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As a first step towards visa liberalization, a Visa Facilitation Agreement between Brussels and Kyiv entered into force in June 2008. Officials foresaw the easing of visa application procedures for certain categories of Ukrainian citizens, among them students, researchers and business people. Officials foresaw the easing of visa application procedures for certain categories of Ukrainian citizens, among them students, researchers and business people.
This regime waives visa surcharges in some cases, fixing the total fees at €35, and eventually multiple-entry visas could also be included. Since the entry into force of the EU Visa Code in 2010, which is the EU Regulation pinning down Schengen visa procedures, the Agreement has to be amended accordingly. Negotiations on the amendment of the Visa Facilitation Agreement are running parallel to the visa liberalization process and should not be underestimated. The success stories of Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia initially gave hope to the Eastern Partnership countries. The same set of reforms has been included in the Visa Liberalization Action Plans launched so far in Ukraine and Moldova.
However, a comparative analysis of the documents shows a number of differences. On one hand, the Action Plan is subdivided into two phases: the first on legislating and planning and the second on implementing reforms. This two-phased approach inevitably slows down the entire process. Second, the content of the reforms is much more farreaching in the Action Plan. It is indispensable that the technical approach be credible for the visa liberalization process to move forward, regardless of the country, be it Ukraine or Russia—where the visa liberalization dialogue was launched in 2007—, Moldova—which has adopted a pre-emptive approach in implementing reforms—, or other Eastern Partnership countries that should follow the same path.
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