Ukraine in Arabic | Biological passports will allow Ukrainians to travel in the EU without visas
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ Kyiv improves technical support for the state migration bureau to start issuing biometric passports, which is a requirement for visa-free travel to the EU.
Ukraine plans to issue biometric passports starting on January 1st as it prepares to sign a visa-free regime with the EU at the Eastern Partnership Summit scheduled for May in Riga, Latvia.
Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Olena Zerkal has predicted that Ukrainians will be able to travel to the EU with biometric passports and without visas from September-October 2015.
"We are determined to ensuring that in May the EU makes the decision on granting visa-free status to Ukraine and that in September-October Ukrainians could be able to travel [to Europe] with biometric passports and without the need to obtain a visa," she said on the Inter television channel late on Sunday.
She noted that the launch of the procedure for issuing biometric passports was scheduled for January 1, 2015, but the cancellation of the visa regime was impossible until the EU assesses how such passports are issued, how the system works and how the passports are protected, and this assessment takes time.