Results of Monitoring of Visa Policy and Border Crossing Procedures with Poland Presented in Lutsk

One hundred and sixty Ukrainians, who personally applied for visa and crossed the border between Ukraine and Poland, were interviewed under the project. The association’s sociologists discovered the following trends in visa policy of Polish General Consulate in Lutsk this year: denials decreased (from 24,0% in 2009 to 1,7 % in 2010), while the number of applicants for multi-entry visas increased (from 27% to 88,1%). Survey participants said they had to wait in lines during the different stages of the visa process. Border crossings for 62,2% of interviewed Ukrainians have become more difficult in procedures, said sociologist Stanislav Demchuk.

Andrzej Kucharczuk, visa department consul of General Consulate of Poland in Lutsk, commented on the monitoring results. He said that these results will be taken into account for improving the Consulate’s visa policy. He also noted that the Consulate’s activities are aimed at simplifying procedures for Ukrainians.

Project leader Iryna Omelchuk added that the presented monitoring results and proposals will be added to Ukraine-EU summit agenda this autumn.

Contact person: Iryna Omelchuk: +38 (066) 79 52 471, +38 (066) 79 52 471

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The aim of the project “Monitoring of Visa Policy and Problem Issues of Crossing Border with Poland by Ukrainian Citizens”, which is implemented by the Association for Protecting Volyn Youth Rights with the support of European Program of the International Renaissance Foundation, is to monitor and inform society about realization of visa policies by the General Consulate of Poland in Lutsk, and researching problematic issues concerning border crossing of Ukrainian citizens.

Source: Association for Protecting Volyn Youth Rights