Some biometric passports of Ukrainians became invalid due to software updates and transliteration
Ukrainians who applied for biometric passport documents in February-March may need to reissue their passports only if there are differences in the transliteration of their names and surnames with the ID card. The relevant warning appeared on the website of the State Migration Service on February 15, but this rather important warning, as is often the case, went unnoticed.
As the SMS explains, in February 2023, the system for issuing biometric passport documents underwent a software update. Therefore, in the case of different transliteration in a passport for traveling abroad and an ID card, the latter document is recognized as valid.
That is, if a person first issued a passport for traveling abroad and then an ID card with a different spelling of the surname or name in Latin letters, the passport will be automatically invalidated.
In order to avoid troubles, citizens who have issued passport documents during this period of time should carefully check them and, if discrepancies are found, contact the Migration Service, ASC, or Passport Service. The document can be checked on the official website of the State Migration Service of Ukraine here.
The State Migration Service does not provide any specific data on the number of documents that have been invalidated in connection with this unfortunate situation, so one can only guess how many Ukrainians were “lucky” to have such passports. It is also unknown whether citizens can count on free reissuance in this case, especially given the recent rise in the cost of document processing.
