MOSCOW, July 28./TASS/. A unified electronic visa in Russia will be launched at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time on August 1, the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department wrote on its Telegram channel.
"The launch of the unified e-visa will take place on August 1, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time," the department said.
The visas can be obtained on the website electronic-visa.kdmid.ru, it added.
On July 19, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova asked Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with the government to support the launch of electronic visas in the country from August 1. The president backed the proposal.
According to the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, visa processing work will take up to six calendar days from the date of application. The director of the Consular Department, Alexey Klimov, said that the cost of entry permits for foreign nationals would not exceed $52.
In 2020, Russia adopted a law on issuing e-visas to citizens of 52 countries online starting in 2021. Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar were recently suggested to be added to this list. However, the law did not go into effect due to the pandemic. Last fall, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the foreign and interior ministries, and the Federal Security Service to look at resuming issuing e-visas to nationals of those countries which are not on its list of unfriendly countries.