Passports with different transliteration are valid
They will be considered invalid only after the person has applied for the receipt or exchange of documents. The spelling of the surname and name of the person both in the ID-card and in the foreign passport of a citizen of Ukraine is carried out in Ukrainian with transliteration in Latin letters, which is an integral part of them.
At the request of a person when submitting an application for registration of passports, the transliteration may be changed and executed in accordance with the writing in the passport documents previously issued in his name or documents issued by the competent authorities of a foreign state.
At each registration of passports, a person with his own signature confirms the correctness of the writing of his personal data, including the writing of transliteration.
Using this opportunity, citizens of Ukraine changed the transliteration of the spelling of their surname and first name. In connection with this, a situation arose when a person could change the transliteration several times.
However, in case of change of personal data (surname, first name, patronymic, date of birth or place of birth), previously issued documents need to be exchanged after receiving a new document.
In 2022, Ukraine received recommendations from the European Commission with a caveat on the need to resolve the issue of invalidation of passports issued to one person in connection with the change of his/her personal data (including transliteration).
This is also due to the fact that citizens of Ukraine, being in EU countries, changing personal data in their documents, resort to fraudulent actions.
For the same application of the concept of the components of the name on 17.11.2022, clarifying amendments were made to the Government decrees, which regulate the issues of issuing both ID-cards and foreign passports.
It is established that in the event of a change in the information entered in the passport (including in connection with the change of transliteration in both the ID-card and the foreign one), previously issued documents with a different transliteration, which is not indicated by the person during the registration of new documents, are subject to recognition as invalid or exchanged.
Thus, the software of the document issuance system sequentially, at the first stage, automatically selected documents that are recognized as invalid for various reasons (in connection with theft or loss of passport, change of date of birth, place of birth, change of surname in connection with marriage, divorce or change of surname, name among others reasons, including in connection with excellent transliteration). At the next stage of operation, the passport system with different transliteration is transferred to the status of waiting for exchange.
Today, passports with different transliteration of the spelling of the surname or name are valid until the expiration of their validity period. Such documents will be recognized as invalid or changed only at the personal request of the person to receive or exchange a passport.
The State Migration Service reminds of the need to exchange an ID-card or passport in a timely manner in the event of circumstances such as:
- change of information in the passport (surname, first name, patronymic, date of birth, including the spelling in Latin letters of the name and surname in passport documents);
- detection of an error in the information entered in the passport;
- expiration of the passport;
- unsuitability of the passport for further use.
With each registration of new passport documents, employees of the State Migration Service inform and draw the attention of persons:
- for transliteration of the surname and name of the person;
- on the possibility of changing the transliteration in accordance with previously issued documents;
- the need to exchange previously issued documents in case of different transliteration in them, as well as the consequences of not exchanging such documents.
State Migration Service of Ukraine
