The Russian Foreign Ministry proposed increasing visa fees for Europeans up to $300

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has submitted to the government a bill to increase visa fees and abolish visa benefits for citizens of the European Union countries, Denmark, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland entering the Russian Federation, sources said RBC. They claim that the government approved the document.

The cost of visas will increase from the previously established €35–70 (approximately $37–73) to $50–300, depending on the urgency and frequency. Visa-free entry will no longer apply to a number of categories: close relatives, members of official delegations, officials, schoolchildren, students, graduate students, participants in sporting events, people entering for humanitarian reasons (including for treatment, participation in a funeral and visiting a seriously ill relative) . The benefit for participants in scientific, cultural and creative activities will also be abolished. In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expects an increase in income from issuing visas by 2.8 times.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the explanatory note to the bill notes that European countries will be able to use the electronic visa launched in August. Its cost is $52, which is comparable to the price of a short-term single-entry visa ($50).

The bill is a response to the decision of the EU, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland to suspend international agreements with Russia on mutual simplification of the issuance of visas. Among other things, they switched to using higher visa fee rates. The Foreign Ministry wants to “synchronize the regime for collecting Russian visa fees” with the regime in European countries.

Vice-president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR), Alexander Kurnosov, in a conversation with RBC, suggested that the new measures would affect businessmen or relatives of Russian citizens. According to him, “a significant part of the so-called German and American tourists are our former fellow citizens,” and there is practically no classical tourism from the EU to the Russian Federation, there are only “individuals who get to Russia through third countries.”

What difficulties do Russian tourists face when submitting documents to the consulates of EU countries – in the material of Kommersant FM “Visas are delaying deadlines”.

Leonid Uvarchev