Visa policy of Ukraine

Visitors to Ukraine must obtain a visa from one of the Ukrainian diplomatic missions unless they are citizens of one of the visa-exempt countries.

Visa policy map

Visa policy of Ukraine
  Ukraine
  Visa not required (90 days)
  Visa not required with some condition (90 days)
  Visa not required (30 days)
  Visa not required (14 days)
  Visa required

Visa exemption

Ordinary passports

Holders of ordinary passports of the following countries and territories may enter Ukraine without a visa for the following period:[1][2]

90 days

90 days within any 180 days

90 days within any 6 months

30 days

30 days within any 60 days

14 days

ID - May enter with an ID card in lieu of a passport.
1 - Citizens of Belarus (mostly men of military age and sometimes suspicious-looking women) could be denied entry for reasons of national security or without any explanation at all.
2 - A visa is not required for business, private and tourist trips, provided that documents confirming the purpose of the trip (e.g. tourist voucher or invitation letter) are presented to the Ukrainian immigration officer.
3 - For holders of biometric passports only.
T - Temporary visa-free regime until 30 January 2025.

Non-ordinary passports

In addition to countries whose citizens are visa-exempt, holders of diplomatic or official/service passports of Cuba, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Morocco, Peru, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Vietnam and holders of diplomatic passports of India and Mexico may enter Ukraine without a visa.

Future changes

Ukraine has signed visa exemption agreements with the following countries, but they have not yet been ratified:

CountryPassportsAgreement signed on
 Indonesia[49]Ordinary9 June 2022
 Mongolia[50]Ordinary8 November 2019

In June 2024, Ukraine declared its stance on the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA-IL)[broken anchor] system implemented by Israel, stating that it considers the ETA-IL to be a violation of the existing visa-free agreement between the two nations that had been in place since 2010. In response to Israel's decision, Ukraine announced it would implement similar pre-approval requirements for Israeli citizens. This reciprocal action was confirmed by the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel on June 20, 2024. These measures are intended to mirror the additional requirements imposed by Israel, including the requirement for visitors to the Rosh Hashana kibbutz.[51] Previously, Ukraine planned to suspend the agreement due to the large number of entry refusals for Ukrainian visitors despite the visa-free agreement. Other issues included the confiscation of passports, extended interrogations lasting 5-10 hours at border crossings and the deportation of refugees.[52]

Electronic Visa (e-Visa) (suspended)

Ukraine introduced an e-Visa on 4 April 2018.[53]

An e-Visa may be obtained by civil servants, foreign correspondents or media representatives for a business or working trip to Ukraine, which covers the spheres of culture, science, education and sports.In addition, an e-Visa may be obtained by citizens who want to visit the country for private, tourist or medical purposes.[54][55]

The cost of an e-Visa is USD 20 for single-entry visa and USD 30 for double-entry visa with decision within 3 business days. Urgent visa processing is available for double visa fee (USD 40 / 60) and decision within 1 business day.[56]

Citizens of the following countries and territories may obtain an e-Visa for 30 days:[57]

Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, e-Visa is currently suspended.

Conflict area

Crimea and parts of Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Luhansk, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia regions are currently illegally occupied by the Russian Federation due to the Russo-Ukrainian war.

The Government of Ukraine strictly prohibits the entry and transit of foreign citizens to the occupied territories. Foreign citizens who entered the occupied territories without permission will be denied entry and transit to Ukraine. However, all this does not apply to citizens of Ukraine.

On 4 June 2015, the Government of Ukraine has adopted the resolution No. 367 "About the statement of the Order of entrance on temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and departure from the territory".According to the document, entrance of foreigners and persons without citizenship on temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and departure from the territory is carried out through checkpoints according to passport documents and the special permission given by territorial authority, which, however, is not issued to regular visitors.

Fingerprinting

Countries required to go through biometric checks (in green)

Ukraine introduced a biometric control (fingerprints, digital photo) at border crossings for citizens of the following 70 countries and territories on 1 January 2018: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.[58]

Russia

On 1 July 2022, Ukraine introduced an unilateral visa regime with Russia.[47][48] Russia did not introduce a visa regime with Ukraine.

Since the diplomatic missions of Ukraine (embassies, general and honorary consulates, ordinary consulates) in Russian cities were closed after Ukraine severed all official diplomatic ties with Russia (following the Russian invasion of Ukraine), Russian citizens residing in Russia must apply to commercial visa centers, which will only operate in a few Russian cities.[59][60] Those Russian citizens who are outside of Russia should apply for a visa at one of the diplomatic missions of Ukraine in other countries of the world.[47][48]

The Ukrainian and Russian services of Radio Liberty found out that even obtaining a Ukrainian visa by a Russian citizen does not guarantee and does not mean his admission to the territory of Ukraine. Ukrainian border guards are ordered to leave admission or refusal of entry at their discretion (if a person seems suspicious to him or if he cannot answer the border guard's questions reliably) even to holders of a valid Ukrainian visa.

Admission restrictions

Ukraine does not recognize the passports of Abkhazia, Northern Cyprus, the Sahrawi Republic, Somaliland, South Ossetia and Transnistria.

Visitor statistics

Most visitors arriving in Ukraine were from the following countries of nationality:[61]

Country20172016201520142013
 Moldova 4,435,664 4,296,409 4,393,528 4,368,355 5,417,966
 Belarus 2,727,645 1,822,261 1,891,518 1,592,935 3,353,652
 Russia 1,464,764 1,473,633 1,231,035 2,362,982 10,284,782
 Poland 1,144,249 1,195,163 1,156,011 1,123,945 1,259,209
 Hungary 1,058,970 1,269,653 1,070,035 874,184 771,038
 Romania 791,116 774,585 763,228 584,774 877,234
 Slovakia 366,249 410,508 412,519 416,158 424,306
 Turkey 270,695 199,618 140,691 116,302 151,706
 Israel 261,486 216,638 149,386 101,799 120,913
 Germany 209,447 171,118 154,498 131,244 253,318
Other countries 1,499,357 1,503,510 1,065,837 1,038,829 1,757,103
Total 14,229,642 13,333,096 12,428,286 12,711,507 24,671,227

See also

References