The process of legalization of foreign citizens in Ukraine has several stages:
- Making a letter of invitation
- Issuing a visa
- Issuing the temporary residence permit (posvidka)
Making a letter of invitation
Invitations are issued to foreigners for which an educational institution is granted consent for admission to obtain the appropriate degree of higher, postgraduate education (advanced training, traineeship), PhD studies, preparatory faculty or department, training for academic mobility programs or program for studying the state language and / or language of study.
All foreign students, arriving to Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University (LUVNU) for the period longer than 90 days, will receive special kind of the Letter of Invitation, issued by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. After receiving the Invitation for Study you should to pay for the visa verification procedure (“visa support”) on the web-page of the Ukrainian State Centre of the International Education (ATTENTION!!! Your invitation will not be considered by the Consular Sections of the Ukrainian Embassies without visa versification procedure (“visa support”) completed!
Having the invitation and approximately in about a week after payment for visa verification procedure /“visa support” you can apply for the D-type Ukrainian visa (“long-term, multi-entry”). Upon arrival to Ukraine D-type visa should be exchanged for the Temporary Residence Permit within its validity (90 days), but not later than 2 weeks before its expiration date.
For making the invitation, the following documents are required (please contact VNU International Office for assistance):
- Copy of the first page of the applicant’s passport
- Copy of the document certifying the last completed education (diploma and annex)
- Consent to personal data collection and processing (signed and scanned)
Documents must be sent in a scanned form to the International Relation Office e-mail inter-dep@vnu.edu.ua or tatushko.iryna@vnu.edu.ua. Or they can be submitted personally to the International Relation Office.
How to pay for an invitation
As soon as an invitation is ready, it must be paid in a bank.
Fee for issuing an invitation:
648 UAH – for visa support
600 UAH – for organisational expenses of the University
Issuing a visa
Students from visa countries, as well as countries with which Ukraine has signed agreements on visa-free stay of up to 90 days (tourist, private and business trips), need to obtain a long-term (“study”, type D) visa to Ukraine, which allows you to stay in Ukraine more than 90 days.
Citizens of countries with which Ukraine has signed visa-free agreements: Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Russia do not need to open a visa to Ukraine, but must provide an original or a photocopy of the “Invitation to study” when crossing the border of Ukraine as confirmation the purpose of arrival in Ukraine.
To obtain a type D visa, a candidate for study must submit to the Consulate of Ukraine in your country the documents listed on the Embassy’s website. Such a list of documents must include the original “Invitation to Study”. In addition, we draw your attention to the fact that your prior education documents before applying to the consulate must be officially certified in the way adopted in your country (legalized (Ministry of Education + Ministry of Foreign Affairs + Embassy of Ukraine in your country) or certified by Apostille stamp + are legalized at the Embassy of Ukraine). These documents must be officially recognized in Ukraine so that a Ukrainian university can give you a diploma after graduation.
Issuing the temporary residence permit (posvidka)
Nationals of visa-free countries can stay in Ukraine for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. That is, to calculate the allowed period of stay from the date of submission of documents is deducted 180 days ago. A foreigner will not violate the rules if he has been in Ukraine for no more than 90 days within this 180-day period. Such foreigners are obliged, within five working days after their arrival at the university, but not later than 30 days before the expiration of the fixed term of stay in Ukraine, to submit to the international relation office the passport and documents necessary for the issuance of the Temporary Residence Permit.
For issuing the temporary residence permit, the following documents are required:
- passport with visa type D;
- notarized translation of the first page of the passport;
- valid medical insurance policy and its copy (for the whole period of study);
- receipts for the administrative services;
The certificate is made in the form of a card containing a contactless electronic medium.
The procedure for registration, issuance, exchange, cancellation, transfer, removal, return to the state, invalidation and destruction of a temporary residence permit was approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 322 of 25.04.2018.
Please note:
The process of issuing the temporary residence permit takes 15 calendar days. During this period, the foreign citizen must stay in Ukraine.
Not later than 30 days after obtaining the temporary residence permit, the foreign citizens should be registered at the place of their actual residence during the study period. Only after this, the temporary residence permit is valid.
The process of the registration of residence takes a maximum of 10 days.
During the period of residence registration, the foreign citizen should not leave the country.
The temporary residence permit cancellation process takes from 10 to 20 days.
Temporary Residence Permit is valid for a period of your study at VNU and will allow you to leave and enter Ukraine without any additional documents needed during this period.
The temporary residence permit should always be returned to the Migration Service at the end of study.
You will need ORIGINAL invitation! Count this during preparing documents for visa submission.