Draft Law #15585 of August 31, 2026

Initiator: submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

Who is affected: foreigners and stateless persons who serve or have served under contract in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the State Special Transport Service, or the National Guard of Ukraine; foreign spouses, children, and parents of citizens of Ukraine who serve or have served in the State Bureau of Investigation, the State Border Guard Service, the State Guard Administration, the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection, other law enforcement or intelligence bodies; foreigners who are former prisoners of war; persons holding the status of combatant or person with a disability caused by war.

Summary:

  • expands the list of bodies where service entitles the foreign spouse of a Ukrainian citizen to simplified citizenship, an immigration permit, or a residence permit: previously this effectively covered only the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Special Transport Service; now the State Bureau of Investigation, the State Border Guard Service, the State Guard Administration, the State Service of Special Communications, other bodies with law enforcement functions, and intelligence bodies are added;
  • harmonizes the grounds for discharge from military service across different legal acts, broadening both the range of grounds for discharge and the grounds for preferential citizenship for a veteran and their family;
  • counts the period of contract military service in the Armed Forces, the State Special Transport Service, and the National Guard toward the five-year continuous residence requirement needed for an immigration permit (allowing a gap of no more than 180 days between the end of service and the issuance of a permit);
  • extends the preferential period for retaining lawful residence status for foreigners after the completion of service from 3 to 6 months;
  • lowers the threshold for the duration of a foreigner’s joint participation in hostilities alongside the Armed Forces or the National Guard (in areas of hostilities, while performing combat or service tasks) required for entitlement to a temporary residence permit and, from there, to the status of combatant or person with a disability caused by war: from 6 to 4 months; for those who were held in captivity, the duration requirement does not apply at all;
  • creates a new document — the “foreigner’s certificate for travel abroad” — for foreign veterans and spouses of service members whose passport has expired or is due for replacement but who objectively cannot obtain a new one because their country of citizenship has committed armed aggression against Ukraine or does not recognize its territorial integrity. This is a 16-page booklet with an electronic chip, valid for up to 3 years, issued within 15 working days, with a fee for issuance or replacement of 0.2 of the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons (approximately UAH 666 under the 2026 rate).

What is right:

  • it removes the inequality in the legal status of the families of the fallen: the family of a fallen border guard or State Bureau of Investigation officer did not have the same immigration and citizenship benefits as the family of a fallen Armed Forces service member;
  • the new travel document for foreigners whose country of citizenship is an aggressor state: without it, a Russian or Belarusian veteran, or the spouse of a service member, having obtained status in Ukraine, was effectively left without a valid passport and with no lawful means of renewing it, since applying to a Russian consulate is either impossible or dangerous;
  • lowering the period to 4 months and the separate provision on captivity is the right decision. A person taken captive physically cannot meet a requirement of continuous presence or participation over a set period. This happened through no fault of their own, so penalizing them for it by withholding status would be unjust.