Ukraine no longer prints police certificates at its service counters. IRCC's own page for Ukraine says it plainly: the ministry's service centres "do not issue paper certificates." The certificate is now an electronic extract, and the translation has to carry its number and verification details the way a translation of a paper certificate carries a seal.
Most Ukrainian files mix three generations of paper: Soviet certificates, Ukrainian certificates issued since independence, and duplicates ordered through Diia after originals were lost in the war. One IRCC rule covers all three, but each has its own traps. Below: the rule, the documents, war-time replacements, the police extract, name spelling, and where Quebec and the provinces are stricter.
Do Ukrainian documents need a certified translation for IRCC?
Yes. IRCC requires an English or French translation of every supporting document in another language, including Soviet-era certificates written in Russian. Its first choice is a certified translator, a member in good standing of a professional translation association in Canada or abroad whose seal shows a membership number. Without one, the translation must come with the translator's affidavit, sworn before a notary or commissioner and referring to both the translation and the original.
Upload the translation, the stamp or affidavit and a scan of the original together, with every stamp and seal translated. You, your relatives and your representative may not translate, and applications missing required translations are returned as incomplete.
Official Translations is not a member of a Canadian provincial translators' association. For IRCC it provides a complete translation with a signed Certificate of Accuracy and, as an add-on, the translator's affidavit sworn before a notary (+CA$24.95 per document). See IRCC translation requirements.
IRCC's special measures have narrowed: CUAET ended on July 15, 2023, the family pathway to permanent residence closed to new applications on October 22, 2024, and open work permits issued under the public policy for Ukrainians can be extended for up to three years if you apply by March 31, 2027. Ukrainians in Canada covers the measures in detail.
Which Ukrainian documents do Canadian applications use?
Mostly civil records from the registry offices (DRATsS), plus the police extract and, for economic programs, education records.
| Document | Ukrainian title | Issued by | Notes for Canada |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birth certificate | Свідоцтво про народження (svidotstvo pro narodzhennia) | DRATsS | Ukraine issues duplicates from the record, not certified copies |
| Marriage certificate | Свідоцтво про шлюб (svidotstvo pro shliub) | DRATsS | No duplicate after a divorce; use a register extract |
| Divorce | Свідоцтво про розірвання шлюбу, or a court decision | DRATsS or court | For divorces since July 27, 2010, a certificate exists only for couples without minor children (or where one spouse has been declared missing or legally incompetent); everyone else relies on the court decision |
| Register extract | Витяг з Державного реєстру актів цивільного стану громадян | DRATsS or Diia | Proves marriage and divorce dates when a certificate cannot be re-issued |
| Adoption | Court decision or State Register record | Court | No adoption certificate exists |
| Police certificate | Витяг (extract) from the Ministry of Internal Affairs system | Ministry of Internal Affairs | Electronic; translate its number and verification details |
| Diploma | Диплом with its supplement (dodatok do dyploma) | University | Translate every course, credit and grade as printed |
What if your Ukrainian documents were lost or destroyed in the war?
Order duplicates through Diia or a civil registry office. Since July 21, 2022, Diia has accepted orders for duplicate birth, death, name-change, marriage and divorce certificates and for State Register extracts; you pick the document up at the registry office you chose or have Ukrposhta deliver it. The government cautioned that, because of martial law, the service does not work in some regions.
The translation reproduces a duplicate's recent issue date and any repeat-issue mark exactly as printed, so nobody mistakes a 2023 duplicate for the 1985 original.
War has also split the registry. Ukraine gives no legal effect to marriages or divorces registered in occupied Crimea or the occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, and its registry offices will not issue a birth or death certificate based on a Russian-issued document alone. In those cases a Ukrainian court decision opens the way to a valid certificate.
How do I get a Ukrainian police certificate for IRCC?
From the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as an electronic extract. IRCC names it the "Extract from the Information and Analytical system 'Records of Data on an Individual's Criminal Prosecution and a Criminal Record'" and lists the routes:
- Inside Ukraine: the ministry's online service, logging in with a qualified electronic signature, or the Diia app. "The police certificate will be sent to your electronic address."
- Citizens outside Ukraine: in person at the nearest Embassy of Ukraine, or through a representative with notarized authorization at the ministry's Informatization Department.
- Timing and cost: "Processing of an application takes up to 30 days," and the online service is free.
IRCC accepts a certificate issued after you last lived in Ukraine for six consecutive months or longer; if Ukraine is where you live now, it must be issued within six months before you apply. If you have used another surname, check that the extract covers it; officers compare names across the file. Translate the extract in full, number and date included. See the police certificate translation guide.
Which spelling of Ukrainian names goes in the translation?
Your own name copies your current passport; everyone else on your documents follows Ukraine's official table, Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 55 of January 27, 2010:
| Ukrainian | Latin | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Г | h | Богдан → Bohdan |
| Ґ | g | Ґорґани → Gorgany |
| Є | Ye at the start of a word, ie elsewhere | Єнакієве → Yenakiieve |
| Ї | Yi at the start, i elsewhere | Мар'їне → Marine |
| Й | Y at the start, i elsewhere | Олексій → Oleksii |
| Ю | Yu at the start, iu elsewhere | Юрій → Yurii |
| Я | Ya at the start, ia elsewhere | Костянтин → Kostiantyn |
| зг | zgh | Згорани → Zghorany |
| ь and apostrophe | not written | Знам'янка → Znamianka |
The ICAO passport table used for Russian passports writes Ю as IU, which is how Юрій turns into "Iurii" in a careless translation. The working rules:
- Your own name matches your passport letter for letter, whatever Resolution 55 would produce.
- Parents and others named are transliterated under Resolution 55, the same way on every certificate.
- Keep the patronymic (po batkovi). Certificates always give it, while the passport's Latin fields show only surname and given name; translate it under a "Patronymic" label.
- Spellings can be requested. Ukraine's migration service says that, on written request, the Latin given name can follow earlier Ukrainian identity documents or legalized foreign birth, marriage or name-change documents, and a surname can follow the passport of a child, a parent or, for the international passport, a spouse, including foreign passports.
Are Soviet-era certificates from Ukraine still used?
Yes. A Soviet certificate issued in Ukraine is an original civil record, translated as it stands:
- Language follows the paper. Many Soviet-era certificates from Ukraine are in Russian, some in Ukrainian or both.
- Place names as written. A Russian-language entry reading Киев becomes Kiev [Kyiv].
- Nationality means ethnicity. Soviet forms record each parent's nationality; the translation keeps the label "Nationality" and can flag that it describes ethnic origin, not citizenship.
- Handwriting is deciphered, never guessed. An unreadable word is marked [illegible].
Do Quebec and the provinces accept the same translation?
Not always.
- Quebec immigration (MIFI). Translations made in Canada must come from a member of OTTIAQ, ATIO, STIBC or CTINB, or from the issuing country's embassy or consulate. Official Translations is not a member of those bodies, so its translations do not meet this rule. For translations made abroad, MIFI exempts Ukraine and several other countries from the seal requirement if a notarial act in English or French names the translator and shows the notary's name, seal, signature and contact details. See Quebec immigration documents.
- Quebec civil status. Inserting a Ukrainian record into Quebec's register requires a French translation rendered or authenticated by an OTTIAQ member, and since Bill 96 (2022) the Civil Code requires a translation authenticated in Quebec for any civil status act made outside Quebec in a language other than French.
- Driver's licences. Ukraine is on Ontario's licence exchange list, though not on Quebec's. For a licence not in English or French, Ontario still wants a translation "dated within six months" of your application from a translator with proven credentials or Ukraine's embassy or consulate, and other translators from Ukraine do not qualify; Quebec's SAAQ takes translations only from an embassy, a consulate or a member of OTTIAQ, ATIJ or a CTTIC association. See driver's licence translation by province.
- Remarrying in Ontario. ServiceOntario asks for an Ontario lawyer's legal opinion letter and, for a Ukrainian decree, "a translated copy and an affidavit" sworn by a certified translator. Ask your lawyer which translators qualify.
Why Ukrainian files get returned or questioned
- Russian-style transliteration on Ukrainian names: Iurii where the passport says Yurii.
- A name spelled differently on the passport, the translations and earlier Canadian permits.
- No patronymic, or a patronymic labelled as a middle name, so parent and child records stop matching.
- Repeat-issue date ignored, making a new certificate look like the original.
- A divorce certificate expected where only a court decision exists, for post-2010 divorces with minor children.
- A police extract that misses a former surname.
- Machine translation of handwritten Soviet entries.
Checklist for Ukrainian documents
Questions people ask
Does a Ukrainian birth certificate need a certified translation for IRCC?
Yes. IRCC requires an English or French translation of every document in another language, by a certified translator or with the translator's sworn affidavit, uploaded with a scan of the original. The rule covers Soviet-era certificates written in Russian as well as modern Ukrainian ones.
How do I get a Ukrainian police certificate from Canada?
IRCC says citizens outside Ukraine apply in person at the nearest Embassy of Ukraine, or through a representative with notarized authorization. Inside Ukraine it is issued electronically through the ministry's online service or Diia, and processing takes up to 30 days.
Is a duplicate ordered through Diia as good as the original certificate?
Yes. A duplicate is issued from the same civil status record, and Diia has processed these orders since July 2022. Its translation shows the duplicate's own issue date as well as the original registration.
My passport spelling differs from Resolution 55. Which one goes in the translation?
Your passport spelling, for your own name. Ukraine lets people keep a Latin spelling from earlier documents or a family member's passport, so a valid passport can read Yuriy where Resolution 55 gives Yurii; everyone else named on your documents follows Resolution 55.
My marriage ended. Why can't I get a new marriage certificate?
Ukrainian registry offices stop issuing duplicates of a marriage certificate once the marriage is dissolved. Order a State Register extract, which shows both the registration of the marriage and its end, and have that translated instead.
Can I exchange my Ukrainian driver's licence in Ontario?
Ukraine is on Ontario's licence exchange list. Ontario wants a translation dated within six months of your application from a translator with proven credentials or Ukraine's embassy or consulate, and does not accept other translators from Ukraine.
Will the same translation work for Quebec immigration?
Not necessarily. MIFI accepts translations made in Canada only from members of OTTIAQ, ATIO, STIBC or CTINB, or from the issuing country's embassy or consulate, and Official Translations is not a member of those bodies. For translations made in Ukraine, a notarial act in English or French can replace the translator's seal.
What does a Ukrainian translation cost, and how fast is it?
Certified translation is CA$39.95 per page of up to 300 words, and the sworn affidavit for IRCC adds CA$24.95 per document. Most one-page certificates arrive as a signed PDF by email within 24 hours, while court decisions and diploma supplements take one to three business days.
