Exchanging a US driver license in Ukraine: documents, translation and apostille

Want to swap your US driver license for a Ukrainian one? The MVS service centre will ask for a certified translation, and many people are told there that “no apostille is needed”. That is only half true. Here is how it actually works, so you do not get stuck halfway.

What the service centre requires

According to the Main Service Centre of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, exchanging a foreign driver license requires:

• a passport (or a permanent residence permit for foreign nationals);
• a Ukrainian taxpayer number;
• a medical certificate of fitness to drive;
• the foreign license and its translation — notarised (the notary certifies the translator’s signature) or certified by a consular office;
• a document from the issuing country’s competent authority confirming that the license was issued and that driving privileges have not been revoked, with a translation. For the US this is usually a DMV Driver Record.

You must apply in person; the service is not available online.

Will you have to take tests?

Licenses are exchanged without tests in two cases. First, if Ukraine has a treaty on mutual recognition and exchange of driving licenses with the issuing country; currently these are Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Turkey and the UAE. Second, if you are a Ukrainian citizen and your foreign license meets the requirements of the 1968 Convention on Road Traffic, or you received it abroad in exchange for a Ukrainian one. There is no such treaty with the US, so according to the service centre’s guidance, foreign nationals with a US license have to take the theory and driving tests. Ukrainian citizens should check in advance whether the service centre accepts their license as meeting the Convention requirements: the final decision rests with the administrator.

“The service centre said no apostille is needed”

The service centre does not check the apostille and is not responsible for how the translation was certified. It simply needs a certified document. That is where the confusion comes from: the document list on the MVS service centre website mentions only a translation “certified by a notary or a consular office” and says nothing about an apostille. But a notary does not certify the translation itself, only the authenticity of the translator’s signature.

Under Article 100 of the Law on Notaries a Ukrainian notary accepts documents issued by US authorities only with an apostille. Without an apostille on the DMV record, you get stuck at the notary, not at the service centre.

How to prepare the DMV record

1. Order a certified driving record from the DMV of the state that issued your license. It should show when the license was issued and its status — that it has not been revoked or suspended.
2. Have it apostilled by the Secretary of State of the same state. The procedure varies: some states apostille the record as issued, others require it to be signed by a DMV official or notarized first. Many states accept requests by mail or online.
3. Send us the apostilled original — we translate the document together with the apostille and have the translation notarized.

If you are still in the US, there is another route the service centre explicitly allows: a translation certified by a Ukrainian consular office.

How we can help

• We will tell you what is usually ordered from the DMV — a certified driving record — and where in your state it gets an apostille. Whether the document is accepted is decided by the MIA service centre, so check with them before ordering.
• We will translate your driver license and the DMV record together with the apostille and have the translation notarized.
• You do not need to come to Zhytomyr: send the originals by Nova Poshta and we send the finished documents back the same way.

Send photos of your documents by WhatsApp or email and we will tell you what you need. More about notarized translation.