You're reading: (Visa-)Free At Last! Europe opens to Ukraine

As visa barriers to the European Union drop for Ukrainians starting on June 11, people and businesses are gearing up for the practical advantages and the psychological lift of being able to explore the continent more easily.

Once the agreement takes effect, Ukrainians will be able to travel without visas (or with visas upon arrival) to 121 of the world’s 195 nations.

The next attractive destinations for lifting visa restrictions include the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Japan — although Ukraine is not close to getting visa barriers dropped from any of those nations yet.

But for now, Ukraine is savoring its long-awaited victory in abolishing the hated, humiliating and costly process of getting a visa simply to visit another European state.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko presided at the May 17 signing ceremony at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, and hailed the agreement as a landmark event in Ukraine’s history.

‘Farewell’ Soviet empire

“Today is a historic day for Ukraine, for my nation of 45 million,” Poroshenko said. “Ukraine is returning to the European family. Ukraine says a final farewell to the Soviet and Russian empire.”

Ukrainians today can travel to 87 nations without visas or by obtaining visas upon arrival. The agreement will add another 34 European countries to the list, including four non-EU countries — Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

Only the formalities remain: The agreement will be published in the Journal of the European Union on May 21 and comes into force 20 days after publication — Sunday, June 11.

The agreement allows Ukrainians to stay 90 days within a 180-day period. Ukrainians need biometric passports to enjoy the benefits, something that at least 3.5 million citizens have obtained.

Even those who don’t plan to visit Europe will still benefit, said Iryna Sushko, head of NGO Europe Without Barriers, which promotes freedom of movement, migration rights and border management.

“For the majority of people, the important consequence of the visa-free regime is modernization, reform of the security system, migration, the fight against corruption and discrimination, and many other issues related to human rights,” Sushko said.

The agreement comes after years of tedious negotiations in which the hopes of Ukrainians ebbed and flowed.

Finally, EU ambassadors gave their approval on April 26, after Ukraine methodically met its requirements, leading to the signing ceremony with Poroshenko and European Parliament President Antonio Tajani and Maltese Interior Minister Carmelo Abela. Malta currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

Business boost

The greater ease of travel will inevitably reduce the insularity of Ukrainians, bring them personal benefits and give an immediate boost to the travel business — airlines, airports and tourist agencies.

According to a survey by the Sociological Group Rating, a non-governmental research organization, 80 percent of Ukrainians have not traveled out of their city or oblast in the past five years. The same survey found that only 27 percent of Kyivans, 19 percent of Odesans, 8 percent of Kharkiv residents and 6 percent of people in Zaporizhzhya visited Europe.

“Because of the visa-free regime, Ukrainians will be traveling abroad, in particular to Europe, more frequently,” Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan told the Kyiv Post.

Tetyana Prokopenko, head of Coral Travel agency, said that already more Ukrainians are buying and booking tours, mainly to Spain, Greece and the Greek island of Crete. “We expect an increased number of tourists to Europe on weekend tours and tours for families with children,” Prokopenko said.

This year Coral Travel also plans to increase its charter flights and pre-booked seats on regular flights.

Ukrainian airports and airlines are preparing for an increase in travelers.

Ukraine International Airlines, the nation’s largest airline, expects more passengers this year, building on last year’s 5 million passengers — or 200,000 more than 2015.

Ukraine International Airline spokesperson Maksym Arslanov said this year the carrier plans to launch new several flights: from Kyiv to Budapest, Kyiv to Bergamo, Chernivtsi to Bergamo, Zaporizhzhya to Tel Aviv and Zaporizhzhya to Batumi.

“Generally, the company’s plans for this year envisage an increase in the frequency of flights to existing destinations,” Arslanov added.

Kyiv’s Boryspil International Airport is also preparing for an increase in passengers. In 2016, the country’s main airport serviced 8.65 million passengers. This year it expects passenger throughput to reach 10 million.

Yevhen Dykhne, Boryspil airport’s deputy director, said that to improve services in 2017, the airport is expanding its transfer zone. In the next few years, the airport will install automated baggage and passenger check-in systems to speed up check-in.

Some 12 million Ukrainians have valid foreign passports, including 3.5 million biometric passports, said Maksym Sokoliuk Head of the State Migration Center of Ukraine. The EU-standard passports include biometric data stored in a chip.

Still, visa-free travel to the EU might not be hassle-free. Sushko from Europe Without Barriers said that “the percentage of refusals of entry might be significant.” Besides biometric passports, travelers still need to show they have a return ticket, accommodations, enough money for their trip and insurance.

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Lowering costs

Of course, being able to travel without a visa doesn’t mean one can afford to do so. The spending power of Ukrainians has been hurt by severe recession since 2014 and a cut in purchasing power with the two-thirds devaluation of the hryvnia.

Ukrainians will be encouraged to travel if more low-cost airlines go on the market.
The Dublin-based low-cost carrier Ryanair, Europe’s biggest, has announced the launch of flights to Kyiv and Lviv, Omelyan said. “Ryanair highly appreciates the Ukrainian market, and the visa-free factor, which implies that Ukrainians will travel more, is also taken into account,” Omelyan said.

In October, Ryanair plans to launch 15 flights a week to Kyiv from four European airports — Eindhoven, London Stansted, Manchester and Stockholm. From September, Lviv airport will accept 16 weekly Ryanair flights from Berlin, Budapest, Eindhoven, Krakow, London, Munich, Memmingen and Wroclaw.

Ryanair plans to serve 250,000 customers in Kyiv and 260,000 customers in Lviv per year.
According to Omelyan, only about 4 percent of Ukrainians currently fly abroad each year, and the arrival of new carriers will help significantly reduce ticket prices. “The flights must cost between 20 and 40 euros, and then we hope that Ukrainians will travel more,” the infrastructure minister said.

His goal is to get at least 10 to 15 percent of Ukrainians to travel by air this year.
Traveling to Europe by train, a much cheaper option, could also become more popular among Ukrainians. A train ticket from Kyiv to Przemysl in southeastern Poland costs only Hr 406 to Hr 574 ($15.29 to $21.62), while a ticket from Lviv to Przemysl is only Hr 172 to Hr 235 ($6.48 to $8.85). Omelyan says the trains are usually 90 percent full.

“We see the Polish destination is a success, and plan to launch new train routes to Poland, Slovakia and Romania,” the minister said.

If Ukrainians will consider finances first and foremost, they will mainly choose neighboring countries that are cheaper, including Poland, Hungary or Slovakia. “Countries that have cheap air links to Ukraine — Italy, Spain and Greece — will also be popular this year,” Omelyan said.