Quite often, foreign citizens who are interested in staying in Ukraine apply to our law firm.
Some of them, who are currently in Ukraine, or plan to come to Ukraine, frequently encounter problems when calculating the days of stay in Ukraine, taking into account the “90 days within 180 days period” rule as well as what to do if the terms of stay have already been violated (a so-called “overstay”).
It is worth understanding these issues in more detail.
What is this “90 days within 180 days period” rule, and how does it work in Ukraine?
As a starting point, it should be noted that the 90 days within 180 days period rule applies to foreigners who are staying in Ukraine on the basis of a visa-free regime, and mainly these include citizens of the USA, Canada, and EU countries. You can verify whether this rule applies to you here.
To calculate 90 days of your stay in Ukraine, you must do the following:
If you are in Ukraine for the first time OR if you are planning a trip to Ukraine
- You can stay without a visa up to 90 days within 180 days, not 6 months.
- You start counting from the date of entry stamped/to be stamped into your passport.
- This date is referred to by the Migration Service as “the Control Date”.
- You may leave Ukraine and re-enter as you wish during the 180-day period, but again, you may not stay more than 90 days of this period.
If you have already been to Ukraine, and you`re here now
- You can stay without a visa up to 90 days within 180 days, not 6 months.
- Use the current date as the date from which you count back 180 days.
- Then, count up all the days when you were in the territory of Ukraine within that period. It doesn`t matter if you entered and exited more than once. Just focus on the days of being inside Ukraine.
a) Select a control date from which period of your staying will be calculated: you can identify the date of a trip to Ukraine; or given that you are in Ukraine and want to figure out how many more days you can stay in Ukraine, at that rate, you need to select the date of checking the length of stay (as of today).
b) 180 days period is calculated backward from the selected control date. It will be the period during which you can legally stay in Ukraine for a maximum of 90 days.
c) Next step is to check the stamps in your passport of entries and exits to Ukraine for the period of the last 180 days, calculated from the control date.
d) Having counted all the entries and exits, you will understand how many days you stayed in Ukraine, and how many days you still have in stock.
Besides, for your convenience, you can use the migration calculator posted on the website of the State Migration Service of Ukraine.
LIABILITY FOR OVERSTAY
If, as a result of a miscalculation, it turns out that you have been staying in Ukraine for more than 90 days, this means that you have overstayed and will have to pay an administrative fine and leave Ukraine.
According to article 203 of the Administrative Offenses Code, a foreigner must pay a fine for UAH 1,700 to UAH 5,100.
The fine can be paid both at the airport when leaving Ukraine, and at the territorial office of the State Migration Service of Ukraine.
At the same time, the imposition of the administrative sanctions procedure itself is quite time-consuming, since authorized persons will ask numerous questions and draw up protocols.
It should be noted that if a foreigner does not pay a fine for violating the terms of stay in Ukraine, he may receive a ban on entering Ukraine for up to 5 years.
Moreover, a payment of the fine is not grounds for remaining in Ukraine in violation of the terms.
At any rate, a foreigner must leave Ukraine and wait for 90 days to re-enter Ukraine. In the event you want to stay legally in Ukraine for more than 90 days, our team will help you to extend your stay in Ukraine, obtain a temporary residence permit, immigration permit or permanent residence permit, and provide you with legal assistance of rapidly and painlessly paying a fine for violation of the terms of stay in Ukraine.
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