Do Ukrainian passport holders need a visa for Greece?

No. Ukrainian citizens holding a biometric passport travel to Greece without a visa, for up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the Schengen Area. The Greek end of this trip is the simple part. The question that decides whether it happens at all is Ukrainian: martial law restricts who may leave the country, and that is a rule at the Ukrainian border rather than the Greek one.

Visa required

No, with a biometric passport

Non-biometric passport

A Schengen visa is still required

Maximum stay

90 days in any 180-day period, Schengen-wide

Leaving Ukraine

Restricted under martial law. Check before booking

Men aged 18 to 22

May cross freely since 28 August 2025

Men aged 23 to 60

Generally barred, with defined exemptions

Temporary protection

A different status. Not the same as a tourist visit

Entry requirements

• A biometric Ukrainian passport. The visa waiver is attached to the document, so an older non-biometric passport still needs a Schengen visa.
• Proof of onward or return travel and an address for the stay in Greece.
• Evidence you can support yourself for the visit.
• On the Ukrainian side, whatever your own exit category requires: for men of mobilisation age that means military registration documents and, where applicable, proof of an exemption or deferral.

What the journey actually requires

Nothing has to be applied for on the Greek side. Present a biometric Ukrainian passport and you are processed as a visa-exempt visitor.

Settle the exit question first, because it is the one that can stop the trip. Ukrainian martial law and general mobilisation restrict departure for men of mobilisation age, and the rules have moved during the war rather than staying fixed.

Since 28 August 2025 men aged 18 to 22 have been able to cross the border freely, carrying a passport and their military registration document in both paper and electronic form. Men aged 23 to 60 remain generally barred from leaving, subject to a defined list of exemptions and deferrals.

You will be registered in the Entry/Exit System on arrival in the Schengen Area, which has been fully operational since 10 April 2026 and replaced passport stamping for non-EU visitors.

Good to know

• The Greek rules are not what will stop this trip; the Ukrainian ones might. Almost everything written about Ukraine and the Schengen Area explains the 2017 visa waiver and stops there, which is accurate and beside the point for a great many travellers. Under martial law, men aged 23 to 60 are generally not permitted to leave Ukraine at all, exemptions aside. No Greek entitlement has any bearing on that: the refusal, if it comes, happens on the way out rather than the way in.
• The 18 to 22 rule changed in 2025 and is recent enough to be missed. From 28 August 2025 men in that band may cross the border without hindrance during martial law, carrying a passport and their military registration document in both paper and electronic form. Anyone reading guidance written before that date will find a flat statement that men aged 18 to 60 cannot leave, which is no longer the whole picture. Both the old and new versions are circulating.
• Temporary protection and a tourist visit are different things and mixing them causes real problems. Millions of Ukrainians hold temporary protection status in EU states, which carries residence and work rights and its own conditions. Entering Greece as a visa-exempt visitor is not that, and it does not convert into it. If you already hold protection status in another member state, your position is governed by that status rather than by the 90-day visitor rule, and the two should not be reasoned about interchangeably.
• The waiver belongs to the biometric passport, not to the nationality. Ukraine’s visa-free access to the Schengen Area applies to biometric passports only. An older non-biometric Ukrainian passport, however valid, still requires a Schengen visa, and that is a document problem to solve before booking rather than an argument to have at check-in.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

• Athens travel guide
• Do Guatemalan citizens need a visa for Greece?
• Check visa requirements for any passport

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against the official sources below on 26 August 2026.

• Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, Annex II — Ukraine listed visa-exempt for holders of biometric passports; visa-free access to the Schengen Area since 11 June 2017 (eur-lex.europa.eu)
• Visit Ukraine and Danish Immigration Service country-of-origin reporting — men aged 23 to 60 are generally barred from leaving Ukraine under martial law, with defined exemptions; from 28 August 2025 men aged 18 to 22 may cross the border freely carrying a passport and military registration document in paper and electronic form (visitukraine.today, us.dk COI report, March 2026)
• European Commission, Migration and Home Affairs — the Entry/Exit System has been fully operational since 10 April 2026 (home-affairs.ec.europa.eu)

Entry rules change without notice and the official source is always the authority. Confirm with the embassy or immigration portal before you book.