Ukrainian Documents Translation for UK Applications: Certificates, Extracts, Police Records and Name Spellings

HM Passport Office tells its caseworkers to expect three kinds of Ukrainian birth certificate: a green A5 booklet issued to children born in the Soviet Union, a light green A5 certificate for births between 2000 and 2005, and a blue A4 certificate, with a Ministry of Justice stamp, for births after 2005. Since February 2022 it allows for a fourth case: no certificate at all, because the birth could not be registered during the Russian invasion.

Every one of them, hospital forms included, needs a complete translation with each name spelled as in the passport. A Ukrainian document translation that turns Iryna into Irina, or drops a patronymic, leaves a caseworker checking whether two documents describe one person.

This guide covers the documents themselves; for the schemes, see Ukraine schemes in 2026.

Do Ukrainian documents need a certified translation in the UK?

Yes, for the Home Office, whenever a document is not in English or Welsh. Paragraph 39B(f) of the Immigration Rules requires "the version in the original language and a full translation that can be independently verified", dated, confirming its accuracy, with "the full name and signature of the translator or an authorised official of the translation company" and their contact details.

Inside the UK the rule goes further. An application for leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain, such as a switch from the Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme to a Skilled Worker or family visa, needs "certification by a qualified translator and details of the translator or translation company's credentials." Official Translations certificates include this element as standard, with the company's credentials as a member of the Association of Translation Companies (ATC).

The UPE guidance itself asks for "a full dated and signed translation in English that can be verified." Other offices set their own terms: HM Passport Office's guidance for paper applications wants a translation "signed and stamped by a translator who is a member of a recognised professional organisation", so for a paper passport application, use a translator who meets that condition.

Which Ukrainian documents do UK applications use?

Mostly certificates from the state civil registration offices (viddily derzhavnoi reiestratsii aktiv tsyvilnoho stanu, known as DRATsS), plus police extracts, passports and education documents. From HM Passport Office's Ukraine profile and the US State Department's civil documents schedule:

HM Passport Office adds two warnings. A fully laminated identity document "can be invalid". And where a birth could not be registered because of the invasion, it expects both hospital forms: Form 103, the medical certificate of birth, and Form 113, the pre and antenatal record. They hold only the mother's details, and both need translating.

What must a Ukrainian certificate translation show?

Everything on both sides, in order:

• The certificate's series and number and the register entry details.
• Every name in full, including the patronymic (po batkovi), labelled as a patronymic and never as a middle name.
• Parents' details and places as written, Soviet-era place names included.
• The issuing office, issue date, official's name, signature and seal, described in square brackets, plus the Ministry of Justice stamp on blue A4 birth certificates.
• Reissue details. A repeat certificate (povtorne svidotstvo) is a fresh issue from the register, so its issue date is recent. Translate that date and any repeat-issue marking exactly; a 2025 reissue must not read like a 1990 original.
• QR codes and verification text on extracts.

Soviet-era and Russian-language documents

HM Passport Office reminds its staff that "the name Iryna (in Ukrainian) is the same name as Irina (in Russian)" and that "some citizens may have different names on their documents." If an older certificate or internal passport gives a name in its Russian form, the translation gives the holder's name as in the passport and records the Russian form in a translator's note, never silently changing either.

How do you replace a Ukrainian certificate from the UK?

Order a repeat certificate. Ukraine's official guide to public services lists four routes: a registry office, a Ukrainian embassy or consulate, an administrative services centre (TsNAP) or the Diia portal. A Diia request is processed the day it arrives, or the next working day if sent out of hours, and the certificate is collected at the registry office or posted to the address you give.

The Diia route opened on 21 July 2022 for birth, marriage, divorce, death and name change records, for yourself or close relatives with scans proving the relationship; at launch, the government warned that martial law stopped it in some regions.

Before you order:

1. Use an extract where a certificate cannot help. A marriage certificate is not reissued after the marriage has ended, but a register extract can confirm the marriage and divorce dates and earlier surnames.
2. Expect an apostille from the embassy. HM Passport Office notes that the Ministry of Justice adds one to replacement documents issued through the Ukrainian Embassy in the UK; it is translated too.
3. Men aged 18 to 60 living abroad receive Ukrainian consular services only if they have military registration documents, HM Passport Office records.

How do you get a Ukrainian police certificate for a UK visa?

Online, through Diia. If your visa needs an overseas criminal record certificate (see police certificate translation), UKVI's validity rule depends on whether Ukraine is your latest country of residence; if it is, the certificate must be issued no earlier than 6 months before you apply.

The vytiah pro nesudymist is free, takes up to 5 minutes to request with a qualified electronic signature, and usually arrives by email within 10 working days, or 30 calendar days if the data needs checking. You choose a short version, stating only whether you have a conviction, or a full one, which also covers criminal proceedings and procedural restrictions. Diia also asks whether your personal details have changed: declare every earlier surname, because the caseworker compares the extract with your application form.

GOV.UK's country note for Ukraine still describes applying through the regional "militia" office or the consulate in London; UKVI warns that these notes "may not reflect the current position". It does require "a translated copy of the certificate" meeting paragraph 39B(f), so translate the serial number, QR code text and verification details too.

How should Ukrainian names be spelled in the translation?

As in the passport of the person named. Ukraine's State Migration Service says Latin spellings in biometric documents follow Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 55 of 27 January 2010. The United Nations approved the same system in 2012, and its romanisation report notes that the rules "apply both to geographical and personal names". Г is h and Ґ is g, so Ігор is Ihor, never the Russian-style Igor.

Passports can depart from it. On written request, the Migration Service can copy the Latin spelling from earlier Ukrainian identity documents or from legalised foreign birth, marriage, divorce or name-change documents. In the international passport, the surname can even follow a child's, parent's or spouse's passport, foreign passports included.

The working rules:

1. The applicant's name follows the passport, even where Resolution 55 would differ.
2. Everyone else is transliterated under Resolution 55, identically on every certificate.
3. The patronymic stays, labelled as such.
4. Known variants get a note, such as an older passport or a Russian form.

What about Ukrainian diplomas and UK ENIC?

UK ENIC accepts Ukrainian originals without translation through its Translation Waiver Service: £49.20 on top of the £69.60 Statement of Comparability, £118.80 in all, or free with Fast Track. Russian, a UNESCO language, costs nothing extra, which helps if a Soviet-era diploma is in Russian. See UK ENIC step by step.

The waiver covers ENIC's own assessment only. Employers, universities and the Home Office read English, so give them a translation of the diploma (dyplom) and its supplement (dodatok do dyploma), every module, hour and grade as printed.

Do Ukrainian documents need an apostille in the UK?

Usually not. Paragraph 39B(f) asks for a translation, not an apostille. Ukraine has applied the Hague Apostille Convention since 22 December 2003, and its Ministry of Justice apostilles civil registry documents, usually within a day, says the State Department. Get one only if a UK office asks; any apostille on the document is translated with it.

Register offices have their own translation rules for giving notice of marriage; see giving notice with foreign documents.

Why Ukrainian documents get queried

• Russian spellings of Ukrainian names with no note linking them to the passport.
• The patronymic dropped or recast as a middle name.
• A divorce certificate where the court decision is the proof, for post-2010 divorces with minor children.
• A police extract outside UKVI's validity window, or one missing a former surname.
• A reissued certificate translated as if it were the original.
• An in-country translation without the translator's credentials.

Checklist for Ukrainian documents

Questions people ask