Ukraine to introduce biometric control at the border beginning January 1
The system for recording of biometric data of citizens on the Ukrainian border will take effect beginning January 1, 2018, as announced by President Petro Poroshenko announced in Kharkiv during the opening of a regional administrative services center.
"The system for recording biometric data is being created at an accelerated pace. I want to emphasize that, according to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC), which was announced a few days ago, the system for recording biometric data at border checkpoints, which should be taking effect beginning January 1, 2018, will make a full profit for the Unified National Biometric Verification and Identification System for Ukrainian Citizens, Foreigners and Stateless Persons. In the implementation of this set of activities, administrative services centers have been assigned an important role. No one else will forge a Ukrainian passport; no one else will create a security threat. And with our determined efforts, we will take steps to improve the security of our state," the President said.
A decree was later issued on the website of the President of Ukraine that brought into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine of July 10, 2017, "On strengthening control over the entry into Ukraine and departure from Ukraine of foreigners and stateless persons, in compliance with the rules of staying on the territory of Ukraine."
"Enacting the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine of July 10, 201 ‘On strengthening control over the entry into Ukraine and departure from Ukraine of foreigners and stateless persons, in compliance with the rules of staying on the territory of Ukraine’," the document says.
Control over the implementation of the decision of the NSDC, put into effect by this decree, is assigned to NSDC Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov.
The decree comes into force beginning from the date of its publication.
Poroshenko announced that the procedure would be held in three stages:
— First: a person can submit a preliminary notification of their intention to visit Ukraine;
Second: the direct recording of the biometric passport, or biometric data at the border;
Third: the recording of the person at the place where he or she plans to stay.
"I believe that this is a common practice. In conditions where the country is the object of military aggression by the Russian Federation, this practice is fully justified," he added.