Visas get an overhaul
Traveling to Russia for three days will no longer entail hours of lining up for a visa at the Russian Embassy.
Jan 28, 2002
Traveling to Russia for three days will no longer entail hours of lining up for a visa at the Russian Embassy.
Starting on Feb. 1, a 72-hour fast-track visa can be obtained for $35 at various entry points to Russia, including Moscow's Sheremetyevo-2, St. Petersburg's Pulkovo-2, the Bagrationovsk and Mamontovo border crossings in Kaliningrad Oblast and Brusnichnoye and Torfyanovka in Leningrad Oblast, the Russian Association for Tourist Agencies (RATA) said on Jan. 22.
The new rule applies to nationals of the Shengen agreement nations, the U.K., Switzerland and Japan who are traveling to Moscow, St. Petersburg or Kaliningrad. To apply for a fast-track visa, a prospective tourist must inform one of the partner agencies in their home country and book a hotel, Mikhail Danilin, deputy manager of Intourist's visa department, said Tuesday.
The next step is submitting the application to one of the 29 Russian agencies selected to process them. Among the authorized agencies are 12 firms from St. Petersburg, nine from Kaliningrad and eight from Moscow, including Intourist, Intelservice Center, Academservice DMS, Intercity service, Niko Tur, Continent Express, Aerotur and Mir Aeroflota.
To be selected for processing visa applications, the agencies had to boast a well-known brand name, an annual turnover of at least 1,000 tourists and a minimum of three years on the market, Intourist's Danilin said. They must also be in good standing with the Foreign, Interior and Federation Ministries and the Federal Security and Border Services, according to RATA.
Sheremetyevo Airport's consulate service, which has been charged with issuing visas, declined to comment on the new procedure.
The Interior Ministry has launched the one-year experiment with fast-track visas to increase the number of tourists visiting Russia.
"If there is an influx of non-tourists [coming on this visa], we will conclude that the experiment didn't work," said RATA's Irina Turina.
More than 2.5 million tourists visited Russia in 2000. RATA estimates that number grew by 10 percent last year.
Starting on Feb. 1, a 72-hour fast-track visa can be obtained for $35 at various entry points to Russia, including Moscow's Sheremetyevo-2, St. Petersburg's Pulkovo-2, the Bagrationovsk and Mamontovo border crossings in Kaliningrad Oblast and Brusnichnoye and Torfyanovka in Leningrad Oblast, the Russian Association for Tourist Agencies (RATA) said on Jan. 22.
The new rule applies to nationals of the Shengen agreement nations, the U.K., Switzerland and Japan who are traveling to Moscow, St. Petersburg or Kaliningrad. To apply for a fast-track visa, a prospective tourist must inform one of the partner agencies in their home country and book a hotel, Mikhail Danilin, deputy manager of Intourist's visa department, said Tuesday.
The next step is submitting the application to one of the 29 Russian agencies selected to process them. Among the authorized agencies are 12 firms from St. Petersburg, nine from Kaliningrad and eight from Moscow, including Intourist, Intelservice Center, Academservice DMS, Intercity service, Niko Tur, Continent Express, Aerotur and Mir Aeroflota.
To be selected for processing visa applications, the agencies had to boast a well-known brand name, an annual turnover of at least 1,000 tourists and a minimum of three years on the market, Intourist's Danilin said. They must also be in good standing with the Foreign, Interior and Federation Ministries and the Federal Security and Border Services, according to RATA.
Sheremetyevo Airport's consulate service, which has been charged with issuing visas, declined to comment on the new procedure.
The Interior Ministry has launched the one-year experiment with fast-track visas to increase the number of tourists visiting Russia.
"If there is an influx of non-tourists [coming on this visa], we will conclude that the experiment didn't work," said RATA's Irina Turina.
More than 2.5 million tourists visited Russia in 2000. RATA estimates that number grew by 10 percent last year.