Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
involving the Soviet Union and these states were formally visa-free, based
upon a decision by bodies in the outgoing country. For this reason, for
example, residents of Central and Eastern European countries were able to
travel to all Central Asian countries except Uzbekistan without a visa long
after the breakup of the USSR. This was conditional upon the issuance of
a “AB Sluzhebnaia” stamp (for business travel) or a “AB Obmen” stamp
for private travel by the pertinent body of the Central or Eastern Euro-
pean country concerned.
4
A similar advantage was enjoyed by citizens of
the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
These mutual agreements were confirmed or done away with, depend-
ing upon the era. Visa-free travel for holders of ordinary passports was
interrupted as part of the preparations for entry of these countries into the
EU and the harmonization of their laws with the
acquis communautaire
.
5
Paradoxically, by the end of 1999, holders of Czech, Slovak or Polish
passports could enter Turkmenistan without a visa (although with some
complications), while residents of surrounding countries and the countries
of the Commonwealth of Independent States were already subject to visa
requirements. To this day, passport holders from Cuba, Vietnam and North
Korea can, for example, go to Kyrgyzstan without a visa, even if such vis-
its are quite improbable. Until 2008, residents of the majority of countries
of Central and Eastern Europe were able to travel there without a visa
(on the basis of a unilateral decision by the Kyrgyzstan authorities). Only
after this year were rules unified for all EU citizens. Exemption from visa
requirements under these agreements also concerns short-term stays for
holders of diplomatic passports.
6
The lack of visa requirements for these special categories of tourists,
however, has not come close to gaining unilateral acceptance by local au-
4
While the issuance of this stamp was connected with marked difficulties during the communist pe-
riod, involving gaining authorizations and submitting invitations from the Soviet Union, getting a
certificate from the workplace or school of the individuals involved and one from the housing admin-
istration, etc., after the fall of communism in the 1990s, issuance of this stamp became a formality.
5
The Czech Republic took this action in 2000, Poland not until 2004, and Romania and Bulgaria as
part of their own entry into the EU in 2007.
6
The Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicates on its website that short-term stays (normally of
30 or 90 days) may be made by holders of diplomatic passports from Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.
Visa-free access to Turkmenistan is available to diplomats from Slovakia and Hungary. Holders of
service passports and diplomatic passports from Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Vietnam and
Cuba do not need a visa to travel to Kazakhstan, nor do diplomatic passport holders from Slovenia, Es-
tonia and Poland. Kyrgyzstan continues to impose no visa requirements on diplomats from Hungary,
while Tajikistan offers the same to all citizens of Hungary.
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