Nearly three million Ukrainians already traveled to EU visa-free

11.06.2019 12:47

Ukrinform

Ukrainians have made 42.6 million trips to the EU countries since the visa-free regime was launched.

"9.2 million Ukrainian citizens have crossed the border with biometric passports. Of these, about 3 million Ukrainians have travelled without visas, having the new biometric passports only, i.e. they have taken advantage of the visa-free regime [with the European Union]," the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reports.

As noted, more than 1 million people have crossed the border with Poland, more than 350,000 Ukrainians crossed the border with Hungary, more than 245,000 Ukrainians – with Romania, about 226,000 Ukrainians – with Slovakia.

In addition, about 1 million Ukrainians have flown to Europe. Meanwhile, the sea voyages are the least popular as about 500 people have crossed the state border in such a way, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine says.

In total, Ukrainians made 2.35 million trips to the EU countries without visas in the second year of the visa-free regime operation (from June 11, 2018, to June 11, 2019).

As reported, the agreement between Ukraine and the European Union on visa-free travel was signed in attendance of President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and European Parliament President Antonio Tajani in Strasbourg on May 17, 2017. The deal came into effect on June 11, 2017.