Division 1.2 Scope of the Agreement

Article 2 of the Agreement stipulates that:

‘1.

The visa facilitations provided in this Agreement shall apply to citizens of Ukraine only insofar as they are not exempted from the visa requirement by the laws and regulations of the European Union or the Member States, the present agreement or other international agreements.

2.

The national law of Ukraine, or of the Member States or European Union law shall apply to issues not covered by the provisions of this Agreement, such as the refusal to issue a visa, recognition of travel documents, proof of sufficient means of subsistence and the refusal of entry and expulsion measures.’.

Without prejudice to its Article 10 (which provides for the exemption from the visa requirement for holders of diplomatic passports and biometric service passports of Ukraine), the Agreement does not affect the existing rules on visa obligations and visa exemptions. For instance, Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001^f1 allows Member States to exempt from the visa requirement civilian air and sea crews among other categories.

Schengen rules and, where appropriate, national law continue to apply to all issues not covered by the Agreement such as the refusal to issue a visa, recognition of travel documents, proof of sufficient means of subsistence, the refusal of entry, and expulsion measures. This also applies to the Schengen rules determining the Schengen Member State responsible for processing a visa application. Therefore, a Ukrainian citizen should continue to apply for a visa to the consulate of the Member State of the main destination of his/her travelling; if there is no main destination, (s)he should apply to the consulate of the Member State of first entry into the Schengen area.

Even if the conditions foreseen in the Agreement are met, for example, proof of documentary evidence regarding the purpose of the journey for the categories foreseen in its Article 4 is provided by the visa applicant, the issuance of the visa still can be refused if the conditions laid down in Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council^f2 (‘the Schengen Borders Code’) are not fulfilled, i.e. the person is not in possession of a valid travel document, an alert in the SIS has been issued, the person is considered a threat for public policy, internal security, etc.

Other possibilities for flexibility in the issuing of visas allowed in the Visa Code for issuing visas continue to apply. For instance, multiple-entry visas for a long period of validity- up to five years- can be issued to categories of persons other than those mentioned in Article 5 of the Agreement, if the conditions foreseen in the Visa Code are met (cfr. Article 24(2) of the Visa Code). In the same way, the provisions contained in the Visa Code allowing waiver or reduction of the visa fee will continue to apply (cfr. II.2.1.1).