| 21 November 2007 The Government of Ukraine approved decisions on simplification of visa regimes for Ukrainian nationals crossing the borders of Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, said Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. According to him, am accelerated visa regime is envisaged for Ukrainian nationals going to Poland. As pointed out by Yatsenyuk, Poland plans to join the Schengen area as of 1 January 2008, so Ukrainian nationals will have a chance to get a visa to enter not only Poland but also all the Schengen area countries. According to the Minister, the decision foresees a minimum cost of a visa, and visas will be free of charge for some categories, e.g. pensioners, students, or pupils. The period of visa issuance is reduced to 10 days while the period of obtaining a visa is decreased to 3 days. Yatsenyuk said also that another agreement envisaged creation of a joint customs railway border. The Minister also announced introduction of a simplified visa regime for Ukrainian nationals going to stay in Romania and Bulgaria. He reminded that such a condition had been set forth by Ukraine and it assumes synchronous actions. In particular, Ukraine introduces a visa-free regime for nationals of Romania and Bulgaria in exchange of a simplified visa regime for its nationals. The visa will cost 35 euros; the new procedure offers five-year multiple visas, e.g. for businesspersons as well as free visas for some categories like journalists. Besides, one-year multiple visas are stipulated.
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