It was 25th of April 2018 when I landed at Borispol Airport Kiev . After reading numerous articles in Visa on Arrival experience at Kiev, I did hope for the best but also prepared for the worst. I brought all the documents with me as mentioned in their website.It was easier than I thought but still took around 2 hours. The main problem was the communication gap as the officials were not able to speak good English. However, they did their duty and I was finally granted the visa. You can avail Ukrainian Tourist Visa through three ways i.e., through Ukrainian Consulate in the home country , E-Visa as they have started it from 04th April 2018 and Visa on Arrival on selected ports of entry. The E-Visa however is valid for only 46 countries and India is not one of them, unsurprisingly. Since I availed Visa on Arrival I will talk about that.

Things to do prior to arrival:

Be advised that Visa on arrival is only issued at three ports of entry viz. Borispol Airport and Zhulliyany Airport in Kiev and Odessa International Airport at Odessa. Moreover , it is only given to the Passport holders of 33 countries . It is required to register on the online application system and select the date of arrival . It is highly imperative to do this before travelling else they will force to do there itself which can be time consuming and stressful. The Checklist of the documents should be read and made sure that all of the required documents are prepared. Apart from filling the online form , it is also necessary to fill the Visa Application Form and taken along. Make sure the date you put is the date of the arrival.

Things to do on Arrival and my experience :

As I was in Europe before coming to Ukraine I could not have contacted my bank to get me the bank statement. The Ukrainian authorities require $750 as the minimum balance for 15 days stay. I took a slip from an ATM back in Budapest Airport as a proof. When I reached KBP ( Borispol Airport ) around 6 PM I went to the Visa On Arrival counter and there were couple of people filling online forms on the computer , an English couple waiting for the Visa and a Chinese couple. Also, there was an annoyed , vexed and arrogant Ukrainian man who was issuing visa . He said to me in a diffident voice “What do you want?” I replied that I need a visa. He asked me to pay the Visa fee, either $100 or Euro 100 or 2550 UAH. I chose the third option and paid by card. He took all my documents that included Inbound and Outbound Flight reservations , Travel Insurance , Hostel reservations and photographs along with my passport. I had one advantage that I had a Schengen Visa which is quite powerful in these cases. It is like if I did not migrate illegally to EU why would I do it in Ukraine.And I could feel it as he came with my passport with the visa in like 30 minutes while the Chinese couple kept waiting. I though, that was easy and wished good luck to the couple and went to the immigration checkpoint. But only to see that the officer decides to check my documents again. I said, so the previous officer issued it without checking. But it did not matter as they could not understand me. Then the real wait began. I had to wait for like 1 more hour. They were checking I do not know how many times. They scanned all of the documents. Finally after 1 hour the lady officer confirmed the clearance and told me to proceed. I went to the same immigration checkpoint and the same guy called that lady and asked if she checked my documents on which she became a bit angry on him. I was angry too. Finally he told me “Welcome to Ukraine” and I was so relieved as my patience was burned out in 2 hours. I did not take any pictures as I had been warned about this at Thailand Immigration. That was the whole experience and then I took a skybus no. 322 to the city of Kiev.

Conclusion:

Be well dressed. Look like a decent traveler not like a hippie. Trust me it is important while getting visa on arrival. Keep travelling.