Bulgaria, Ukraine to ease visa requirements

BTA web site
30 Sep 04

Sofia, 30 September: Bulgaria and Ukraine will considerably ease the
visa issuing procedure for many categories of people, the government
press office said on Thursday [30 September]. This is envisaged in
draft amendments to a Bulgarian-Ukrainian travel agreement approved by
the government. The agreement was signed in 2001. The draft amendments
scrap invitations as a condition for issuing a visa. Requirements
will be eased for truck and bus drivers. They will be issued visas
on presenting a copy of a licence for international road haulage and
passenger transport. This will largely facilitate visa issuance for
Bulgarian drivers, who by far outnumber Ukrainian drivers. Package
tourists and persons travelling for treatment will be issued free visas
on submitting a document to confirm the purpose of the visit. Thus the
Bulgarian Government will no longer make decisions every year about
free visa issuance to this category of persons during the tourist
season. This move is part of the government’s policy of easing visa
requirements.

In 2002 Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi and Russian Ambassador Vladimir
Titov signed a travel agreement between the two governments, which
envisages relaxing visa requirements. Agreements with Belarus,
Armenia and Kazakhstan are under preparation.