PRESS RELEASE : As of today, services to change the place of residence registration and polls as the first step towards direct democracy are available in Diia – Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 8 February 2022.

As of today, the online service for changing the place of residence registration and polls are available on the Diia portal of public services. This was stated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his speech at the third Diia Summit, which is taking place in Kyiv.

“We dreamed of a state that provides citizens with quality service. For me, first of all, it’s fast and convenient. When young parents receive 10 services in 15 minutes with just one application in the maternity hospital thanks to “yeMalyatko”. It has been functioning only for two years. But today, nine out of ten Ukrainian families register the birth of a child through this service,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Also, according to him, almost a million citizens and entrepreneurs during the quarantine restrictions in a few minutes received 8 thousand hryvnias of assistance from the state through Diia. Using Diia you can pay taxes, fines, UST, submit a declaration, e-petition, apply for a subsidy or pension on your smartphone. In total, 14 million people live in “digital Ukraine”, as stated by the President.

“For two years we have been analyzing life situations where citizens interact with the state. And popular government services were made online. Today, the most popular one, the change of place of residence registration, is a matter of the past as well,” the Head of State said.

“As of today there will be no registrations, offices, passport desks, military enlistment offices and so on. You can now change your residence registration online in a few clicks. Congratulations to all. By the way, the A4 certificate, which had to be carried with the ID-passport, can also be forgotten,” he added.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said that the “Poll” function is being launched in the Diia app today. So far, the issues are related to the capabilities of the application and the services available in it, but in the future they will relate to other issues of the state.

In the presentation video, Volodymyr Zelenskyy reminded that direct democracy is one of the key points of his presidential program.

“Today we are taking the first step in this direction – Diia launches the “Poll” service, the first large-scale tool of e-democracy. For millions of citizens, this is an opportunity to express their position and influence decisions for the state, an opportunity to quickly find out the opinion of people on any issues in real time and real numbers. Well, for all of us, this is actually the start of digital democracy,” the President said in a video presentation.

The Head of State noted that the first questions are not difficult, not fateful for the country and are rather a test of this function. In particular, they concern the new digital services that have now appeared in the Diia app – which is the most useful, and which should be the name of the new government program for people over the age of 60.

“Choose your version, see how e-democracy works in “Diia”, influence the development of the digital state,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged citizens.

The President noted that the digital transformation not only saves time, but also changes public administration. Proof of this is the launch of the “eSupport” program.

“In two weeks it has become the most popular service in the history of Ukraine. One thousand hryvnias for vaccinated citizens plus 500 hryvnias for a booster dose. Funds that can be spent on sports, concerts, movies, theaters, museums, books, traveling in Ukraine. Eight million Ukrainians used it. The affected business sectors received 2.3 billion hryvnias. And the whole world understood that Ukrainians are a nation that reads, because every third citizen spent these funds on books. And this is wonderful,” the President said.

The President reminded that in February 2020, when the presentation of the newly created Diia app took place, digital driver’s licenses and technical passports were available, and then it was considered a breakthrough. And today there are more than 20 documents and services in the application, and more than 50 government services, licenses and permits on the Diia portal.

“We have become the fourth country in Europe to have electronic driver’s licenses. Then it was pride. We were the first in the world to launch a digital passport that is as valid as a paper one. Then it was fantastic. We were the first to join the single digital market in Europe with COVID-certificates generated by 10 million Ukrainians. And now it’s all a habit. The habit of high-quality, fast and convenient service from the state,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

As the President noted, the more difficult it is to surprise citizens every time, the more ambitious the plans and the way forward are.

“But I am sure that at the next Diia Summit, as always, we will have something to tell, something to be proud of, there will be victories that we will be able to surprise you with, and ambitious plans that will surprise you and the whole world even more. But this does not frighten us. Because we know for sure: what was called a “dream” yesterday is called “Diia” today. The main thing is to dream and act,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy summed up.

The Head of State urged: do not be afraid to dream, because digitization in Ukraine is just that.