You can stay for 90 days in a 90 day period. So if I enter Ukraine for 6 weeks, and leave, I want to enter Ukraine in 2 months. I don't want to wait 90 days to enter since I'm from Canada.
They do not enforce the rules. Enter Ukraine and then leave Ukraine. It is rather simple. Stay 90 days, fly to Poland, and then fly back into Ukraine. The rules here are so complex and jumbled that the border crossing guards rarely enforce or care to enforce them.
The rule is that you can't stay in Ukraine MORE then 90 days without special visa. Nobody forces you to stay 90 days. Stay there for a week, cross the border, then come back at any time and you can stay 90 more days. That's what the most foreigners do if they don't want to break immigration laws and be fined or deported.
I did a little internet searching, and as far as I can tell, all of the replies here are correct.
If your passport is from the USA, Canada, or more than 40 other countries, you can enter Ukraine without a visa. If you can come to Ukraine visa-free, or you enter with the most common types of visa, the rule applies to you.
For example, if you make an extended stay, you are supposed to leave after 90 days, and then stay out of Ukraine for 90 days after that before you are allowed to enter again.
Reportedly, the rule is often not enforced, but it may be a gamble to rely on this. Land crossings (road or rail) may be safer than airports. I saw one report that officials in Lviv don't care about the rule, so people staying 90 days at a time with quick out-and-in hops are supposed to have no problem.
I also read about people who break the rule being "unofficially fined" (asked for bribes) but otherwise having no problem re-entering the country.
Something to watch out for is that enforcement not only can vary with city, and the luck of which particular passport control officer you see -- there are big changes over time. Just about 7 or 8 months ago I was reading about a crackdown on foreigners making the "90 day hops". [After all, the 90-day hoppers are what many in the US like to call "illegal aliens."]
Maybe it's a coincidence, but at almost exactly the same time I was reading about the crackdown, a Ukrainian woman I know married her Russian boyfriend (who had been making the 90-day hops for a couple of years, so they could live together in Ukraine). For Ukraine, Russia is simply one of the visa-free countries, and holders of Russian passports are subject to the same rules as those for Americans, Canadians etc.
Durak,,,, what’s the matter??? Are you concerned about the accuracy of our replies here on the forum??? Lol
Perhaps if people have a serious enough reason to stay in Ukraine for more than the 90 days that are allowed, they could go through the proper procedures to lessen the chances of being shook down for bribes???!!!
"Perhaps if people have a serious enough reason to stay in Ukraine for more than the 90 days that are allowed, they could go through the proper procedures..."
Certainly true. However, following the proper procedures can be difficult. As is true in many countries, getting permanent resident status in Ukraine is difficult. In some ways, Ukraine is more restrictive about permanent residency and immigration than many other countries.
For those who don't qualify for permanent residency, and or do qualify but haven't gotten there yet, staying long-term legally requires registration (every 90 days), which can be a difficult process. A Ukrainian friend recently wrote me about the registration process (in paraphrase) "you can't be honest with the authorities, if you are you won't survive. This is in reference to a foreigner married to a Ukrainian citizen (and therefore eligible to achieve permanent residency), but who is still required to register every 90 days for perhaps two years.
The registration process is so difficult, that he is making the "border run" every 90 days. Even though it violates the 90/180 rule, people are getting away with it in practice.
I have read, for what it's worth, that Passport Control officers at Kyiv Bory Spil (aka Kiev Borispol) airport are more likely to count the days, and deny entry to someone who has exceed 90 days out of 180. Most "border runs" are made at land crossings.
Really, it's the same in my country. Most "illegal immigrants" (despite the stereotypes) come to the USA in order to work hard and earn a better living, and often pay thousands of dollars (a fortune in the poor countries they come from) in order to get here. If a legal pathway were available to all the people who want to come, most of them would follow it.
Hi Durak, isn’t there something in between the 90 days without a visa, and applying for permanent status?
What are the worries of the Ukrainian government? I doubt whether Americans are applying for government assistance!
Here in Wisconsin, they have started to get tough with illegals, most people need an ID card or driver’s license when applying for different things.