Visa-Free Travel

Visa-free travel – is the opening of the European Union to all Ukrainians. The introduction of a visa-free regime for Ukraine will strengthen the level of trust between the border services of Ukraine and the EU member states.

On April 20, 2016, the European Commission submitted to the Council of the EU and the European Parliament a legislative proposal to abolish the visa regime for Ukrainian citizens, stating that Kyiv had fulfilled all the necessary conditions.

It was expected that as early as autumn 2016, Ukrainian citizens would be able to travel to the Schengen Agreement states without visas. However, consideration of the issue was postponed until spring 2017, and a mechanism was also developed to suspend the visa-free regime in the event of a breach of the agreements by the Ukrainian side.

On April 6, 2017, the decision to ease the visa regime between Ukraine and the European Union was supported by Members of the European Parliament. A vote in the Committee of Permanent Representatives is expected on April 26. In the event of a positive vote, the document must be signed by EU President Donald Tusk and the head of the state holding the EU presidency (in the first half of 2017 – Malta). After that, the document will be published in the official journal of the EU and will enter into force 20 days later – approximately at the beginning of June.