Officially illegal

As of yesterday, I (and many of my colleagues) am officially illegal in Ukraine. As of September 10, many more Americans will join me. The Ukrainian government "reformed" the visa policies, and eliminated the category of visa that ex-pat employees of technical assistance programs have been issued for years and years, the service visa. This effects Peace Corps (300+ PCVs plus staff); USAID contractors; ex-pat employees of Fulbright, IREX, American Councils; not to mention other countries' organizations in Ukraine. While the idea of the reform may have had it's valid pros, the implications were not, as usual, fully thought out. The Ukrainian government doesn't yet know what kind of visa to give us all now, and doesn't know when they will figure it out. In the meantime, we sit around hoping someone will have a brilliant idea sooner rather than later.

The U.S. Embassy is supposedly sending a list of effected Americans to the Border Control with a request to not penalize us if we leave the country. Technically, fines accrue for each day you overstay your visa, and you also can be put on a black list and denied future entry into the country. (Ah, it just gets better and better!)  So, there should soon be a stop-gap measure in place to allow us to leave the country without incident, but still no idea if or how we can re-enter Ukraine. Which means my upcoming trip to Copenhagen has to be cancelled (I could go there, but not sure I could come back!). Not altogether a bad thing – I'm always delighted to get to be home more with my fabulous husband! But it doesn't make my bosses very happy.

*Sigh* Never a dull day in Ukraine!