The Czech consular offices in Ukraine work with a great number of visa applicants. At present, they register applicants whose visas will be discussed only in March or April 2008.

Our Western "coalegue" - Czech Republic intends to send more than ten new diplomats and administrative officers to its consular offices in Ukraine to improve the system of visa issuing, said Silvia Simkovicova, a representative of Foreign Ministry at a seminar on migration from Ukraine.

Czech deputy Zuzka Rujbrova-Bebarova recently indicted officers of Czech diplomatic offices of corruption in connection with visa issuing. She reported that these are offices in Vietnam, Mongolia and Ukraine. Foreign Ministry representative Zuzana Opletalova reported previously that in Ukraine local people on the street need bribes from visa applicants outside the Czech embassy to allow them to approach it.

Rujbrova-Bebarova proclaimed that she has discussed the problem with many foreigners in the past weeks and they all confirmed that none of them received the Czech visa without a bribe.

She said that with the purpose to solve the situation the ministry allowed visa applicants to agree with embassy employees on an interview by phone.

Simkovicova confirmed that at the Czech consular offices in Kyiv and Lviv a new phone call system will be at last introduced in order people could arrange dates of visa interviews. She added three diplomats will join the consular office in Kyiv, and two diplomats and four clerks will come to Lviv.

According to the Czech foreigner police estimations, over 130 000 of Ukrainians stayed legally in the Czech Republic at the beginning of December, including some 33 000 having permanent residence in the country.

On December 21 2007, the Czech Republic entered the Schengen area and border checks between the old and new EU countries were lifted.

Jiri Celikovsky, from the Interior Ministry, said foreigners with permanent and long-term residence in the Czech Republic are able to travel easily across the European Union.