This position was expressed by Vice Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk during a regular meeting of the Coordination Headquarters for the Protection of Children’s Rights under Martial Law.
The participants of the meeting raised the issue of issuing passports to Ukrainian orphans and children deprived of parental care who are abroad.
Currently, when issuing a passport of a citizen of Ukraine for travelling abroad (including replacing a lost or stolen passport) at foreign diplomatic missions, consular fees are not charged for status children.
However, this does not mean that the service is completely free of charge. After all, when considering an application for such a passport, a fee is charged for automated data processing.
However, the Vice Prime Minister stressed that the problem is not only in the issuance of passports outside Ukraine.
“We cannot separate children temporarily residing abroad from children staying in Ukraine. We have to help all orphans and children deprived of parental care to get passports free of charge,” said Iryna Vereshchuk.
Thus, the responsible agencies were instructed to work on this issue and propose ways to resolve it.