Kiev airport

[Scorpion]

1- Are there still green/red lines?
2-What is the max you can have for green line? I heard the amount was increased
3-Have you ever been searched in these two lines?

Regards

[ScottinCrimea]

I went through Boryspol a few months ago and there were still red and green lines.  I went through the green entry and there was no one there manning the booth.  We all just walked through with no questions asked.  Before, the only question I was ever asked was how much money I was carrying, and I always kept my answer under the $1,000 limit, hoping the rest was hidden well enough.

The only time I was threatened with a search was one time when I was leaving Ukraine through Boryspol.  I had gotten up late so had to hurry and shower, then run to the shuttle and into the airport.  By the time I hit the customs gate I was sweating pretty heavily, which didn't look good when they were asking me simple questions.  Again, the question was about how much money I was taking out and on that occasion I was perfectly within the legal bounds.  It seems the money I bring in usually doesn't make it back out.  When the lady saw me sweating under her questioning despite the cool weather , she asked if I would be willing to let them search my bags.  I told her I had no problem with that, but for some reason she decided against it and waved me through.

[Scorpion]

Dont have to complete the blue custom papers(2 pages) and the officer in the green/red line must stamp it?
You said there was no officer in the green line(I saw that last time I traveled there) I wonder if there would be any problems if this paper is not stamped.

[Daveman]

I had zero problem entering or leaving from Kiev.  Unless you are carrying some very valuable items, or anything which might be considered as something to sell, you will have no problem.  It seems to me they simply don't really care.  As far as the customs paper, if you are carrying in an expensive camera/lenses, you might want to declare it, and yes, if you declare something, you must use the Red line and have the paper stamped.  The situation with customs in Kiev has relaxed to where I received less scrutiny from them than from the airport in Atlanta, and Chicago.

The limit you could leave the country with was $500 in November 2005 (from Odessa), but in Kiev, Oct 2006, no one even looked at me twice when I left the country. Standard security like any airport, nothing more.  No searches, nothing.  I don't know if the exit limit has been raised from $500 or not. Scott says $1000, and he should know. It was definitely $500 when I left Odessa, and they did count what I had in my wallet.

Dave

[Simoni]

1- Are there still green/red lines?
2-What is the max you can have for green line? I heard the amount was increased
3-Have you ever been searched in these two lines?

Regards

Yes, you need to save your stamped card...they will take it upon departure.   I've never found either line to be unmanned.

And yes, I was searched down to the underwear one time when leaving Boryspol!  Fortunately, I had an experienced guide in Kiev who had insisted I get to the airport really early.  I made my flight with only 30 minutes to spare after my one hour search ordeal.  And yep, they found the bundle of bills in my underwear!

My advice?  Declare the money you take in, or spend below the limit allowed before you leave.

[Admin]

1- Are there still green/red lines?
2-What is the max you can have for green line? I heard the amount was increased
3-Have you ever been searched in these two lines?

Regards

Over in the RWD Wiki (http://russianwomendiscussion.com/wiki/index.php?Airports%20%28FSU%2C%20EU%2C%20USA%29), you will see a link for Airports - and if you follow that you will find another link for Ukraine, and for Kyiv. That will take you to the official Boryspil website (in English) where you can find tons of information, including all their latest Customs procedures.

Let us know of any other questions.

- Dan

[Daveman]

Yes, you need to save your stamped card...they will take it upon departure.   I've never found either line to be unmanned.

And yes, I was searched down to the underwear one time when leaving Boryspol!  ...they found the bundle of bills in my underwear!

Aw, man... did they simply confiscate it? or try to press some kind of charges you talked your way out of?

[LTCOLBIEGARD]

I always take the maximum  when I enter Kiev.  The Only time I was even questioned, is when they lost my luggage in Frankfurt and I had to file papers on that. Other than that - they never asked me nor did they seem to care. I just returned a month ago.  FOR NEWBIES !!! Can't stress enough to have your paper work completely filled out when you enter although. Seen more than one person sent to the back of the line for not doing so..SOmetimes those lines are damn long..

[Jack]

Guy's you have to fill out an immigration card and show it with your passport at your first entry way once inside the terminal before you get your luggage. A little hint to frequent travelers, next time take several of these forms with you and on your return trip fill them out on the plane and you don't have to fill them out when you enter the terminal. 

This immigration form has two parts, both are filled at by you and they are identical. They keep one and give you the other and it is stamped.  Second little hint. Keep this immigration form in with your passport. If you are stopped, like yours truly, and you have your immigration card when you show the officer your passport after he ask's for it you will hear, "Oh, and you have your immigration card as well, very good, good-by".   

As some of you have mentioned you never had to show this immigration card when leaving. Now a days it is not asked for so often BUT if they do, you better have it or,.........a well placed $20 will have to help you out for not having it, as is required by Ukraine law.

Once you enter the part of the terminal where your luggage is you will see the customs form. In the old days you always had to show your entry customs form and they kept it, not so much the case today  (another little hint, next time your in that area take several customs forms with you, next trip to Ukraine fill out your customs form on the plane). I haven't been asked for my entry customs form at departure for years. But if they ask for it, then your expected to show it.

Someone mentioned something about a limit on leaving the country with cash. Legally there is a limit but it's a BIG limit, I heard it once but forgot it but it was like in the $50,000 range.    There was no $500 limit in 2005 from Kiev, maybe Odessa might have a different set of rules. There was no $1000 limit in 2006.  In the spring I usually go from Ukraine to Russia and have to take a sizeable amount of money with me for our trips.

I can legally carry up to $10,000 into Ukraine without having to file any extra paperwork. So I normally will carry like $9950, just under the $10,000.  You legally can bring $11,000, or $20,000 or $30,000, legally, but anything over 10K you have to fill out some forms explaining what the money is to be used for etc and they do begin to ask a lot of questions when you bring in big bucks.  But anything under $10,000 you just declare and no problem.  Sometimes they will ask to see the money and I will show it to them but I do the counting, if they stick their hands out for the money, uh-uuuhh, I can count it for you.

You cannot leave Ukraine with more money than you entered with. That's the key. I often leave Ukraine with $4000-$5000 on my way to Russia, never a problem as long as it was less than I entered the country with.

Regarding searches. Now a days it's not nearly so common. If they see any thing out of the ordinary in your luggage as it goes through the x-ray machine before you go to the airline ticket counter they might ask to search your luggage.  My luggage was searched only once and it was when I bought a lot of model tanks and planes, you know like those we used to build when we were kids. In some of the hobby shops in Ukraine they have models of Russian, Ukraine tanks, planes, soldiers, artillery like the German 88mm, that we can not find here. In fact I have some 1/35 scale model tanks, such as the 152 and the Joseph Stalin-2 tank which have written on the box "WARNING! ANY SALES OF THIS KIT ABROAD EX-USSR ARE ILLEGAL"   Well I knew I was busted, they were going to take my models. But no, nothing was said about them and I escaped Ukraine with my models.

[catzenmouse]

Naw Dave,

 They were all just so damn impressed they just waived him through...

BTW,
 
 Welcome Simoni!

Ken

Aw, man... did they simply confiscate it? or try to press some kind of charges you talked your way out of?

[Daveman]

Naw Dave,

 They were all just so damn impressed they just waived him through...

 

[Simoni]

BTW,
 
 Welcome Simoni!

Ken

Thanks, Ken!!! 

[Donhollio]

Someone mentioned something about a limit on leaving the country with cash. Legally there is a limit but it's a BIG limit, I heard it once but forgot it but it was like in the $50,000 range.    There was no $500 limit in 2005 from Kiev, maybe Odessa might have a different set of rules. There was no $1000 limit in 2006.  In the spring I usually go from Ukraine to Russia and have to take a sizeable amount of money with me for our trips.

Last time I left Odessa (Dec06) I saw a guy who had about two bricks worth of cash. He had to count it infront of a customs man.  I never saw the face amounts,but I highly doubt it was $1 bills.
 I could only guess it was at the 10k plus range.

[Daveman]

The $500 limit was the amount you could leave with if you had not made a cash declaration on entry... sorry, my post was unclear.   It could have been an attempt to snatch a bribe or something, but before I showed the amount of cash in my pocket, the customs guy said "You can have only 500 dollora"... anyway.... according to the website, it looks like the undeclared (green lane) limit has risen.

[ScottinCrimea]

Here's the link to the customs regulations for Boryspol  According to them, you do not have to declare if you don't have more than 3000 hrv or $3,000 American both coming in and going out.  This is a little different than what I had understood before, so maybe it has changed recently.  Before, on entry, you did not need to declare anything less than $1,000.  Between $1,000 and $10,000 you needed to declare it.  Anything above $10,000 must be declared and a duty would be charged on it.  On leaving, again you did not need to declare anything less than $1,000.  The most you could take out was $10,000 cash or $50,000 in checks, but if you hadn't declared it going in, you couldn't take it out.

[steerman]

Last fall when I entered the country I declared $6,500 and when I left I had $3,850. I was pulled out of line by an officer who was astonished with that amount. Then her supervisor asked her why and after some heated gibberish, between them, the supervisor apologised and sent me on my way.

[wxman]

Last time I was there, it was $3000 you could bring into Ukraine without declaring. What's rather amusing is the sign with all the money declaration requirements is located by the luggage retrieval area, AFTER you go through customs.

[viking]

Other than for maybe a business reason (like Jack for example) who takes $10K with them for a week or two to meet some ladies???? The less I carry, the safer I feel and the small charges for using an ATM card sure beats losing that kind of green.

I just came back from Kiev and honestly do not remember any kind of colored lines. I just stood on a line, had scribbled something down on my form, gave it to the passport control person. She looked at me like 'what the heck is this" and I said something like "I dont speak Russian" and 5 seconds later she stamped my passport and I was out of there. Had even less trouble going back. No one even asked about money.

[Wayne B]

I would agree with Viking, that I can not remember any colored lines when I was in Kiev last month.....maybe Viking and I had not smoked the same thing as some of the others      I was asked one question about what street my fiancee lived on ???  I wonder what would of happened if I could not have remembered her street

[catzenmouse]

I wonder what would of happened if I could not have remembered her street

Wayne, they have a special room for people who don't remember their lady's address.   

Ken

[Daveman]

LoL, they are definitely there..  if you entered the country another way, and flew into Kiev on a domestic flight, then you wouldn't go through that area. But if you enter Ukraine on an international flight into Kiev, there's no way to leave the airport without going through one of the customs lines.

There are two areas, the first is Passport control, and then after you get your luggage, you go through customs.  The immigration form is stamped at Passport control, and then the declaration form (if you declare anything) is stamped in the red line, the green line is used if you don't declare anything (so declaration form isn't necessary).  But, unless THEY have been smoking something and decided to do some serious remodeling, the lines are still there and you have to go through one of them to get into the main area/exit of the airport.

The green area is a wider walking area, so if you just kinda followed the crowd you may not have noticed the green stripe.

[viking]

I only smoke, only smoke, well, hmmmm, no, it was not, then maybe, if only I could remember. Lines, there were colored lines? Airport? There was an airport?