Marry within 24 hours in Ukraine

The ministerial cabinet of Ukraine accepted a pilot project of 24 hours marriages registration in Ukraine. 1-day marriage registrations will be available in Lviv, Kiev, Mariupol, Odessa, Severodonetsk and Kherson.

The decision was made by the government on 13 July without voting in parliament. The legislation was proposed by the Minister of Justice of Ukraine Pavlo Petrenko. Ukrainian prime-minister Volodymyr Groysman suggested to add to the legislation the point about prohibiting divorces but then admitted he was only joking. The new law was approved quickly despite not having been listed on the agenda.

At present in Ukraine people have to file an application at least a month before their registration of marriage. The new law let people in some areas to cut this time from 30 days to 1 day.

Previously that the usual process where people had to apply at least 30 days prior to the proposed date of marriage was out of date and came from the Soviet Union times. Cutting down the waiting times for prospective newlyweds is apparently seen as more modern.

The Ukrainian minister of Justice also has in plans marriages within 1 hour. Registering nuptials with the assistance of notaries and any time of day or night is also a possibility.

If the pilot project of 24 hour marriage registration is successful, the same system is planned to be implemented in all cities of Ukraine.
There will be special places to register marriages within 24 hours. Most likely, an existing registrars will be given authorization to accept applications for fast ceremonies.

However, it is unclear whether the service will be accessible to foreigners wanting to marry Ukrainian women.