Citizens of Ukraine who have moved abroad are often faced with issues of changing their civil status. Marriage, divorce, the birth of children, change of surname - all this happens to Ukrainians abroad as well as in the Motherland.

In this regard, the Consulate of Ukraine in Gdańsk informs how to act after changing the surname during the war. Is it possible to change the surname in the foreign passport, if due to circumstances it was not possible to change it in the civil (domestic) passport?

First of all, the consulate advises not to use documents, mainly passports issued in your previous name, not to open accounts based on such documents, not to cross the border, etc. Since in this case you provide knowingly false information about yourself (this surname is no longer yours), and a person with such data simply does not exist anymore.

Next - about changing the surname in the passport. First, you have to change the passport of a citizen of Ukraine (domestic passport) to a new surname and only then - a foreign one. Embassies and consulates do not issue internal passports, so they can only issue a foreign one. And for this, you must submit - among other documents - a passport of a citizen of Ukraine, issued under a new surname. Therefore, embassies and consulates can issue a foreign passport with a new surname if you provide an internal passport issued with a new surname.

Currently, Ukrainians can issue an internal passport abroad only in Warsaw at mobile points of the State Migration Service, but the Service plans to expand the list.