Extending Ukraine Tourist Visa

[tbelknap]

Hi All,


I am about a month away from the end of my 3 month tourist visa.  Either I leave the country or I extend.  I would prefer to extend the visa. Anyone know how one might go about extending a tourist visa?


Also, if I were to leave the country, would I be able to come back under a new 3 month or is there a waiting period?


Thanks,



Thomas

[bagalia]

I think the rule was 3 months free visa within a 6 month time period but it could be a longer time period. Whatever, it is too long to just wait it out.

When I was doing the Russian visas I would regularly go to Estonia where a new visa took about a week but the embassy was a mad house and I usually paid to have my visa done with a tourist agency.

From Ukraine you can get air tickets to Latvia for around $400 right now and hotel will cost about $50 a day. I just finished that junket because they made me leave the country to get re-registered. Such is the problem with having a double entry visa, uvir does not like to register if they do not have to and they like to tell you to just leave and come back in. One problem in this scenario is that there are times when a uvir registration is needed and just the border stamp is not good enough.

I have also done the Romania visa route by train several times. I just cannot handle the two or three day trip anymore, it really sucks. Also, the embassy in Romania has a very long line that starts early (and add the usual holiday or three) so it definately can take a solid week to 10 days to get a new visa. On the up side, there are many good hostels for $10-$15 a day and Romania is a nice place to visit.

The bottom line is that you need to leave and get a real tourist visa. Your free time is finished. They gave me just a slight hard time getting my next tourist visa. They wanted to grill me on why 3 months was not long enough. I told them I was retired and just not finished touring the country. The man said something about "women" but I had not problems.

If you decide later to get a business visa for a real business then go for a single year and not double or multiple. The year goes by quickly and uvir will stamp you after 6 months which is needed if you want the cheapest business lisence "flat tax" "sole trade". Otherwise you pay a lot of taxes with a sole enterprise.

Hope you have the time and money to do the new visa. Romania is the cheapest and you can likely do it under 10 days and $500. For about $2500 you can do the Thailand scenic route. The embassy there is very quiet and polite. Poland is a bit expensive but has some ups and downs. I have not tried Hungary. Those are just about your only close options I think.

Scott

[mje]

Ukraine is abolishing VISA for all Western-europe and USA visitors if you do not stay longer than 90 days.

Check with your local authoroties.

http://www.ukraine-visa.com/

[Chris]

Ukraine is abolishing VISA for all Western-europe and USA visitors if you do not stay longer than 90 days.

Check with your local authoroties.

http://www.ukraine-visa.com/

mje

That has been the case since September 2005. It all came about (for UK residents anyway) when they won the Eurovision Song Contest and it was held there in July/August I think 2005, they did so the tourists could visit without hassle, it turned out so many visited Kiev etc they decided to keep it. They extended it to September the 1st originally.

I was actually visiting in September 2005 and rang the Ukrainian Embassy in London around August to see if they would be extending the Visa Free Regime, the guy told me yes, I asked how long for and he said "Probably forever"

Chris