Post: #1

Has anyone left Ukraine by train? I want to stay past the 90 day visa entry. This will only work if I can leave without getting the passport stamped or checked for a visa exit. Anyone have any experience if they just let you leave like most all EU countries or if they are strict about leaving on a train and the exit visa ordeal?

Post: #2

(05-01-2015 05:21 AM)ragger Wrote:  Has anyone left Ukraine by train? I want to stay past the 90 day visa entry. This will only work if I can leave without getting the passport stamped or checked for a visa exit. Anyone have any experience if they just let you leave like most all EU countries or if they are strict about leaving on a train and the exit visa ordeal?

Most EU countries let you leave by train without checking your passport because you probably travelled within the Schengen Zone. However this has nothing to do with travelling by train. No passport checks on airports either.

Ukraine is neither EU nor Schengen member, therefore there will be checks on both airports and land borders. I assume you plan to leave through Poland or Romania: there should be checks by ukrainian immigration before the train leaves the country.

What I have heard is that immigration at land crossings is easier and less expensive to bribe. On the other side depending on where exactly the trains stop - in case they force you to leave you might end up in the middle of nowhere.

But it is always up to the officer and noone can predict what exactly will happen. A friend recently left through Borispol Airport and he just needed to pay the usual fine...process took more than 1 hour though.

Other reports, where people missed their planes because officers got pissed and asked why they disrespected the immigration rules of Ukraine.

The best option would be to leave by car.

Post: #3

(05-01-2015 07:50 AM)Thailand_Veteran Wrote:  

(05-01-2015 05:21 AM)ragger Wrote:  Has anyone left Ukraine by train? I want to stay past the 90 day visa entry. This will only work if I can leave without getting the passport stamped or checked for a visa exit. Anyone have any experience if they just let you leave like most all EU countries or if they are strict about leaving on a train and the exit visa ordeal?

Most EU countries let you leave by train without checking your passport because you probably travelled within the Schengen Zone. However this has nothing to do with travelling by train. No passport checks on airports either.

Ukraine is neither EU nor Schengen member, therefore there will be checks on both airports and land borders. I assume you plan to leave through Poland or Romania: there should be checks by ukrainian immigration before the train leaves the country.

What I have heard is that immigration at land crossings is easier and less expensive to bribe. On the other side depending on where exactly the trains stop - in case they force you to leave you might end up in the middle of nowhere.

But it is always up to the officer and noone can predict what exactly will happen. A friend recently left through Borispol Airport and he just needed to pay the usual fine...process took more than 1 hour though.

Other reports, where people missed their planes because officers got pissed and asked why they disrespected the immigration rules of Ukraine.

The best option would be to leave by car.

This is the most insane post I have ever read. You don't need a passport to get on a plane in the EU, there are not checks for PP in any EU airport? Come on man. Every EU airport has a physical check or a electronic check to check the bio chip in the PP. You have to scan your passport to come in or leave a EU country. If you don't have a Bio-PP Chip then someone physically looks at it. I don't want people to be misinformed. Secondly, I was not asking about entering Ukraine. I was asking about exiting. Anyone with a EU PP has a 90 day visa free stay in the Ukraine. However if you stay past the 90 days, and if there is a process by leaving on a train that they have some type of custom procedure for exiting the country on a train then they will have a record of your stay past the 90 day visa requirements and you will have a difficult time getting a Visa in the future when you apply because there will be a record of you staying past your Visa required stay, even more troubling is that you may not be allowed in the country. This happens all the time in the USA and Australia. There is a TV program in Australia called "board control", all they do is reject people entering the country because they worked during their last stay or they stayed past their visa requirement stay. Lastly, what are you talking about. Bribing Ukraine boarder guards. I hope no one ever takes this advice from someone who obviously has never done anything like it. This is not like walking on the streets of Mexico and getting harassed by a cop and paying $15 to let you go. NO ONE BRIBES BOARDER CROSSING GUARDS IN ANY COUNTRY. Your talking about bribing a boarder crossing guard in a country in the former soviet union that certainly does not speak your language. I promise you 1 thing, You'll get locked up and who knows when you'll get out. Also good luck finding a lawyer. This was the most dumb advise I ever herd of in my live. Don't post things about stuff you watched in movies as if they are real life experiences.

Post: #4

I have been in and out of Ukraine several times by train.

The usual procedure is that they stop the train at the Ukraine border control point.
The border control people come through the train and gather up all the passports and take them away to process, them bring them back stamped and redistribute them. Then the train goes again. I have had locals tell me that they can be bribed, but I wouldn't try it. Too many of them are handling your passport.
Best idea is to do a "border run" before the 90 day point.

I have crossed at the Suceava to Chernivtsi road crossing in a car (unofficial taxi). The driver handled our passports with the border guard. I noticed that he slipped him a significant cash bribe.
My best guess is that he was smuggling cigarettes, because what he charged us for the ride would not have covered much more than his fuel bill.
I guess if you crossed in that context, the diversion may get you through.

Post: #5

(05-01-2015 09:12 AM)Antipodean Wrote:  I have been in and out of Ukraine several times by train.

The usual procedure is that they stop the train at the Ukraine border control point.
The border control people come through the train and gather up all the passports and take them away to process, them bring them back stamped and redistribute them. Then the train goes again. I have had locals tell me that they can be bribed, but I wouldn't try it. Too many of them are handling your passport.
Best idea is to do a "border run" before the 90 day point.

I have crossed at the Suceava to Chernivtsi road crossing in a car (unofficial taxi). The driver handled our passports with the border guard. I noticed that he slipped him a significant cash bribe.
My best guess is that he was smuggling cigarettes, because what he charged us for the ride would not have covered much more than his fuel bill.
I guess if you crossed in that context, the diversion may get you through.

I was thinking about this. How long did you leave Ukraine for. A few hours or a few days? Is there a standard? I read someplace that it used to be 6 months and people would do the "boarder runs" but they changed it to 90 days. I don't know why. What about staying past your 90 day visa requirement. Have you broken the rule or heard of anyone breaking the rule? What was the consequences?

Post: #6

(05-01-2015 09:12 AM)Antipodean Wrote:  I have been in and out of Ukraine several times by train.

The usual procedure is that they stop the train at the Ukraine border control point.
The border control people come through the train and gather up all the passports and take them away to process, them bring them back stamped and redistribute them. Then the train goes again. I have had locals tell me that they can be bribed, but I wouldn't try it. Too many of them are handling your passport.
Best idea is to do a "border run" before the 90 day point.

I have crossed at the Suceava to Chernivtsi road crossing in a car (unofficial taxi). The driver handled our passports with the border guard. I noticed that he slipped him a significant cash bribe.
My best guess is that he was smuggling cigarettes, because what he charged us for the ride would not have covered much more than his fuel bill.
I guess if you crossed in that context, the diversion may get you through.

I was thinking about this. How long did you leave Ukraine for. A few hours or a few days? Is there a standard? I read someplace that it used to be 6 months and people would do the "boarder runs" but they changed it to 90 days. I don't know why. What about staying past your 90 day visa requirement. Have you broken the rule or heard of anyone breaking the rule? What was the consequences?

Post: #7

Actually I bribed Ukrainian border crossing guards on numerous occasions back in the day. It was pretty common. And I was in a train compartment with a smuggler who had boxes full of stuff who was taking from Poland. Some of the stuff you see in the movies is based on our REAL exploits!

I also bribed cops, air port custom's officers, etc, etc, etc.

And yes the border guards tend to be easier to bribe because they come from the poor villages.

Oh yeah when we left video equipment on the train, we bribed police to go track down the stuff and beat up anyone who took it and return to us for a reward.

My wife's custom is an Odessa customs officer..he seems pretty well to do!

Post: #8

@ ragger

With all respect, but I think you should tone done a bit- calling my advise dumb without even having understood what I tried to explain to you. Quite strange how you tackle people who try to give advise on your problem.

Also it seems you have no idea how immigration/custom procedures work in general.

Regarding EU/Schengen: Let's say you board a plane from France to Italy. You do NOT have to show your passport to immigration/custom officer at all. You not even have to pass the immigration counters.

The only thing you have to do is to prove the airline at check-in counter that you are the person, which is named on the flight ticket.
The needed document must NOT always be your passport even.

Different story when entering or leaving the Schengen Zone though.
You mentioned that it is possible to travel by train in EU without any immigration checks. Yes it is and so is travelling by plane.

Regarding bribes:

It seems you have neither been to a former FSU country nor do you have travel experience to countries where it is common to bribe officials, but still you already know the consequences.

You have 2 choices:

1) Leave when 90 days are over, get your stamp - wait 90 days and you can enter Ukraine again

2) Overstay.... doesn't matter how you leave the country, your passport will be checked somehow. As you would never bribe custom officers they might lock you up for a while, if you prefer that.

Post: #9

7 day ban for insulting membership after asking for advice.