Foreigners will be offered an interview to obtain visas to Russia
The Government of the Russian Federation has changed the procedure for issuing visas with a new decree. According to the decree signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on August 15, foreigners applying for a visa to Russia must now be interviewed. Now, in order to make a decision on the issuance of a document, an employee of an authorized state agency will be able to hold a personal conversation with a citizen to verify the authenticity of the data they have declared. The interview will be conducted to clarify the purpose of the trip and the conditions of the applicant’s stay in the country. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the application will make it possible to more effectively identify people who should not enter the country. The main issue of concern to the tour business is whether this change will affect electronic visas, which were put into circulation a year ago. In the resolution that has been amended, first of all we are talking about classic paper visas, which are issued for a long time and are either issued on a separate form or pasted into a passport. The new visa rules of the Russian government will not affect foreign tourists.The corresponding statement was made by Sergey Voitovich, Chairman of the Committee on International Cooperation of the Russian Association of the Travel Industry. Wojtowicz stated that these rules apply only to foreign nationals coming on private, commercial or long-term trips, and do not apply to tourist visa applications.The ministry also stressed that these changes do not affect the rules regarding electronic visas. Electronic visas, which can be issued in a simplified manner by tourists from 55 countries, are formally regulated by another regulatory act. However, lawyers are in no hurry to draw hasty conclusions – perhaps, in case of doubt, interviews will be scheduled when applying for an electronic entry permit.
