Verkhovna Rada registers bill granting children of IDPs official displaced person status

Bill No. 16087 has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, introducing significant changes to the registration procedure for children of internally displaced persons. The document, whose text was published by RBC-Ukraine, aims to close a legal gap that prevented children born after their parents' displacement from obtaining official IDP status and, as a result, from losing access to a range of guarantees, including education at their actual place of residence. The initiative will enter into force no earlier than the basic law No. 4924-IX, and documents already issued for the registration of children will remain valid without the need for reapplication.

What the bill changes for children of IDPs

The current law No. 4924-IX explicitly establishes the rule that a child born after the displacement of their parents is not recognized as an internally displaced person. Bill No. 16087 proposes to revise this approach. According to the text of the document, a child will be able to obtain IDP status if, on the day of their birth, at least one of the parents was already registered as a displaced person. Thus, the key criterion becomes not the moment of the child's birth, but the fact of the parent's registration on the date the baby was born. This closes the situation in which a family was displaced during the conflict, while the child was already born in a new location and formally "did not fall under" the protection of the IDP law.

Special cases: death, missing status, and loss of a parent

The bill provides for an expanded list of circumstances under which a child retains the right to registration even in non-standard situations. If the father or mother died, went missing, or was declared missing by a court before the child's birth, this does not deprive the child of the right to displaced person status. The document also clarifies the concept of an "abandoned place of residence," which should remove a number of administrative barriers to registration. It is separately stipulated that registration can be maintained even in the case of occupation of a new place of residence, without the need to re-confirm the grounds for displacement.

Education and access to services at the actual place of residence

One of the practical consequences of the current version of the law, as noted by RBC-Ukraine, was that IDP children without a registered address could be denied admission to school. Bill No. 16087 explicitly guarantees IDP children access to preschool and school education at their actual place of residence — regardless of the presence of registration or removal from the database. This means that a school or kindergarten will not be able to refuse to admit a child on the grounds of the absence of formal confirmation of displaced person status. The provision is aimed at ensuring the continuity of the educational process for children whose families are forced to displace during the conflict.

"Safety valve": automatic deregistration is excluded

The document incorporates a so-called safety mechanism. A change in circumstances regarding the parents — their deregistration, death, or deprivation of parental rights — does not become an automatic ground for removing the child from IDP registration. This protects minors from losing their status and the associated social guarantees as a result of actions or circumstances beyond their control. Payments assigned on the basis of previously issued documents will continue without the need for reapplication or re-proving of circumstances.

Context: package of changes for IDPs from 22 October 2026

Bill No. 16087 fits into a broader cycle of changes in the area of work with internally displaced persons. From 22 October 2026, additional requirements for the payment of pensions to IDP pensioners will be abolished. From the same date, IDP status may be removed "automatically" — prolonged stay abroad will become a ground for deregistration, in some cases even without a personal application from the person. In addition, displaced persons will be able to partially compensate housing rental expenses through a tax deduction upon meeting certain conditions. And one more significant innovation: from 22 October, the primary document confirming IDP status will be an extract from the state registry, replacing the current paper certificate, although until that date previously issued certificates will retain their legal force.