Hi guys,
Firstly, we are two Australian passport holders.
We are looking at a flight from Russia to Athens that has a 2.5 hour stop over in Kiev Borispol, Ukraine. I understand that Australians need a visa to enter the country as tourists, but would like clarification about whether we need a transit visa for our short stop over.
We wouldn't be leaving the airport.
Thanks for any help.
WOJAus
What flights are your taking? Check with the airlines. It should be international transit but one can never be certain.
Ruth
The flight is with Aerosvit Airlines at 9:40am, May 5th - booking via Viva! Travel.
The flight information says it is "connect in airport" and when I asked (online chat) someone at Viva! Travel they said they think we don't need a transit visa, but to ask at a Ukrainian embassy to be sure.
In regards to your comment, Ruth, are you saying you think we shouldn't need a transit visa if it's an international transit at the Kiev Borispol airport?
Thanks again.
WOJAus
Sorry, quick edit:
the Aerosvit website has this little application that supposedly calculates if you need a visa or not. Anyway, here is what it churned out for me:
Ukraine (UA)
TWOV (Transit Without Visa):
Visa required, except for Holders of onward tickets for a max. transit time of 24 hours, provided arriving at and departing from Kiev Boryspil airport (KBP).
Greece (GR)
Passport required.
- Passport and/or passport replacing documents must be valid for at least 3 months after the period of the intended stay.
Admission and Transit Restrictions:
Visa required, except for A max. stay of 3 months, for nationals of Australia.
Additional Information:
So, if I am reading this correctly (just the first bit I guess)....because we would have onward tickets to Athens we would be considered of TWOV status and therefore not need a transit visa...?
Edited by: WOJAus
We wouldn't be leaving the airport.
If so then I cannot understand (although I am not a super experienced traveler) what visa you could need? :) Any visa is a need when leaving the border area only.
andrewua - some countries (the US, for example) require that you go through immigration for every flight that arrives in the US, even if you are departing to another country. The international airports in the US have no international transit area so all passengers go through immigration on arrival. For Russia, if you are traveling from someplace to Belarus and transiting in Moscow or elsewhere in Russia, since Russia and Belarus have an agreement, the segment from Russia to Belarus is a domestic flight and you must go through Russian immigration to board that flight.
In regards to your comment, Ruth, are you saying you think we shouldn't need a transit visa if it's an international transit at the Kiev Borispol airport?
Correct. Assuming that the airport has an international transit area, then you should be fine but it is the airlines that will decide whether to permit you to board or not which is why it is a good idea to get a reading from them.
Ruth
Ruth, thanks for the info, I really could not imagine there is no international transit area at an international airport.
Check with the airline and or travelcompany whether you will leave the transit zone, most likely you will stay in it and no visa is required
OK, so I tried unsuccessfully to call the number of the airline in the Ukraine and also their guy in Australia (turns out he was some sort of contractor and couldn't help at all) but I always got some sort of dialing error or it just rang out...
So then I used their Live Chat service to talk to someone directly.
After explaining my situation and the flight info I asked if I needed a transit Visa, to which they responded:
"We don't consul passangers in visa-questions. You should contact border control service"
So I asked:
"OK. Well, could you tell me, if I get that flight, would I have to leave the Kiev airport, or collect my luggage at the Kiev airport? Would I have to leave the transit area of the airport?"
Response:
"You will have to arrive, collect Your luggage and check in for the next flight"
Me:
"OK thanks. Do you know if that means we will have to go through customs or show our passport to anyone at the airport?"
Response:
"Unfortunately we don't have such information"
And that was the end of it.
What do you guys think?
If you have to 'collect Your luggage and check in for the next flight', then you leave the transit area.
But they may not know what they are talking about...........
PS- they want $110 for a transit visa in Canberra- blimey!
OK, say I do have to leave the transit area. What of my earlier post (#2)...
TWOV (Transit Without Visa):
Visa required, except for Holders of onward tickets for a max. transit time of 24 hours, provided arriving at and departing from Kiev Boryspil airport (KBP).
We will have an onward ticket for 2.5 hours later. So we should be able to just present that ticket and it will be fine?