What if Ukraine...?

[AkMike]

What if Ukraine joins the EU ?
What changes might be in the future for travel? What about the duration of the stays? I don't know what it is with the new EU as far as the rules for travelers or immigrants. Can someone from France move to Germany with out problems or paperwork?
Will I be able (as a US citizen) be able to stay for a year without problems with the folks at immigration and customs?
Eventually we'd like to semi-retire in Ukraine. Reverse snowbirds! But we both like the winters here and spending time at our 'new' dacha. The old one burned down this summer in a forrest fire.
I'm trying to look down the road a bit, rubbing the crystal ball and forcasting the future.

[ScottinCrimea]

I wouldn't make plans based on Ukraine joining the EU anytime soon. I think base on how things are now, your best bet is to get a 5-year private multiple entry visa.  Then you just need to either register or leave the country for a day every 6 months.

[AkMike]

I know thats the way it is now but I was trying to think down the road a bit.
 I suspect that in thenext few years they'll be admitted to the EU. Do you have any ideas about the changes that might be involved to the visa type requirements of the EU?

[Shadow]

If you want to know how it will affect visa requirements in the first stages, check on visa for Bulgaria or Estonia.

Joining the EU does not mean joining Schengen countries, and the EU is not organized (yet) to function as a fedral country. Especially with life standard being relatively low in Ukraine do not expect the borders to the rest of Europe to be open soon. In fact Poland might not be happy to let Ukraine in because for them it would be like opening the Mexican border.

Apart from that, the current climate in Ukraine seems to be turning away a little from the EU, and the EU holds the view that it needs to stabilize with the current members before adding more.

[AkMike]

Thank you for your insites gentlemen! I appreciate ie alot!

[wxman]

The last article I read on Ukraine entering the EU, was Ukraine was told not to expect this to happen before 2018.

[55North]

I am no agency expert, but I do lurk around the region's hard news / politics sites.  This is what I 'think' I know tonight.
 
The EU as presently constituted has a boat-load of issues to deal with, many related to the integration of new (former-communist) members.  Most of them are due soon to become Schengen visa countries which means that all citizens of said countries have the right to travel freely across Schengen internal borders.  This has only become possible as the borders with Ukraine have been upgraded to near impenetrable!  Which sounds rather permanent to me.
 
Until an 'Orange' majority government has been in power for some time, AND reorganised the VAT system, gone a long way to stamp out corruption particularly by public servants and parliament, and rolled back government control over pricefixing and other market interference, the EU will not be a possibility.  'Probability' is not even in the vocabulary.
 
To pile on the doo-doo, there are some Ukrainian visa adjustments being discussed, similar to those causing extreme angst amongst the expat community in Russia. This quote from The Kyiv Post in August.  I can't link as it's subscription protected.....

Quote: According to a statement released on Aug. 20 by the Kyiv office of the international law firm Beiten Burkhardt Attorneys-At-Law, the resolution “has substantially changed the regulations on the entry and stay of foreigners who are citizens of countries with no visa requirement for Ukraine (such as Germany, Austria, Great Britain, as well as other EU member states, Switzerland, Japan and the US).”

Since 2005, when President Viktor Yushchenko took office, citizens of the above countries have been able to come to Ukraine without a visa for a maximum of 90 days, after which they only needed to step out of the country and return to receive an additional 90-day visa-free stay.

Now, says the law firm, “foreign nationals who are citizens of the aforementioned states are allowed to enter Ukraine as before without a visa but showing their valid passport, and stay in Ukraine without a visa and residence permit for a short term. However, the overall duration of the stay must not exceed 90 calendar days per 180 calendar days from the arrival date.”

In other words, citizens of wealthy countries can still visit Ukraine for 90 days without a visa, but they cannot stay here for longer consecutive periods by skipping across the border every three months.

Does this include the visa that ScottinCrimea cited above?  I don't know.  But I should check it out before planning.

As a potential area of settlement, I think you should forget about the EU, with Ukraine in it.

[AkMike]

That makes a problem for my plans. I was planning to be a 180 day guy..

[Simoni]

That makes a problem for my plans. I was planning to be a 180 day guy..

No problem.  Just fly into Germany or Turkey for the weekend, then reenter.

[55North]

Please re-read the quote Simoni.
 
"90 days in every 180 days".
 
That means 90 days in followed by 90 days in the wilderness, but visa-free.  However, hopefully, there be work-arounds for the serious semi-inhabitant, unlike the, 'friend to the North'.  Keep in touch with the relevant part of the Government website (in English), and subscribe to the weekly headline email of the Kyiv Post, and you should know all that is important.

[AkMike]

When I get there again in April I'll have to explore this more. I am married to a Ukrainian and I own property there. Possibly that'd give me a leg up...
 

[ScottinCrimea]

When I get there again in April I'll have to explore this more. I am married to a Ukrainian and I own property there. Possibly that'd give me a leg up...
 

Because I married my wife in Ukraine, I have a stamp showing this in my passport, but even this and the property I own in Ukraine won't make a bit of difference if I try to bend the 90 day rule.  Just get a multiple entry visa and you're fine.

[AkMike]

I've got that same stamp in my passport Scott. ( Have you ever teased your wife that when your passport expires so does the marriage?) My wife had to double check the expiration date of mine..
 

[ScottinCrimea]

I've got that same stamp in my passport Scott. ( Have you ever teased your wife that when your passport expires so does the marriage?) My wife had to double check the expiration date of mine..
 

I'm not sure I have the guts to point that out to her, especially since the stamp is in her internal passport which doesn't have an expiration date.  Maybe sometime when she's very very drunk or I just want to really piss her off.  :burnedup:

[AkMike]

LMAO, Or make sure she really does have a good sense of humor..
 All the time standing near the exit and ready to run!
 My wife had a shocked look for a bit til I started grinning. I wonder how I'm going to get fresh stamps when this passport expires? I can see trying to explain this to the local ZAGS... 

[ScottinCrimea]

One of my wife's best friends is the head of ZAGS in Simferopol, so I'm sure she can either steal my new passport and get it restamped or else arrange to have the stamp in hers mysteriously disappear.  A box of chocolates would probably do it.  Sad to think that all that may hold my marriage together is a box of chocolates  :hairraising:

[AkMike]

It's a very good thing my wife understands my (sometimes) weird sense of humor! One of my running jokes is that when she turns 50 I'm going to trade her in on 2 twenty five year old Ukrainian girls! She just cocks her head at me and says" And then what?" LOL I'd probably die with a smile on my face!