Ukraine’s key migration challenges and opportunities

Abstract

In the past twenty years Ukraine’s population decreased. Emigration has only contributed to the negative population dynamics and also resulted in the ‘brain drain’, where many specialists whose skills are in global demand have left Ukraine. Nevertheless, the post-Soviet Ukraine has had some positive developments in the migration sphere. The government was able to address several challenges, including creating migration legislation from scratch, establishing the State Border Guard Service as well as working with the EU in negotiating, adopting and implementing the Readmission Agreement. One of the key issues on the EU-Ukraine agenda concerning migration is an agreement that would allow Ukrainians to travel for short-term visits to Europe without visas. Researchers do not expect that such visa-free travel would lead to a substantial increase in illegal migration. To the contrary, it is expected that a visa-free regime will stimulate greater tourism and business links between Ukraine and EU Member States.