MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. On August 1, 2023, at 10 a.m. Moscow time, electronic visas will begin to be issued to foreign nationals entering Russia. TASS FACTBOX editors have produced a summary of what is known at this point about the new Russian electronic visas and their foreign counterparts.
General information, world practice
Electronic visas differ from ordinary visas in that they can be issued via the Internet without visiting consular offices personally. This greatly eases the procedure for incoming vacationers and business people. Also, such a system reduces pressure on consular office staff.
One of the first countries to issue electronic visas was Australia, which in 1996 launched the Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) system. However, electronic visas were most actively introduced in the early 2010s. Currently, they can be used to travel to more than 50 countries. For Russian citizens, electronic visas can be obtained to take trips to Singapore (transit through that country is visa-free), Egypt, Sri Lanka, Mexico, India, Indonesia, Bahrain and a number of other countries.
Electronic visas are practically non-existent in European countries and in South America.
In Russia
Plans to introduce electronic visas for foreigners entering Russia were for the first time mentioned at the official level in July 2015.
On September 3, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that there were plans to introduce electronic visas for those entering the territory of the Free Port of Vladivostok. He signed the relevant law on March 7, 2017.
Initially, citizens of 18 countries, including India, Iran, China (including Taiwan), the DPRK, Japan, Mexico, Tunisia, Turkey, and the UAE, could obtain an electronic visa to the Free Port of Vladivostok. As of January 2020, this list was expanded to 53 countries. Foreigners visiting Russia’s Far East for tourism, business and humanitarian purposes can use the e-visa.
The issuance of e-visas began on August 8, 2017.
The visa to the Free Port of Vladivostok was used as a template for an e-visa to the Kaliningrad Region, introduced in 2019. From July 1, 2019 it was available to citizens of 53 states: 27 EU countries (except the UK), Andorra, Bahrain, China (including Taiwan), India, Indonesia, Iran, Iceland, Japan, the DPRK, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Mexico, Monaco, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey and Vatican City.
On October 1, 2019, the issuance of e-visas to St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region began to citizens of 53 states.
In all, by March 2020, about 350,000 e-visas were issued to the Free Port of Vladivostok, the Kaliningrad and Leningrad regions and St. Petersburg.
It was planned that in 2020 the e-visa experiment would be extended to Karelia, Altai and the Krasnodar Region. However, in March 2020, due to the spread of COVID-19, the Russian government was forced to impose restrictions on the entry of foreign citizens into Russia and suspend the issuance of e-visas.
Electronic visa for the whole of Russia
In June 2019, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the head of Rostourism Zarina Doguzova announced that starting from 2021 the electronic visa will be valid for the whole of Russia.
On July 31, 2020, President Putin signed a law on a universal electronic single-entry visa for visitors to Russia. A list of states whose citizens could receive such visas and a list of checkpoints - 29, including major airports - was also drawn up.
It was decided to issue the electronic visa for tourist, business, humanitarian and guest trips. Its validity period was increased to 16 days. At the same time, in contrast to the pilot projects, it was decided to provide the universal electronic visa at cost (initially the consular fee was to be set at $40).
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the universal electronic visa failed to be launched within the agreed time frame (the law was to come into force on January 1, 2021).
The e-visa issue was back on the agenda in 2022. It was decided to keep the list of states whose citizens would be able to receive electronic visas unchanged, not to exclude unfriendly countries and to add Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar in the near future.
Starting from August 1, 2023, the electronic visa will be available to citizens from 52 states.
At the same time, the list of checkpoints approved by the government was expanded to 100 from 2021-2023. In particular, road crossings at Verkhny Lars on the border with Georgia, and Wartsila on the border with Finland, the airports of Sochi, Omsk, Kaluga, Mineralnye Vody, and the seaport of Sochi, etc. have been added to the list.
It will be possible to apply for the e-visa on a special website of the Russian Foreign Ministry (electronic-visa.kdmid.ru). To apply for an electronic visa, one will need a passport, medical insurance, a passport photo and a full-face photo. Invitations, hotel reservation data or other documents confirming the purpose of the trip are not required.
As the Ministry of Economic Development has said, the period of visa processing will be up to six calendar days from the date of application. The director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s consular department, Alexey Klimov, has said that the cost of entry permits for foreigners will not exceed $52.