Visa-free travel for Ukrainians has entered into force

The Fidesz-KDNP delegation in the European Parliament welcomes the long-awaited visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens, which entered into force June 11, 2017. Citizens owning biometric passports can now spend up to 90 days over the course of a 180-day period in member states of the European Union for touristic, business or family purposes without having to apply for a visa.

The process began back in 2008 and dragged on for years due to the political inability to take decisions bound by bureaucratic limitations. Many had given up hope that Ukraine would ever receive a visa waiver. A large part of the Ukrainian and Hungarian political arena as well as ethnic Hungarians from Transcarpathia consider visa-free travel a great success. The active lobbying of the Hungarian government and Fidesz-KDNP MEPs played an important role in achieving that.

The exemption of the visa requirement means significant progress for the Hungarian community living in Transcarpathia, since the increasing cross-border traffic will likely result in infrastructural developments in the region. Development will be needed because preliminary estimates of cross-border traffic forecast a growth of 20 percent.

According to Andrea Bocskor, Fidesz MEP from Transcarpathia, the entering into force of the visa waiver means a long-awaited turning-point that will positively affect the opportunities of Transcarpathian Hungarians to maintain contacts and touristic opportunities. “It is such a relief that young people will now be able to discover not only their home country but the whole of Europe. The termination of visa procedures makes it easier, faster and cheaper to travel abroad; however, it does not give them the right to work, and the limitation on the duration of their residence must be respected,” the EPP representative said.

Based on the experience of the last 48 hours, 3-4 percent of those who crossed the border travelled with a biometric passport without a visa.