Ukraine, Israel intend to minimize number of entry refusals

Deputy Interior Minister Tetiana Kovalchuk said this during the second meeting of the Ukrainian-Israeli interdepartmental commission on the border crossing issues, the Interior Ministry’s press service reported.

“We have agreed to take every effort within the current legislation so that to minimize the number of refusals for citizens of both countries to cross the border,” said Kovalchuk.

In turn, the Israeli side stated it would consider possibilities of expanding the areas of legal employment of Ukrainian citizens and simplifying the procedure of employment under the current agreement on temporary employment of Ukrainians in certain sectors of the Israeli labor market from 2016.

In addition, during the meeting, a significant reduction in the number of asylum seekers in Israel among Ukrainians was noted after the introduction by the Israeli side of the relevant changes in the procedure for considering such appeals and categorizing Ukraine as a state where there are no threats of political persecution for citizens.

The parties also agreed to more carefully consider citizens' complaints about border crossing procedures.

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