Visiting Ukraine: visa-free stay and short-term visa

Nationals of states with a visa-free regime may stay up to 90 days during any 180-day period unless an agreement says otherwise. Some bilateral agreements also allow entry with a national ID card instead of a passport; the Ukrainian Consulate General in Istanbul, for example, accepts chip ID cards for Turkish citizens. Nationals of states with a visa regime may stay only within the period allowed by their visa, and never beyond its last day of validity. The Ukrainian embassy or consulate in your country confirms whether your nationality is visa-free and which document it accepts.

Travellers who need a visa apply at a Ukrainian embassy or consulate. Under the visa issuance rules in force since 16 April 2017, the basis for a short-term visa is an invitation from a legal entity registered in Ukraine on its official letterhead or a notarised invitation from a private person; invitations issued by the State Migration Service are no longer accepted. Ukraine has also run an e-Visa platform, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reopened on 19 February 2025 for nationals of 45 countries.

Ukraine has been under martial law since the full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022. Ukrainian missions state that the country's airspace is closed to civil aviation, so there are no scheduled passenger flights; foreigners enter overland through crossings with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova, or by sea and river crossings, and some crossings are temporarily closed by government decision. Entry to the temporarily occupied territories, including Crimea, is allowed only with special permission through designated control points.

Residence permits issued before martial law, except those of Russian citizens, keep their validity for re-entry during martial law and for 30 days after it ends.

A visa-free stay cannot simply be prolonged. The State Migration Service extends it only in listed situations: a pending immigration permit or citizenship application, circumstances that prevent departure, medical treatment, pregnancy, caring for a sick family member, accepting an inheritance or work as a foreign correspondent. The application is filed no earlier than ten and no later than three working days before the stay ends, and is decided within three working days, or up to ten or fourteen days if further checks are needed.

Staying beyond the allowed period is an administrative offence under Article 203 of the Code on Administrative Offences and is punished with a fine; if it is detected at the border, the fine ranges from 30 to 50 non-taxable minimum incomes. A forced return can be combined with a three-year entry ban, and forced expulsion ordered by a court always carries a five-year ban. Hosts who invite foreigners privately must make sure their guests are registered.