Entering Ukraine

When planning your trip to Ukraine we would recommend taking the following steps:

Entry Visa to Ukraine

You can apply for your visa to Ukraine in advance even if you do not have the exact dates. The visa is issued for 3 months, and you can arrive to and depart from Ukraine anytime within the 3 months' period indicated in the visa.

You can indicate in your visa application any starting date which will give you enough freedom to plan visiting Ukraine at any time after issuing the visa. Any visitor to Ukraine (except for citizens of Former Soviet Union countries) must have passport and a valid visa to enter Ukraine.

There are four types of visas: business, tourist, visitor, and transit.

Business or visitor visa enables you to choose any type of lodging to stay at: hotel, apartment, etc.

Tourist visa requires a voucher from Ukrainian travel agent or tour operator in addition to passport and visa, or confirmation of your hotel booking.

Transit visa is issued for transit travel to other countries through Ukrainian territory.

You can request visa support from our Visa to Ukraine page.

For those whose first point of entry is Odessa or Simferopol, a simplified visa process is available. Under this simplified process, visa is issued in the airport and allows for up to 14 days' stay in Ukraine (including days of arrival and departure). The consular fee is $30 (charged in the airport). Passport 2 passport size photos are required, and you will need to fill out visa application as well.

The citizens of following countries qualify for simplified visa:
- USA and Canada
- European Union Countries
- Japan
- Turkey

Please note, you cannot get your visa in the airport just having your passport. You also need to have a tourist voucher from Ukraine based travel agency or tour operator. If you qualify for simplified visa airport and need a voucher contact us for details.

Airfare to Ukraine

This is the most important (and most expensive) part of your trip. Depending on your flight you can than make any other arrangements. Be sure to book your flight tickets as early as possible, as closer to departure date it the seats for low fares are usually sold out. So the earlier you start searching for you flight the better. More tips on getting to Ukraine are available in our Final Destination in Ukraine section.

If you cannot find good fares to travel to Ukraine contact us for assistance we might offer you some good airfares available.

Getting Through Customs

The prohibitions for items that are brought in Ukraine are the same as in most of countries (dangerous materials, weapon, etc.). If you take some prescribed medicine, we recommend to obtain a letter from your physician that you need this medicine during your stay in Ukraine.

If you travel with pat, the certificate from the accredited vet will be required.

Please note, if you bring expensive equipment, traveler's checks or jewelry that you will be carrying out of Ukraine be sure to include it into the Customs Declaration, otherwise it can be considered as purchased in Ukraine and the taxes may apply.

You can bring the following items in Ukraine duty free:

USD 10,000 cash and/or travel checks or less (please note, you should declare the amount if it exceeds USD 1,000 to be able to bring it out of Ukraine)
USD 50,000 or less in checks (subject of customs declaration)
Up to 100 grams (0,22 lbs) of jewelry (subject of customs declaration)
Up to 50 kg (110 lbs) of goods with the total value up to EUR 200 (USD $240)
Cigarettes/Tobacco: up to 20 packs (cigarettes) or 200 grams (0.44 lbs)
Food with the total value up to EURO 50 (USD $60)
Alohol: up to 2 liters of 40% alcohol (rum, whiskey, vodka, cognac etc.), up to 1 liter of wine, up to 2 liters of beer.

Bigger amounts and weights of goods will result in Customs and other fees.
See below:
Goods weighting more than 50 kg but less than 100 kg and cost of which is less than EURO 1,000, will be subject to 20% Custom's Tax, 20% VAT and a Product Tax, which differs from one group of goods to another.
Goods weighing more 100 kg and costing more than EURO 1,000 will be taxed on commercial rate basis.

Items exceeding the listed limits are subject of VAT (20%), Customs Duty (20%), and Product commercial taxes that depends on the items you bring.

Airport transfers

Most of the airports have public transport available (vans and buses) to/from airport. If you use public transport beware of pickpockets. All public transport has signs in Ukrainian or Russian detailing the route or at least showing the final point of route.

If you prefer transportation by car, you can order our transportation service. The transfer cost includes also meeting in the airport, so you will be taken care of right after leaving the airport transit area.

If no one meets you in the airport and you wish to use taxi on arrival be careful choosing a taxi or private drivers. If you do not speak Ukrainian/Russian well, they will most likely to overcharge you. Also we know of some cases when the foreigners were robbed when using transfer service of taxi in the airport. When selecting a car for a ride try to select the car that has taxi signs (including phone numbers of operator) and try to remember the license plate number.