UK Family Visa: Ukrainian Police Certificate Requirements

Do you need a Ukrainian police certificate for a UK family visa? What the Home Office requires, how to order the certificate, and what to do if you cannot get one.

Published September 16, 2026

Does a UK family visa require a Ukrainian police certificate?

For the standard family visa route, a police certificate from Ukraine is not a listed mandatory document. The published Home Office guidance on criminal record checks for overseas applicants (gov.uk, checked 15 September 2026) sets a criminal record certificate requirement for Skilled Worker applicants in health, education and social care who lived outside the UK for 12 months or more in the previous 10 years, and states that such a work application will be refused without the certificate or a satisfactory explanation. Family routes are not covered by that policy, and there is no equivalent rule for them.

Two caveats matter. First, UK Visas and Immigration can request additional documents in any application, so a caseworker with questions about your background may still ask for a certificate of non-conviction. Second, if you are applying under one of the Ukraine schemes rather than the standard family route, the document list is different again, so work from the checklist inside your own application form rather than from generic advice.

Ukraine Family Scheme: who could apply

The Ukraine Family Scheme allowed Ukrainians and their family members to join relatives already settled in the UK. It sat alongside the EU Temporary Protection Directive, which operates in EU countries but not in the UK, where the Home Office ran its own separate schemes instead. Eligibility turned on two things: the applicant’s relationship to a UK-based relative, and that relative’s own immigration status.

Ukraine Family Scheme closure

The scheme closed to new applications on 19 February 2024. Applications submitted before that date continued to be processed, and people who had already been granted permission under the scheme did not lose their status. New family applications now go through the standard family visa routes, which are assessed under different rules and have their own document lists.

Ukraine Permission Extension scheme

The Ukraine Permission Extension scheme is the route for people already in the UK on a Ukraine scheme who want to stay longer. It does not accept new applicants from overseas; it exists purely to extend permission for those already here. With the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Ukraine Extension Scheme both closed to new applications, this extension route is now the main way holders of Ukraine scheme permission keep their status.

Ukraine Extension Scheme closure

The Ukraine Extension Scheme, which allowed people already in the UK on other visas to switch into Ukraine scheme permission, is closed to new applicants. If you held permission under it, your existing grant and the extension route described above still matter for you. Anyone arriving fresh from Ukraine now needs a different visa category altogether.

Passport and biometrics requirements

A valid Ukrainian international passport is the core identity document for most applications. Biometrics, meaning fingerprints and a photograph, are part of every route: if your passport has a biometric chip, you can confirm your identity with the UK Immigration: ID Check app instead of travelling to a visa application centre. After approval, permission is digital: an eVisa linked to your passport, accessed through the view and prove service rather than a physical biometric residence permit.

Applying without a valid passport

Without a valid passport your options narrow sharply, because the application systems are built around one. In some Ukraine scheme cases UKVI issued a permission to travel letter so an applicant could travel without a visa sticker in a passport, and Border Force checked that letter at the border. If your passport has expired or is lost, contact UK Visas and Immigration before you apply and ask which route is open to you.

The visa application centre process

If the app is not an option for you, the process runs through a visa application centre. You upload your documents digitally before the appointment, then attend in person to have your fingerprints and photograph taken. Bring your passport and any originals the checklist flags, because the centre can scan documents that were not uploaded in advance.

Sponsor requirements and checks

Every family route has someone on the UK side: a relative sponsoring your application, or a named host under a sponsorship scheme. The Home Office runs security checks on both the sponsor and the applicant. Sponsors under the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme additionally go through checks by the local council, including a DBS check in England and Wales where children or vulnerable adults are involved. Here is how the three documents people most often confuse actually differ:

The ACRO details come from nidirect guidance on criminal record checks for working abroad, checked 15 September 2026. The same nidirect source lists the countries whose visa processes rely on an ACRO police certificate: Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Cayman Islands, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA. The UK family visa is not on that list, which is another way of seeing that an ACRO certificate is a document for other destinations, not for this route.

Access to work and benefits

Permission under the Ukraine schemes included the right to work and access public services from day one, which was one of the schemes’ defining features. Standard family visa applications sit under the ordinary Immigration Rules instead.

Contacting UK Visas and Immigration

UK Visas and Immigration handles questions about existing applications through the contact channels listed on gov.uk; quote your application reference number. Once you hold an eVisa, the view and prove service is how you share your status with landlords, employers and the border. The Home Office publishes scheme updates on gov.uk, and those pages, not forums, are the reliable source when rules change.

Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme

The Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme matched guests with named sponsors in the UK rather than with family members. Sponsors were vetted by the local council before a match was approved, with DBS checks where children or vulnerable adults were involved, plus ongoing welfare checks. If your sponsor is also a relative, the family routes described on this page are the relevant ones; the sponsorship scheme is a separate track with its own paperwork.

UK-based family member requirements

For the Ukraine Family Scheme, a UK-based family member meant a spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner, a parent, a child, or certain wider relatives such as a sibling, grandparent or adult child of a British citizen or settled person. The sponsor’s own status mattered as much as the relationship: British citizens, settled persons and some others qualified, each with a slightly different list of relatives they could bring. Evidence of the relationship came from certificates, and for partners from shared finances, correspondence and photographs covering a period of time.

How to order a Ukrainian police certificate from abroad

Ukraine issues a certificate of non-conviction through its official channels: applications can be made from inside Ukraine and through Ukrainian consulates serving residents abroad. The exact procedure changes often enough that you should confirm it with the consulate covering your country of residence rather than relying on second-hand advice. Two practical points: start the process early, and check whether the requesting authority needs an apostille or a certified translation on top of the certificate itself, because adding those later means another round of paperwork.

How other countries handle criminal record certificates

If your family circumstances tie you to more than one country, it helps to know how other states treat the same document, because the rules differ in ways that surprise people. In Austria, the criminal records office at the Vienna state police department adds data from the registries of other EU countries to the Austrian criminal record extract, so the certificate can reflect entries beyond Austria itself (source: oesterreich.gv.at, checked 15 September 2026). In Italy, the apostille on a certificato penale is placed by the prosecutor’s office (procura), not by a prefecture or a municipal office (source: Italian consular services, checked 15 September 2026).

These examples matter for one practical reason: never assume that the issuing authority, the apostille authority and the translation requirements are the same everywhere. If your application file includes documents from several countries, check each one against the rules of the country that issued it, and check what the receiving authority actually asks for. A certificate that is perfectly valid in one context can be rejected in another purely over form: a missing apostille, a missing certified translation, or an e-apostille where a paper one is required.

When a certificate is impossible to get

War creates genuine obstacles: records held in occupied territories, archives destroyed, registries offline. If you cannot obtain the certificate, the workable approach is to say so explicitly. Prepare a short written explanation of exactly why the document cannot be obtained, attach whatever alternative evidence you do have, and submit it with your application so the caseworker sees the reason up front rather than a silent gap. Decision-makers have discretion to weigh explanations, but they can only weigh explanations you have actually given them.

How long does a police certificate stay valid?

There is no single published validity period for family visa purposes, and UKVI does not stamp an expiry date on the document itself. As a working rule, caseworkers expect a certificate to have been issued shortly before the date of application, so if yours is no longer recent, order a fresh one instead of explaining the old one. If a certificate is requested mid-application, the clock starts from that request, not from your original submission date.

Applying from inside the UK versus overseas

The two situations now diverge. If you are already in the UK on Ukraine scheme permission, your route is the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme, handled digitally through the ID Check app, with no overseas travel involved. If you are applying from outside the UK after the Ukraine Family Scheme closed on 19 February 2024, you go through the standard family visa routes, which commonly means a visa application centre appointment in your country of residence. On the police certificate question the answer is the same in both cases: it is not a listed mandatory document for either route, but keeping a recent certificate ready is a sensible hedge against a caseworker’s request.

This page is for general information only and is not legal advice. Apostilles for UK public documents are issued exclusively by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) Legalisation Office; this site is not affiliated with any government body. Please consult a qualified professional before making decisions.

FAQ

Yes, in most cases. Ukrainian citizens who do not already hold settled or pre-settled status need a visa or a permission under one of the Ukraine schemes before they travel. Check the current rules on gov.uk before booking anything, because scheme availability has changed several times.

The scheme covered immediate and extended family members of a British citizen or a person settled in the UK. It closed to new applications on 19 February 2024, so most new family applications now go through the standard family visa routes instead.

If you hold a valid Ukrainian international passport with a biometric chip, you can confirm your identity with the UK Immigration: ID Check app instead of visiting a visa application centre. Some applicants are still directed to a centre, so follow the instructions shown in your own application.

Typically your passport, evidence of your relationship to the UK-based family member or sponsor, and any documents the form lists for your specific route. UK Visas and Immigration may request extra documents, including a police certificate, if it needs more information about your background.

If you arrived under one of the Ukraine schemes, the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme is the route for extending your permission from inside the UK. Apply before your current permission expires and keep your view and prove service profile up to date while the new decision is pending.

Sponsors are checked by the local council before a match is approved, including a DBS check in England and Wales where children or vulnerable adults are involved. The Home Office also runs its own security checks on both the sponsor and the guest.

For the Ukraine Family Scheme it was a spouse or partner, a parent, a child, or certain wider relatives such as a sibling, grandparent or adult child of a British citizen or settled person. The exact list depended on the scheme and on the sponsor’s own immigration status.

Marriage or civil partnership certificates, birth certificates and adoption papers are the standard documents. For unmarried partners, caseworkers look for evidence that the relationship is genuine and subsisting, such as shared finances, correspondence and photographs covering a period of time.

Helpful guides

Which UK documents can be apostilled: certificates, degrees, company and court papers, e-Apostille rules, FCDO rejections and embassy attestation explained.

Which countries accept a UK apostille, which require embassy attestation, and country-by-country guides for UK documents used abroad.

Apostille meaning explained for UK documents: what the FCDO certificate looks like, which documents qualify, e-Apostille and when embassy legalisation.

Official sources

Rules are checked against official sources.

We handle your documents in a few steps

Tell us your situation

Which country, which purpose (visa, work, study, residence)

We identify the right document and authority

Which document, which government body issues/apostilles it

You know exactly where to go

A clear checklist instead of guesswork across dozens of pages