Even though the European Parliament ratified the European Union-Ukraine Association agreement, the country may not secure visa-free travel to the EU until early next year.
EU Ambassador to Ukraine Jan
Tombinski said in May that Ukraine is “months away” from being able to travel
freely to the 26 nations that make up the Schengen Zone within the EU by
year-end.
However, deputy Foreign Minister Lana Zerkalova in an
interview to Ukrainska Pravda website said Ukraine won’t get visa free regime
with the European Union countries until next May.
Even though many Ukrainian officials was hoping for
visa cancelations starting Jan 1, Zerkalova says it’s more likely for
Ukraine to get visa free travel during the Eastern partnership Summit in Riga
in May 2015.
The major obstacle for Ukrainians to travel free to
the EU is shortage of biometric documents.
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers promised to start
issuing biometric passports to Ukrainian citizens in January 2015.
But Oleksandr Sushko, an analyst for the Institute for
Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, a Kyiv-based think tank, predicts “it may take up to
five years to issue biometric passports,” adding that the demand will remain
high even when visa-free travel comes into effect.
The State Migration Service officials promised
to open offices in every Ukrainian oblast to publicize the
information needed to get biometric travel documents.
Russia’s war against Ukraine, which has claimed the
lives of more than 930 servicemen and 3,000 civilians, won’t affect the EU
decision on granting visa-free travel to Ukraine, according to Zerkalova.
“Ukraine just need to make it clear for the EU that
“not a single person who illegally comes from the eastern territory can’t get a
Ukrainian passport and travel without visas to the EU countries,”
Zerkalova was quoted as saying.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected]
