The biometrics visa policy approved in the governmental meeting on Wednesday, will now require scans of face and fingerprints.

Collection of personal biometric data for Ukrainian visa applications  will be put in place starting January 1, 2022.  Personal biometric identifiers of visa applicants will be stored in the state database for 5 years.

The visa update  Foreign Ministry has pushed for aims to ‘speed up identification and verification procedures for international visitors and stateless persons entering Ukraine’, improve governmental control and coordination over migrations processes and prevent entry on fake IDs.

Children under 12, diplomats, and people with disabilities that make it impossible such biometrics collection are exempt from the policy.