Ukrainian e-governance "Diia" is one of the best digital government services in the world!

Unfortunately, Ukraine has always been a rather bureaucratic country. And all procedures related to documents were long and complicated. But we gradually began to move from paper documents to digital ones. And it seemed to us that it was a very slow process. But when the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, many Ukrainians went abroad and were very surprised by how much better digital services are developed in Ukraine than in many other countries. It turns out that our state is very progressive in this field!

The main digital service of Ukraine is the brand of e-governance called “Дія” (“Diia”). Why “Дія”? This is an abbreviation of the words "Держава І Я" (“State And Me”). But the word "дія" also exists in the Ukrainian language and is translated into English as "act" or "deed".

Diia is a mobile application and web portal that has many features and is constantly evolving. “Diia" was presented for the first time in 2019, and already in 2020 the majority of Ukrainians started using it.

Today, almost every Ukrainian has the "Diia" application in their phone. What's in this app?

First of all, there is a list of digital documents of every Ukrainian, namely:

eDocument is a document certifying the identity of a citizen of Ukraine during martial law. In fact, it is an analogue of the physical passport of a Ukrainian. It contains the person's full name, date of birth, tax code, passport number, photo and residential address. This document is official on the territory of Ukraine, and all organizations accept it instead of a regular passport.

The next document is the Taxpayer's Card with tax information.

Also in Diia there is a driver's license, that is, a license that allows you to drive a car. And Vehicle Registration Certificate, that is, a document that contains information about your vehicle. These documents in your phone are enough to drive a car. Most drivers also have plastic cards for these documents, but this is not necessary now, because the documents in Diia are completely official. By the way, Diia also shows whether your car insurance is valid.

The next document is a foreign passport. After all, in Ukraine we have two types of passports - an internal one, which is valid on the territory of Ukraine, and a foreign one, with which we can travel to another country. Therefore, a foreign passport is available in Diia, but "Diia" is a Ukrainian service, so a Ukrainian will still not be able to go abroad without a physical passport.

Another document in "Dia" is a certificate of vaccination against covid. In 2021, it was impossible to enter such public places as restaurants, supermarkets, and offices without this certificate. So then most Ukrainians installed the "Diia" application to have this certificate in their phone, because it was very convenient.

Even in "Diia" there is now a Certificate of internally displaced person, it is a document for Ukrainians who were forced to move to another city because of the war.

Recently, Diplomas and Certificates of secondary and higher education were also added to "Diia". And most recently - a certificate of registration or dissolution of marriage, and a change of a last name.

You can also find a birth certificate or a pension certificate here.

Imagine that all these documents are simply in your phone! It is very convenient. Login to the application is protected by biometric data, so even if your phone is stolen, criminals are unlikely to be able to enter this application.

But that's not all! There are also many other services in Diia. For example, drivers will instantly receive notifications about fines and can easily and quickly pay them directly in the application.

You can even propose and apply for marriage through Diia. This opportunity has become extremely relevant for Ukraine, when many men are serving in the army and do not have the opportunity to have a normal wedding. But they can at least make the relationship official, even at a distance, which is very valuable, because new families have to be born even during war.

Through "Diia" you can also pay taxes, see the details of your court cases, if any, participate in various government surveys, buy military bonds, help the army and much more.

You can find even more services on the "Diia" web portal:

There you can apply for business grants, various licenses and certificates, and look for work. Also "Diia. Education" offers a large number of free educational video courses, as a professional direction, such as didgital marketing, courses for confectioners, florists, barbers, etc., as well as on socially important topics such as cyber security, inclusiveness, mental health, etc.

So "Diia" is a very convenient modern Ukrainian service that helps save a lot of time and effort that we used to spend on various government services. Currently, almost all basic documents and important government services are available through one application on the phone.

And now I'm interested to read your thoughts about this Ukrainian service and find out if there are similar digital services in your countries. Please write what you think in the comments.

You can also watch our video about this service to practice your listening skills in Ukrainian!