Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Maura Harty will visit Ukraine on May 13, the final stop on a five-day, five-country trip. The U.S. Government’s top consular official will inaugurate expanded U.S. immigrant visa processing in Ukraine, officially open the U.S. Embassy’s newly renovated consular building, and meet with officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Assistant Secretary Harty will launch expanded immigrant visa processing in Ukraine. Previously, Ukrainian immigrant visa applicants had to travel to the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw to complete the immigrant visa process. Processing U.S. immigrant visas in Kyiv saves significant time and resources for Ukrainian citizens who no longer have to travel to Poland. The vast majority of immigrant visas for Ukrainians are issued on the basis of existing family ties to the United States. Applications for the Diversity Visa program (“visa lottery”) will continue to be processed in Warsaw; refugee applications will continue to be processed in Moscow.

To accommodate these new services, the U.S. Embassy recently expanded and renovated its facilities. Assistant Secretary Harty will officially open the renovated U.S. Embassy’s Consular building. The refurbished structure will greatly improve consular services to U.S. citizens and the Ukrainian public, nearly doubling the amount of space dedicated to visa processing. In addition, the renovations make the building more accessible to disabled persons and more comfortable for customers.

Finally, Assistant Secretary Harty will meet with officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss consular matters and explore ways to strengthen ties between the United States and Ukraine. They will discuss ways to facilitate legitimate travel between the U.S. and Ukraine.

The media is invited to cover the inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Consular Section, 6 Mykoly Pymonenka Street, on Friday, May 13, 2005, at 8:30 a.m. Please contact the Information Office of the U.S. Embassy at 490-4090 or 490-4129 by noon on Thursday, May 12, to register for this event.