Ukrainian government lifts restrictions for foreigners to enter Ukraine
Article updated on 29 September 2020
On 12 June 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine took several decisions changing the requirements for foreign citizens to enter Ukraine.
In particular, under Resolution No. 477 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Order No. 287-p, temporarily prohibiting foreigners to cross the state borders of Ukraine, lost its effect. Additionally, the government adopted Resolution No. 480, stipulating that in order to enter Ukraine foreign citizens now need a health insurance card (certificate of insurance) to cover expenses arising from COVID-19 treatment. Foreign citizens arriving from the countries with significant COVID-19 spread have to undergo 14-day observation (self-quarantine) upon arrival in Ukraine.
However, the observation will not be applied to:
- citizens of countries with a significant spread of COVID-19 who have not been in the respective countries during the previous 14 days;
- employees of foreign diplomatic missions or consular institutions, employees of representative offices of official international missions, organizations accredited in Ukraine, and members of their families;
- drivers and service personnel of cargo transport vehicles, crew members of aircrafts, river and maritime vessels, train and locomotive crews;
- participants of the external independent evaluation with one accompanying person for each such participant, provided that there are no reasons to suspect that they might have been in contact with a COVID-19 infected person.
Additionally, the observation procedure is not applied to those who have consented to adhere to self-isolation with the use of the Diy vdoma (‘Act at Home’) mobile application.
Note! Foreign citizens holding a Ukrainian permanent residence permit do not require the above-mentioned health insurance certificate to enter Ukraine.
On 25 June 2020, the government introduced a number of changes to the resolution regulating the ‘adaptive quarantine’ regime in Ukraine. The key changes relating to foreign citizens entering Ukraine are the following:
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It is now possible to avoid having to self-quarantine or undergo observation for foreigners who have crossed the state border and/or a checkpoint within the temporarily occupied territories, provided that their COVID-19 PCR-test, taken not more than 48 hours prior to, or upon entering Ukraine, proves to be negative.
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It has been specified that a health insurance certificate, which is obligatory for foreign citizens and stateless persons intending to cross the Ukrainian state border, can be issued either by an insurance company registered in Ukraine, or by an international insurance provider having a representative office in Ukraine, or a contractual relationship with a partnering insurance company in Ukraine (‘assistance’), and must cover expenses in connection with COVID-19 treatment and observation for the period of stay in Ukraine.
On 22 July 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, in its Resolution No. 641, adopted new rules for identifying countries with significant COVID-19 spread.
Note! A country is deemed to have significant COVID-19 spread if one of the following is true:
- The number of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people registered during the last 14 days in the given country is greater than the corresponding number for Ukraine;
- An increase of over 30% in the new COVID-19 cases is registered during the last 14 days (as compared to the previous 14 days).
The “red list” of countries is to be updated by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine every 7 days. The most recent list (as of 25 September) is available here.