Russia’s Far East welcomes citizens of 18 countries

“Receiving an electronic visa will be simple and easily available – visitors will only have to submit an application on a special website four days ahead the planned date of visit and if their request is fulfilled, they can start their travel.”

The electronic visa will take three days to receive and will be valid for 30 days.

Citizens of 18 nations will be able to use the new service: Brunei, India, China, North Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Japan, Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Turkey.

As noted in the ministry’s release,

“People who use the electronic visas can enter Russia through border crossing points in the Vladivostok sea port and in Vladivostok International Airport Knevichi. Starting from January 1, 2018 the total number of such border crossing points will increase to four. Those who enter Russia in these places can also visit the Kamchatka Peninsula and Sakhalin Island.”

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed the decree allowing for the simplified visa regime in April this year. The goal is to boost the tourism sector in Russia’s Far East regions.

According to the deputy minister for the development of the Far East, Pavel Volkov, a minimum of a 30-percent increase in the number of foreign tourists is expected as a result of the new visa rules:

“Given the fact that every wealthy tourist spends at least $1,000 in the territory, we assume this will significantly increase the opportunities for the development of the region, trade turnover and currency flows.”