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I am an Australian citizen and I know that for some ex Eastern Bloc countries like Russia and Belarus I need an invitation and other difficulties to obtain a visa. Ukraine looks easier than those but not quite as easy as Eastern Europe or Turkey - but finding the exact current information isn't as easy as I expected.

• Can I get a visa on arrival? • If not can I apply in Romania and if so must it be in Bucharest? • How much does it cost? • Are there single and multiple entry variants or how much time does the visa allow? • Do I need an invitation? • Must I submit an itinerary?

I will be travelling overland on the Black Sea coast from Romania. My intention is to take the ferry from Ukraine to Georgia but as I'll be hitch-hiking I'm not sure how long it will take so whether I can get away with a transit visa rather than a tourist visa is uncertain.

BOUNTY:
I added a bounty to this question purely for the part "... can I apply (for a visa) in Romania and if so must it be in Bucharest?" or can I only apply for the visa in my home country like I must in the case of a Russian visa?

pnuts
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hippietrail
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5 Answers5

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As usual, the definitive resource for this kind of information is the embassy of the country you want to visit in the country where you are a citizen of, in your case the embassy of Ukraine in Australia. Its visa requirement page, as is common, doesn't have all the information you want.

You do need a visa to enter Ukraine, either a tourist visa or a transit visa. A transit visa can be valid for up to 5 days and cannot be extended. A tourist visa can be valid for up to 90 days but requires a letter of invitation from an accredited travel agency or a hotel booking confirmation. I found clearer requirements of the site of the Ukrainian embassy in Belgium: a tourist visa has fairly stringent requirements, whereas you should be able to get a transit visa by showing your visa for Georgia and your ferry ticket (this could be a problem if you intended to buy the ferry ticket on the spot due to not knowing on which day you would take it). On the site of the Ukrainian embassy in Romania, I can't find definitive information as to what you can do without being a permanent resident there and what delays to expect (this may be due to my speaking neither Ukrainian nor Romanian); note that the Romanian version and the Ukrainian version have different content sometimes.

By the way, how exactly did you plan to reach Ukraine from Romania? While the countries share a border in the Danube delta, there aren't many roads in that area, and there aren't many places with settlements on both sides of the river so there might not be ferries either. If you take the road from Galaţi to Reni, you have to cross a small stretch of Moldova, for which requires a visa. A traveller reports that you cannot get a transit visa at the border (at least from the Ukrainian side). And note that it may be useful to have a dual entry visa for Moldova, in case you end up going north rather than south of Dniester estuary.

Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
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I think the question is fine, and very valid. As a New Zealander, when I went in 2008 it was required to get an invite from someone in the Ukraine - easy to get, just google for Ukraine invites.

Once you have that, you need the visa, where you have to present your invite too, as well as an itinerary (that you're not held to).

If you do get in, and can afford to splurge a bit, a tour to Chernobyl is one of the most amazing experiences I've been on - just a surreal place. Two hours from Kiev.

Mark Mayo
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4

I googled your question and found some websites (listed below), that contain general information regarding visa for the ukraine. You might find your answers there. On a dutch website, I also found an advice to ask ukraine travel questions on an expat forum specifically for the Ukraine

Edit

Since people are not willing to following links. You can get an visa on arrival on the international airport. For inquires on other entry points, you could pose your question an expat forum in the Ukraine: http://www.brama.com/travel/travelboard.html

hippietrail
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4

Honestly there isn't much to it.

I went through the pain of getting an invitation from my aunt in Kiev, and when I applied at the Ukrainian embassy in London the guy there didn't even look at or take the invitation! You pretty much just front up (allow plenty of time), pay, hand over your passport and some photos, wait 14 days...return, collect your passport, visa is in there. Easy really.

I am not sure what it is like when you apply in Australia but I imagine it would be similar.

hippietrail
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Philipe
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About 4 years ago I received a Ukrainian visa from the embassy in the Netherlands (I'm Australian). They even did it super fast as I didn't have much time.

There is a train from Romania to Odessa that passes through Moldova.

For $20 you can get a transit visa for Moldova (at the embassy in Bucharest) within an hour or so.

Robert Budzul
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