism for entering information from foreign civil status documents into the State Civil Status Acts Registry of citizens, which should eliminate a number of problems for Ukrainians who are or have been outside the country.

A relevant petition has been registered on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Its author calls on the government to regulate the procedure for entering information from documents issued by competent authorities of foreign states regarding Ukrainian citizens into the Civil Status Acts Registry.

What is the problem

As stated in the appeal, foreign birth, death, marriage, divorce, and name change certificates issued by competent authorities of other states regarding Ukrainian citizens are recognized by Ukraine as valid documents. At the same time, current legislation does not provide a mechanism for entering information from such documents into the Civil Status Acts Registry.

Because of this, state information systems do not contain up-to-date data on the civil status of a significant number of Ukrainian citizens, which makes it impossible to use this information for automated decisions.

In particular:

• a child born abroad is absent from the Civil Status Acts Registry, so state systems cannot automatically identify them as related to parents who are Ukrainian citizens. Because of this, automated verification of the presence of children during the processing of conscription deferments, social payments, and other services is impossible;
• the death of a Ukrainian citizen recorded abroad is not reflected in the Civil Status Acts Registry. As a result, the Pension Fund, TSK, and other authorities do not receive automated information about the death of the person and may continue to accrue payments or create obligations regarding the deceased;
• marriage or divorce registered abroad is not reflected in the Civil Status Acts Registry, which creates legal uncertainty when resolving property, inheritance, and other issues in Ukraine;
• citizens are forced to manually confirm the fact of a change in civil status each time by submitting legalized documents when applying to state authorities.

What changes are proposed

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is asked to:

• develop and approve the procedure for entering civil status records into the Civil Status Acts Registry based on foreign certificates of civil status changes legalized by apostille or through consular procedures;
• authorize Ukrainian consular offices abroad to accept citizens' applications for entering the relevant records into the Civil Status Acts Registry directly at the applicant's location;
• ensure the possibility of submitting such applications through Administrative Service Centre and Civil Status Acts Registry authorities in Ukraine, including through representatives;
• establish uniform requirements for the translation and transliteration of personal data from foreign civil status documents to ensure unambiguous identification of the person in the Civil Status Acts Registry;
• provide a simplified procedure for documents issued during the martial law period—from February 24, 2022, to the present.

To implement the initiative, according to the author of the appeal, it is necessary to amend a number of regulatory acts, including the Law of Ukraine "On State Registration of Civil Status Acts," the Procedure for Maintaining the State Civil Status Acts Registry, instructions and rules of the Ministry of Justice regarding registry maintenance and amendments to civil status records, as well as the government resolution on the exercise of powers by foreign diplomatic missions in the field of state registration of civil status acts during martial law.

As stated in petition No. 41/010053-26ep, the introduction of such a mechanism will ensure the completeness and relevance of the Civil Status Acts Registry regardless of the place of the record's creation, eliminate legal uncertainty regarding the civil status of Ukrainian citizens who are or have been abroad, and ensure the correct operation of automated systems of state authorities, including the Pension Fund, TRC, the “Diia” application, and social services based on up-to-date registry data.

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