Obtaining and Replacing Passports: How to Make the Process More Accessible for Service Members
During monitoring visits to military units and adaptation courses at training centers, the Office of the Military Ombudsman’s team identifies service members who do not have passports. Some lost their passports in combat zones, while others arrived at training centers without the document. As a result, they cannot open a bank account and receive their military pay, access administrative and social services, or obtain other documents.
When opening a bank account, a bank may identify and verify a service member on the basis of a military registration document (MRD). However, many mobilized soldiers cannot obtain an MRD: paper military IDs are no longer issued, plastic ones have not yet been produced, and the electronic MRD is unavailable to those who have not obtained a passport in the form of an ID card. Such service members are issued a temporary certificate without a photograph. Therefore, a bank cannot use it to verify their identity.
To replace a passport, a service member must personally apply to the State Migration Service or a Center for Administrative Services Provision (CNAP), have their photograph taken and undergo biometric identification, and then collect the passport after it has been issued (at least one week later). However, during basic combined arms training, while carrying out combat missions, or while undergoing treatment or rehabilitation, this is generally impossible.
This issue could be resolved through mobile teams of the State Migration Service (SMS). However, military units currently have no established procedure for arranging such visits.
The Office of the Military Ombudsman has approached the State Migration Service with a proposal to develop a unified procedure for mobile passport issuance and replacement services for service members. In particular, the proposal calls for determining who from a military unit may contact the SMS directly, what documents are required, and how quickly a mobile team can arrive. The Office has also separately raised the issue of shortening the identity-establishment procedure required to replace a document.
The Office is also preparing proposals for other state authorities to simplify the banking identification of service members, expand the possibilities for using a temporary military registration document, and reduce the cost of replacing passports.
“The service should be as accessible as possible for a service member. They should not have to negotiate with an institution to arrange passport issuance and look for a way to get there. The service should come to them. The procedure is simple: the military unit notifies the SMS of the need, and a mobile team arrives at the designated time. The person is photographed, the documents are accepted, and then the completed passport is delivered. After all, this is not just about an identity document. It is about a soldier’s connection to the state they are defending,” said Serhii Breus, Chief Specialist of the Department for Ensuring the Exercise of Service Members’ Rights.