Slovakian 5-year multi-entrance visa
We are the family who likes traveling, you can see that in my very first blog post here :) We like to see the beauty of nature, human-built environment, dive into and experience other cultures.
This summer we have planned a trip to Croatia and have arranged accommodation in a small family hotel already. However, starting from this year, Ukrainians have to have a visa to enter Croatia.
Getting a visa was always a pain for us. And I personally prefer to spend a vacation in Ukraine than having a better accommodation and services abroad but also having all those supplementary problems that everyone in Ukraine has when he/she applies for the visa personally. Not sure if anyone living in the USA or Europe can understand what problems I am talking about, so here is my blog post about our visa getting experience.
My wife's dream was to spend this summer vacation in Croatia, and I started to prepare required documents to apply for Croatian visa. Surprisingly, my friend told me that there is a possibility to get a Slovakian "multi-Schengen" visa (it allows visits to many European countries) quite easily. All we have to do is to buy a tour via a tourist company or arrange accommodation ourselves in Slovakia for a few days and apply for a visa.
Well, why not, if it is so easy? Tourist Company is not a suitable option for us because they can't offer what we want. We are 5 person family and we like traveling alone, by car - it gives us some kind of "freedom". We don't like big hotels and prefer to stay in a remote area, we need some "space" for our children. I browsed across booking.com for available options and found a beautiful spacious house in a small village, next to the famous High Tatra resort. Pictures of the facility and Mountain view was inspiring. House was quite big so I told my 2 friends about this opportunity and we decided to book the House for 3 our families to share accommodation costs.
I booked the facility, contacted the owners and they graciously agreed to host our 3 families. They've sent us the tourist vouchers as required by Slovakian Consulate after the full amount has been paid. After that, we spent some time preparing the other required documents and decided to visit Slovakian Consulate in Uzhgorod to apply for visas.
2 weeks earlier we've visited the Consulate General of Slovakia in Uzhhorod, Ukraine for the first time. According to the information we had, there is a live queue, no previous registration possible. Well, Sunday night, 11pm, we headed to the Slovakian Consulate in Uzhgorod. 5 hours of night driving and 4am Monday we are at Consulate. Surprisingly we didn't see the live queue. So we were the first. 3 hours later people started coming. They said indeed there is a live queue, but it is on a list. They put us on that queue list and our number in the queue is 330... Hopefully, Slovakian Consulate offers a consultation with a Consul from 8am till 8:30am every working day and there was no queue. So we got in...
Consul said our vouchers are not valid for them as they require vouchers from hotels only but not from private persons. We didn't know that requirement as it wasn't explicitly described on the Slovakian Consulate's website. Knowing that I doubt I would start the process as I don't like to go where they want me to go, I want to go where I want... Additionally, Consul said that Consulate doesn't manage the queue, but people outside do that instead, so we need to take care of the queue ourselves. Also, she said we need to bring all our children in case we want our children to be considered in Slovakian Consulate in Uzhhorod. To compare, Slovakian Consulate in Kyiv doesn't require children up to 18 years to see personally.
Well, our host asked the neighboring hotel and they kindly offered to accommodate us. The accommodation was quite similar and as money was previously paid already, we agreed. They've sent us new vouchers and yesterday we spent another day at Slovakian Consulate in Uzhhorod again. Our queue has not come yet so we just had no chances to get in. The queue to the morning's consultation with Consul was big this time and we couldn't see the Consul. It was quite cold outside (about zero degrees) and I called the Consulate to ask to admit us with children. They promised to do that in half an hour.
Meanwhile, staying quite close to the Consulate Entrance I was able to see the process of admitting people for visa application. I saw some people were just begging the official (I don't know who he was) to take their passports. It appeared for me that those people were in a critical situation and therefore they begged. And their passports were taken to the Consulate even though people weren't in the queue. Soon after, I was very surprised to see the girl who was begging a few minutes before, she appeared happy, healthy and completely satisfied.
Next to me stayed the man who was reading the queue list. I was in a position to see the list. I wasn't interested personally as my queue was still far away but I noticed that list has been read in quite a strange manner - people were called not in the listed order but in a different way - he was calling some people completely outside of the list. I've heard previously about some cases of such abuse and compromising the queue, some people earn money in that way. And it happened for me to see that personally. Other people also noticed "something unfair" and there was little arguing. Someone from surrounding people said there was even an incident a few days ago involving the police.
I called the Consulate again to ask about us, this time they said I have to wait an hour more, but they promise to serve us. Hopefully, we rented an apartment in few hundred meters next to the Consulate so children with my wife were able to come there and warm up, have some tea, go to the toilet. There is no any infrastructure next to the Slovakian Consulate in Uzhgorod, and it can definitely be a problem for some people, everyone has to stay, there is no even a simple bench for older people to rest.
Meanwhile, different people were coming to the Consulate and they were successfully allowed to come in. They were completely outside of the queue but having some personal contacts with Consulate guard or other consulate workers. People were coming to the entrance, shouting "hey, Volodia" - the guard was coming and letting them in. I finally understood that queue is just a fake, I don't know why the Slovakian Consulate does nothing about that situation.
I reminded about us the Consulate guard but he said he knows nothing about us. I called the Consulate, they promised again to admit us...
They served all people and finally guard invited us after 6 hours of waiting... My older daughter has written a greeting verse for the Consul General of the Slovak Republic in Uzhgorod Yanka Buryanova and has prepared to meet the Consul... However it was quite late for the Consulate to serve people, they were out of their allocated time. They thought a little bit and asked the guard about us- "how they are", the guard said "so-so" (what you would be after 6 hours of such a waiting?). This talk wasn't intended to be listened to by us, but we've heard... So the guard had his own opinion regarding us and that played a key role for the Consulate in their decision. Guard came and said "I am very sorry, but you can't be served today. You saw I did all I could but I'm sorry". Then I made a last call to the Consulate and after some time thinking they told me "we can't serve you today, please come tomorrow".
I don't know if you, the reader, can imagine our feelings... I was exhausted and empty.
OK, what are the results? We spent time, efforts, money. What we have? "Unforgettable" experience at Slovakian Consulate in Uzhgorod. Do I still want to go abroad? Guess.
This post is for you, the reader, Ukrainian, who reads this in regard to the visa application process, who can't pretend unhappily, can't beg, who can't be an actor, and who is honest. If you dream about Slovak multi-entrance Schengen-states visa, don't do our mistake, don't go to the Slovakian Consulate in Uzhhorod, at least visit Kyiv and book your visit time in advance with online registration, there should be more chances for you to feel a human.
Why this post is in English? To help officials look at the situation closely and maybe do something to improve it.
I've been to the USA, saw Europe a lot, I'd say any country worth visiting. But efforts to get there shouldn't be that painful.
....We are at home now, happy that we are OK and we are all together, in a family.
Ukraine is a beautiful country and it is still undiscovered. Let's do that. Europe can wait for a better time...
P.S. Update on April, 7th. One of our 3 families managed to get a visa. They were issued 5-DAY Slovakian Schengen visa. They were in the house I booked. They are full of emotions and happy, they've spent a wonderful time in Slovakian High Tatras.
This summer we have planned a trip to Croatia and have arranged accommodation in a small family hotel already. However, starting from this year, Ukrainians have to have a visa to enter Croatia.
Getting a visa was always a pain for us. And I personally prefer to spend a vacation in Ukraine than having a better accommodation and services abroad but also having all those supplementary problems that everyone in Ukraine has when he/she applies for the visa personally. Not sure if anyone living in the USA or Europe can understand what problems I am talking about, so here is my blog post about our visa getting experience.
My wife's dream was to spend this summer vacation in Croatia, and I started to prepare required documents to apply for Croatian visa. Surprisingly, my friend told me that there is a possibility to get a Slovakian "multi-Schengen" visa (it allows visits to many European countries) quite easily. All we have to do is to buy a tour via a tourist company or arrange accommodation ourselves in Slovakia for a few days and apply for a visa.
Well, why not, if it is so easy? Tourist Company is not a suitable option for us because they can't offer what we want. We are 5 person family and we like traveling alone, by car - it gives us some kind of "freedom". We don't like big hotels and prefer to stay in a remote area, we need some "space" for our children. I browsed across booking.com for available options and found a beautiful spacious house in a small village, next to the famous High Tatra resort. Pictures of the facility and Mountain view was inspiring. House was quite big so I told my 2 friends about this opportunity and we decided to book the House for 3 our families to share accommodation costs.
I booked the facility, contacted the owners and they graciously agreed to host our 3 families. They've sent us the tourist vouchers as required by Slovakian Consulate after the full amount has been paid. After that, we spent some time preparing the other required documents and decided to visit Slovakian Consulate in Uzhgorod to apply for visas.
2 weeks earlier we've visited the Consulate General of Slovakia in Uzhhorod, Ukraine for the first time. According to the information we had, there is a live queue, no previous registration possible. Well, Sunday night, 11pm, we headed to the Slovakian Consulate in Uzhgorod. 5 hours of night driving and 4am Monday we are at Consulate. Surprisingly we didn't see the live queue. So we were the first. 3 hours later people started coming. They said indeed there is a live queue, but it is on a list. They put us on that queue list and our number in the queue is 330... Hopefully, Slovakian Consulate offers a consultation with a Consul from 8am till 8:30am every working day and there was no queue. So we got in...
Consul said our vouchers are not valid for them as they require vouchers from hotels only but not from private persons. We didn't know that requirement as it wasn't explicitly described on the Slovakian Consulate's website. Knowing that I doubt I would start the process as I don't like to go where they want me to go, I want to go where I want... Additionally, Consul said that Consulate doesn't manage the queue, but people outside do that instead, so we need to take care of the queue ourselves. Also, she said we need to bring all our children in case we want our children to be considered in Slovakian Consulate in Uzhhorod. To compare, Slovakian Consulate in Kyiv doesn't require children up to 18 years to see personally.
Well, our host asked the neighboring hotel and they kindly offered to accommodate us. The accommodation was quite similar and as money was previously paid already, we agreed. They've sent us new vouchers and yesterday we spent another day at Slovakian Consulate in Uzhhorod again. Our queue has not come yet so we just had no chances to get in. The queue to the morning's consultation with Consul was big this time and we couldn't see the Consul. It was quite cold outside (about zero degrees) and I called the Consulate to ask to admit us with children. They promised to do that in half an hour.
Meanwhile, staying quite close to the Consulate Entrance I was able to see the process of admitting people for visa application. I saw some people were just begging the official (I don't know who he was) to take their passports. It appeared for me that those people were in a critical situation and therefore they begged. And their passports were taken to the Consulate even though people weren't in the queue. Soon after, I was very surprised to see the girl who was begging a few minutes before, she appeared happy, healthy and completely satisfied.
Next to me stayed the man who was reading the queue list. I was in a position to see the list. I wasn't interested personally as my queue was still far away but I noticed that list has been read in quite a strange manner - people were called not in the listed order but in a different way - he was calling some people completely outside of the list. I've heard previously about some cases of such abuse and compromising the queue, some people earn money in that way. And it happened for me to see that personally. Other people also noticed "something unfair" and there was little arguing. Someone from surrounding people said there was even an incident a few days ago involving the police.
I called the Consulate again to ask about us, this time they said I have to wait an hour more, but they promise to serve us. Hopefully, we rented an apartment in few hundred meters next to the Consulate so children with my wife were able to come there and warm up, have some tea, go to the toilet. There is no any infrastructure next to the Slovakian Consulate in Uzhgorod, and it can definitely be a problem for some people, everyone has to stay, there is no even a simple bench for older people to rest.
Meanwhile, different people were coming to the Consulate and they were successfully allowed to come in. They were completely outside of the queue but having some personal contacts with Consulate guard or other consulate workers. People were coming to the entrance, shouting "hey, Volodia" - the guard was coming and letting them in. I finally understood that queue is just a fake, I don't know why the Slovakian Consulate does nothing about that situation.
I reminded about us the Consulate guard but he said he knows nothing about us. I called the Consulate, they promised again to admit us...
They served all people and finally guard invited us after 6 hours of waiting... My older daughter has written a greeting verse for the Consul General of the Slovak Republic in Uzhgorod Yanka Buryanova and has prepared to meet the Consul... However it was quite late for the Consulate to serve people, they were out of their allocated time. They thought a little bit and asked the guard about us- "how they are", the guard said "so-so" (what you would be after 6 hours of such a waiting?). This talk wasn't intended to be listened to by us, but we've heard... So the guard had his own opinion regarding us and that played a key role for the Consulate in their decision. Guard came and said "I am very sorry, but you can't be served today. You saw I did all I could but I'm sorry". Then I made a last call to the Consulate and after some time thinking they told me "we can't serve you today, please come tomorrow".
I don't know if you, the reader, can imagine our feelings... I was exhausted and empty.
OK, what are the results? We spent time, efforts, money. What we have? "Unforgettable" experience at Slovakian Consulate in Uzhgorod. Do I still want to go abroad? Guess.
This post is for you, the reader, Ukrainian, who reads this in regard to the visa application process, who can't pretend unhappily, can't beg, who can't be an actor, and who is honest. If you dream about Slovak multi-entrance Schengen-states visa, don't do our mistake, don't go to the Slovakian Consulate in Uzhhorod, at least visit Kyiv and book your visit time in advance with online registration, there should be more chances for you to feel a human.
Why this post is in English? To help officials look at the situation closely and maybe do something to improve it.
I've been to the USA, saw Europe a lot, I'd say any country worth visiting. But efforts to get there shouldn't be that painful.
....We are at home now, happy that we are OK and we are all together, in a family.
Ukraine is a beautiful country and it is still undiscovered. Let's do that. Europe can wait for a better time...
P.S. Update on April, 7th. One of our 3 families managed to get a visa. They were issued 5-DAY Slovakian Schengen visa. They were in the house I booked. They are full of emotions and happy, they've spent a wonderful time in Slovakian High Tatras.
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