Which category of pensioners is required to undergo a physical identification procedure?

Information that Ukrainian pensioners are required to undergo identification was communicated to the public several months ago, causing concern among older citizens.

Valentina Borshovskaya, director of the Department for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalization of PFU, responded to KP.UA’s official request

Until the end of 2023, physical identification is carried out for Ukrainian pensioners who are registered as internally displaced persons before 02/24/2022 and receive payments through Oschadbank JSC.

There are no deadlines for physical identification for other categories of pensioners, including those temporarily staying abroad.

The need to identify the recipient of the pension by the Pension Fund authorities may arise, in particular, in the event that the territorial bodies of the Pension Fund of Ukraine receive from the authorized bank in which the recipient's current account is opened, the message provided for in paragraph 17 of the Procedure for the payment of pensions and cash assistance through current accounts, approved by the resolution Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated August 30, 1999 No. 1596.

The message may concern cases when pension amounts are received by the recipient using a payment card whose validity period exceeds one year, and during the year the recipient did not carry out debit transactions personally on such a payment card, and the bank did not perform physical identification of the person during the year.

In cases where there is a need for pensioners temporarily living abroad to undergo identification with the Pension Fund of Ukraine, this can be done in several ways, namely:

• – authorize in your personal electronic account on the web portal of electronic services of the Pension Fund of Ukraine using a remote qualified electronic signature “Diya. Subscription” (“Dia ID”), created using the mobile application of the Unified State Web Portal of Electronic Services;
• – contact a foreign diplomatic institution of Ukraine to obtain a certificate that the individual is alive. The certificate issued in the prescribed manner, together with an application for identification (in any form), should be sent to the territorial body of the Pension Fund of Ukraine. The original certificate along with the application can be sent by mail or in scanned form through the electronic services web portal of the Pension Fund of Ukraine using a qualified electronic signature.

The PFU also reported that the establishment by the bodies of the Pension Fund of Ukraine of the face of a pensioner in video conferencing mode, during which identification documents are presented, will be carried out by the bodies of the Pension Fund of Ukraine after the entry into force of the Procedure for establishing by the territorial body of the Pension Fund of Ukraine the face of the recipient of a pension, a monthly lifetime monetary maintenance of a retired judge, other social benefits via video conferencing, approved by Resolution of the Board of the Pension Fund of Ukraine dated November 20, 2023 No. 49-2.