Free and independent: the rights of Ukrainians in Italy
Reference information: rules, amounts and deadlines change. Check the date of the material and the official sources.
Ukraine’s government portal states that an extract of a divorce decision downloaded together with the judge’s electronic signature is considered an official original document. Embassies in Italy, however, do not always accept this, so the situation has to be explained to them.
Ukrainians can use an electronic court decision in Diia instead of a paper document. This is a new service, introduced by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine on 6 March 2023. In the Diia app you can obtain an electronic court decision bearing the judges’ qualified electronic signature. The document has the same legal force as its paper counterpart. A court decision is the document that records the outcome of a court case – for example, confirming that a couple has divorced.
To assert their rights, Ukrainians can take screenshots from the Diia app and send them to the embassy’s e-mail address together with the divorce extract. It is also important to attach the archive folder containing the extract of the divorce decision with the judge’s electronic signature. This saves you having to travel to Ukraine for the original or authorise someone to collect it.
Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said: “We are continuing to digitalise Ukraine’s judicial system. For a year now, court notifications – messages informing you of court hearings – have been available in the Diia app. From now on, you can get a court decision right on your smartphone in a few clicks. Previously you had to go to the court at specially set times and then queue to receive the document. Now everything is much simpler. A few clicks and the document is on your smartphone.”
To get court decisions in Diia:
- Log in to the app.
- Go to “Services” and select “Court cases”.
- View the court decision and, if needed, download it to your smartphone.
To use the court services in Diia, update the app to the latest version.
As a reminder, Ukrainians can also receive notifications of scheduled court hearings in cases to which they are a party in the Diia app. The service was implemented by the Ministry of Digital Transformation together with the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, the state enterprise “Court Services Centre” and the state enterprise “Information Court Systems”.
We are free and independent, building our lives and our future here and now. We know better than anyone that tomorrow may never come. Know your rights and use them. The state has taken care of this, and now it is time for it to stand by its word and prove that it all works. Good luck in your own life, wherever you are. Your country is always ready to help you. Best of luck!
Of course, to resolve your individual case you will need to attach the full set of documents, but that should no longer be a problem.
