Updated rules for foreigners entering Ukraine
On 29 September 2020, Resolution of the Ukrainian government No. 888 came into force, amending the rules for foreigners entering Ukraine during the quarantine.
1. Health insurance
2. Who does not need a health insurance certificate?
3. Obligatory self-isolation
4. Who is not required to self-isolate?
Health insurance
Pursuant to the Resolution, foreign citizens entering Ukraine are obliged to have a health insurance card (certificate of insurance) that covers expenses arising from COVID-19 treatment and observation and is valid for the period of stay in Ukraine.
The mentioned insurance certificate must be issued by:
- an insurance company registered in Ukraine, or
- an international insurance company having a representative office in Ukraine, or
- an international insurance company having a contractual relationship with a partnering insurance company in Ukraine (‘assistance’).
In addition, under the Resolution, foreigners are forbidden to cross the checkpoints with the temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the Crimea and Sevastopol, both to enter and leave the abovementioned territories, unless they have a health insurance certificate.
Who does not need a health insurance certificate?
The obligation to have a health insurance certificate does not apply to the following categories of foreign citizens:
- foreigners permanently residing in Ukraine;
- employees of foreign diplomatic missions and consular institutions, employees of the representative offices of official international missions, organizations accredited in Ukraine, and members of their families;
- Servicemen of the Armed Forces of NATO member-states and member-states of the Partnership for Peace programme, who train Ukrainian Armed Forces divisions.
Obligatory self-isolation
Additionally, the Resolution stipulates that foreign citizens arriving from the countries with significant spread of COVID-19 (‘red zone’ countries), are obliged to self-isolate via the use of the Diy vdoma (‘Act at Home’) mobile application.
Note! In order to register in the app, a Ukrainian phone number is required.
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).
You can check whether your country falls under the category of one with significant COVID-19 spread by using the list of countries of ‘red’ and ‘green’ zones, updated by the Ukrainian Ministry of Health every 7 days.
Who is not required to self-isolate?
The obligation for self-isolation does not apply to:
- Children below the age of 12;
- Foreign citizens coming to study in higher educational institutions of Ukraine;
- Citizens of countries with a significant spread of COVID-19 who have not been in the respective countries during the previous 14 days or those transiting Ukraine, provided that they have documents confirming their departure within two days;
- Persons, whose COVID-19 PCR-test, taken not more than 48 hours prior to, or upon entering Ukraine, proves to be negative;
- 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 aircraft, river and maritime vessels, train and locomotive crews;
- Servicemen of the Armed Forces of NATO member-states and member-states of the Partnership for Peace programme, who train Ukrainian Armed Forces divisions;
- Instructors for the armed forces of NATO member-states and member-states of the Partnership for Peace programme, participating in training events for Ukrainian Armed Forces divisions;
- Cultural professionals invited by a Ukrainian cultural institution and one accompanying person for each cultural professional;
- Persons transporting hemopoietic stem cells intended for transplantation.