Ukraine Issues 14 Million Biometric Passports

According to Ukrinform, more than 14 million biometric passports have been issued in Ukraine so far. The Head of the State Migration Service of Ukraine, Maksym Sokoliuk, told in an interview that 14 million 200 thousand biometric passports have been issued up to date. 

According to Sokoliuk, 

‘However, one person has the right to hold two passports; pages in passports of some people also end too fast; and the children, who were issued passports in 2015, already have their passports expired. Therefore, we approximately use the coefficient that the number of holders is 25% lower than the number of issued documents.’ 

Till June, 42.6 million trips had been made to the EU countries as a result of the liberalized regime between Ukraine and the EU from 2017 as reported by Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service. Due to this regime, Ukrainians are allowed to travel to EU member states other than Ireland and the UK (for now) without a visa for up to 90 days during any 180-day period. 

In 2018, Ukraine issued more than three million biometric passports and about 75000 ID cards during the year. Earlier this month, the Cabinet of Ukraine launched a pilot project which aimed to introduce a national digital ID system for online identity verification.