Refusal of a passport — and the demand to change the name: how the patronymic becomes a problem for children born abroad
Refusal to issue a Ukrainian citizen's passport for traveling abroad due to the peculiarities of the name spelling in a foreign birth certificate can create additional administrative problems for the child and their parents. This was stated by the National Association of Advocates of Ukraine.
The NAAU notes that different approaches to recording personal data in national and foreign documents sometimes lead to the need for judicial protection or even a name change.
The legal foundations for issuing and granting a Ukrainian citizen's passport for traveling abroad are determined by the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law "On the Unified State Demographic Register and Documents Confirming Citizenship of Ukraine, Identity or Its Special Status," as well as the Procedure for issuing, exchanging, forwarding, withdrawing, returning to the state, recognizing invalid, and destroying the Ukrainian citizen's passport for traveling abroad, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers Resolution dated 07.05.2014 No. 152.
As specialists explain, the problem most often arises when a child is born outside Ukraine, and their birth certificate is issued according to the rules of another country. Such documents may contain only the first name and surname without a separate patronymic, which differs from the Ukrainian three-part model of recording full name.
In such cases, the State Migration Service may refuse to issue a Ukrainian citizen's passport for traveling abroad, citing discrepancies found between the Ukrainian passport and the birth certificate during the application review.
The association emphasizes that document verification is the duty of officials; however, independently reassessing the content of a foreign document, its translation, and the results of previous verification goes beyond ordinary technical document checks.
Lawyers also point out that the most problematic issue is that, in some cases, applicants are effectively offered to resolve such a "discrepancy" by changing the child's name. Initially — to a double name combining the first name and patronymic, and later — back to the name given at birth.
"This approach creates additional legal and administrative burdens. The child may face obstacles in using the name under which they have already received educational documents, medical records, and other identity confirmations," the NAAU explains.
Therefore, lawyers stress that when issuing a passport, it is important to distinguish genuine discrepancies in personal data from the peculiarities of the structure of a document issued by a competent authority of another state. The State Migration Service has already begun responding to such situations.
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