On 14 July 2016, Laf of Ukraine No. 1474-VIII "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Documents Certifying Citizenship of Ukraine, Personal Identity or Special Status Aimed at Liberalising the Eu Visa Regime for Ukraine" (the "Law") was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The Law comes into effect on 1 October 2016 (but certain provisions will come into effect on 1 January 2018 and 1 January 2020).
New data in the Unified State Demographic Register
The Law, among other things, has expanded the types of data that can be included into the Unified State Demographic Register (the "Register"). In particular, for the purpose of issuing a foreign travel passport for a Ukrainian citizen or a permanent/temporary residence permit for a foreign national, the digitized fingerprints of the relevant person should be included into the Register. Note that the digitized fingerprints will be removed from the Register and destroyed after the relevant document is issued.
Previously, fingerprints were not included into the Register during the processing of residence permits.
By way of a reminder, the Register is an electronic system designed to store, protect, process, use and disseminate both personal information and information about documents that are processed with the help of the Register. Personal information recorded in the Register can be provided only in the circumstances set out in the laws of Ukraine, and only in the interests of national security, economic welfare and human rights or pursuant to the person's prior consent. Therefore, if an employer needs to access data about employees from the Register, it can do so only upon having received prior consent from the relevant employees.
Administrative fee
The Law provides that for the registration and renewal of documents issued with the use of the Register, an administrative fee will be applied to cover the cost of administrative services, blank paper and personalization of forms. The administrative fee for the issuance or renewal of a permanent/temporary residence permit is equal to 0.2 times the Minimum Monthly Salary established as of 1 January of the calendar year in which the application for the residence permit is submitted (i.e., UAH 275.6 or approximately USD 11, currently).
Term of permanent residence permits
Under the Law, as of 1 January 2018, a permanent residence permit will be issued for a period of 10 years. Currently, permanent residence permits are effectively issued for an indefinite period of time. However, such permits must be exchanged when the relevant foreign national reaches 25 or 45 years (for more details please see our legal alert of 8 August 2016).
