News

07-05-2012

More Ukrainians issued Schengen visas, less getting refusals The number of Schengen visas issued to the citizens of Ukraine in recent years has been growing, and the number of refusals decreasing, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said.

06-05-2012

German 'Blue Card' to simplify immigration Germany is introducing "Blue Cards" designed to make the immigration process easier for skilled workers. Among other measures, the program rewards immigrants who learn German.

27-04-2012

Schengen visas sail away Arguments about possible restoration of borders within the Schengen Area may delay the process of liberalization of visa regime for Ukraine for a very long time or even break it once and for all

23-04-2012

New visa centers raise service level – and costs Customers give mixed reviews to attempts by European Union nations to outsorce the visa process to private firms.

22-04-2012

Kyiv hopes to sign agreement in June to cancel Polish visa fee for Ukrainians Kyiv hopes that an agreement with Poland on the cancellation of the fees for Polish national visas for Ukrainian citizens will be signed in June 2012, the director of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s consular department, Andriy Olefirov, has said.

20-04-2012

Foreign Ministry: Ukraine not making fake Schengen visas Fake Schengen visas are not being made in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said.

17-04-2012

Ukrainian-Russian border crossing agreement comes into force The agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Russian Federation on the procedure for crossing the Ukrainian-Russian state border by residents of border regions of the two countries, which was signed on October 18, 2011, has entered into force.

17-04-2012

EU Member States allowed to bring to justice for deception on visas EU Court of Justice in Luxemburg gave the green light to prison for fraud in obtaining Schengen visas. As the court stated in its latest decision, the highest judicial organ of the European Union turned for the explanation to the Supreme Court of Germany, which considered the case of organizing illegal migration into the country.

12-04-2012

Government to issue free visas for election observers from other countries The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has made a decision on the free issing of visas for official observers from other countries and international organizations for the parliamentary elections in Ukraine in 2012, Ukrainian First Deputy Foreign Minister Ruslan Demchenko has said.

06-04-2012

Gryshchenko urging Dutch politicians to abolish visas for Ukrainians Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko met with members of the House of Representatives, the lower house, of the parliament of the Netherlands and urged the political elite of the Netherlands to support the abolition of visas for Ukrainians.

05-04-2012

Poland urges Euro 2012 fans to submit applications for visas more quickly The Polish Embassy in Ukraine has called on fans to speed up the submission of applications for visas to this country before and during the Euro 2012 European Football Championship, a Polish diplomat has said.

31-03-2012

Polish embassy opening new visa applications point in Kyiv The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ukraine will open in Kyiv on March 30 a new station to receive visa applications, the embassy said, UkrInform reported.

28-03-2012

Flow of Ukrainians to Israel grows by 162% after visa free regime introduced by Israel When Israel canceled visa regime for Ukraine, the flow of Ukrainian tourists grew by 162%, Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov has reported.

27-03-2012

Macedonia cancels visa regime for Ukrainians for one year Macedonia has suspended its visa regime for Ukrainians for one year, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has reported.

26-03-2012

Greece ready to assist Ukraine in dialogue with EU on visa facilitation Greece will help Ukraine in its dialogue with the EU on the relaxation of visa requirements for Ukrainians, Culture and Tourism Minister of Greece Pavlos Geroulanos has said.

 

Main information/Analitics

 
23-08-2011

Civil society succeeded to abolish inappropriate requirement made by the Swiss Consulate in Ukraine

The demand to provide the Work Record Book (“trudova knyzhka”) for visa application was withdrawn by the Consulate of Switzerland after the EWB and "La Strada - Ukraine" drew their attention to the illegality of such requirement. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine appealed to the Embassy of Switzerland in this matter.

On August 23 the MFA of Ukraine reported that Switzerland cancels the requirement (for Ukrainian citizens) to add the original Work Record Book to the basic documents package for visa application.

The MFA said that after the media (with the help of EWB and "La Strada - Ukraine") highlighted the information about the Swiss Embassy requirement for certain categories of citizens of Ukraine to add the original Work Record Book for short-term visa application, the urgent consultations with the consular official of Switzerland in Ukraine were held.

The Swiss side has confirmed that, following to the norms of the EU Visa Code and its domestic law, the Consulate of Switzerland during the visa issuance aims to ensure the applicants’ permanent relations with his country of origin (residence), including the applicant confirmation of a stable work place.

As a result, the parties agreed that the Swiss side will require the stamped copy of the Work Record Book from Ukrainian applicants from August 23, 2011.

Now the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine is taking some steps to make the appropriate changes on the official website of the Embassy

Earlier, we paid our attention to the fact that the Embassy of Switzerland puts forward the illegal requirements for Ukrainian citizens. The Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine as of 27.04.1993 # 301 “On the Work Record Books of employees” prohibits taking out the original Work Record Books outside the companies except the cases of employees’ dismissal (discharge).

 

ôîðóì
ôîðóì ôîðóì

Our Publications

06-03-2012

NEW ! Implementation of Action Plan on Visa Liberalisation: a case of Ukraine. Independent monitoring findings

This publication is an outcome of annual comprehensive civic monitoring of the Action Plan on Visa Liberalisation (VLAP), issued to Ukraine by the EU. The study includes an independent expertise of reforms in the areas of document security, migration and readmission, public order and security, external relations and fundamental rights.

06-03-2012

Documents Security and Migration Policy : Assessments and recommendations of the international working groups for Ukraine

The publication provides the policy analysis in the spheres of migration and documents security as basic requirements for visa liberalisation with the European Union.

05-05-2011

How to achieve visa-free regime with the European Union? Western Balkans’ experience for Ukraine.

This publication discloses the peculiarities of the visa liberalisation process in the Western Balkan states, which are actual ones for Ukraine. The experience of the Road Maps implementation (2008–2010) by Serbia, Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina is analyzed.Main attention is concentrated on the issues of documents’ security, migration and border management, public order and fundamental rights. Lessons should be learned by Ukraine and other EaP countries are described.

05-05-2011

Schengen Consulates in Assessments and Ratings. Visa Practices of the EU Member States in Ukraine, 2010

With this publication Europe without Barriers (EWB) summarizes comprehensive data of the large scale field research conducted in the summer 2010 with the support of International Renaissance Foundation.

06-09-2010

Visa-Free Europe for the Eastern Partnership: a Way to Achieve

This publication is about the strategy and tactical priorities on the path toward visa-free regime for the countries of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) with the European Union. Assessments and recommendations developed by the expert group disclose available mechanisms and opportunities for further visa liberalisation. The research is aimed for strengthening and further professionalisation of international public impact and lobbying of the freedom of movement in Europe. Famous European think tanks and NGOs such as European Policy Centre (Brussels) and European Stability Initiative (Berlin-Brussels-Istanbul) contributed to this project.

11-04-2010

Expansion and Modernization of the Schengen: Consequences and Perspectives for Ukraine

This publication is another contribution of Center for Peace, Conversion and Foreign Policy of Ukraine into its monitoring of visa policy and practice conducted by EU Member States. Previous publications, in particular “Ukrainian View on Visa Policy of the European Union Member States” (2006) and “Ukraine-EU: on the Way to Visa Free Regime” (2007) caused signifcant resonance and were the subject for broad discussions inside expert and public circles.

11-04-2010

Designing a roadmap towards visa free regime between the EU and Ukraine

The publication is aimed to summarize Ukraine’s homework needed to be done to achieve visa free regime with the EU. The experience of international campaigns against visa barriers in Europe has been analyzed. Recommendations are provided for the better use of existing mechanisms and opportunities, in particular, the Agreement on the Facilitation of the Issuance of Visas between EU and Ukraine.

11-04-2010

Public Monitoring of the EU Member States’ Visa Issuance Policies and Practices in Ukraine. Analitical Report

The publication is about the outcomes of independent monitoring of the visa issuance to the citizens of Ukraine by the EU Member States’ consulates. The monitoring was conducted by the all-Ukrainian consortium of the NGOs and think-tanks under coordination of CPCFPU in 2008.

11-04-2010

Visa Policies of European Union Member States. Monitoring Report

The surveys of this Report were carried out towards the end of 2005 in the Consulates of some EU Member States – in Kyiv, Chisinau, Minsk and Moscow. We surveyed the visa systems of Belgium, Finland, France, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. The project included interviews with 961 persons who had lodged visa applications, with 85% of the positive response ratio.

11-04-2010

New Monitoring Report. Changes in Visa Policies of the EU Member States Vis-à-vis Belarus, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine

This Report presents an analysis of the changes that have occurred during the last few years in the visa procedures followed by a selected group of surveyed EU Member State consulates. The report and the analysis of changes in the visa procedures followed are based on the results of two surveys. The first was carried out in 2005, and the second, during the second half of 2008.