Three years of visa-free travel: Ukrainians have made almost 49 million trips to EU

During the three years of the visa-free regime with the European Union, Ukrainian citizens have made almost 49 million trips to the EU countries.

"Today, exactly three years ago, Ukrainian citizens with biometric passports were granted the right of visa-free travel to the European Union (except Ireland), as well as to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland which are members of the Schengen area but are not the EU members... Since the beginning of the visa-free regime (from June 11, 2017 till April 2020), Ukrainians have made a total of almost 49 million trips to EU countries with both biometric and non-biometric documents," the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine informs on the occasion of the third anniversary of the introduction of visa-free travel.

According to the State Border Guard Service, Ukrainians most often cross the border with Poland. The areas of the border with Hungary and Romania were also active, and to a lesser extent – the border with Slovakia.

As noted, Ukrainians increasingly used air travel, while sea travel was the least popular.

According to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the flow of Ukrainians to the EU is growing every year. In particular, in 2018, the number of trips was 17.5 million, and in 2019 it was 18.65 million. The first months of 2020 were no exception, but the situation was affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which is why most countries have restricted entry and scheduled international air service was suspended. According to the analysis, in January and February this year, Ukrainians travelled to the EU 3 million times, while for the same period in 2019 – 2.3 million times.

"In the second year of visa-free travel, the number of Ukrainians who preferred visa-free travel (exclusively with biometric passports) increased 4.2 times compared to the first year," the State Border Guard Service noted.

As reported, the visa-free agreement between Ukraine and the European Union was signed in Strasbourg on May 17, 2017.

On June 11, 2017, visa-free travel for Ukrainians was launched.

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