Russian govt approves list of countries whose citizens to enjoy facilitated entry through free port of Vladivostok
MOSCOW. April 17 (Interfax) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a government decree permitting citizens of 18 countries to obtain electronic visas to enter Russia through checkpoints at the free port of Vladivostok using a facilitated procedure.
The Cabinet's Decree N692-r dated April 14 was posted on the official legal information portal on Monday.
According to the document, the following countries were included in the list: Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, China, India, Iran, Japan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Morocco, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tunisia, and Turkey.
In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law permitting the use of facilitated procedures to issue electronic visas to foreign citizens for entry into Russia through the free port of Vladivostok.
Under the law, foreigners can come to any of the five Far Eastern regions where free port regulations are in place: the Primorye and Khabarovsk Territories, the Sakhalin region, Chukotka and Kamchatka.
To obtain a visa, foreign citizens will need to use a special website of the Russian Foreign Ministry and fill out a form. If the response is positive, the visa will be stamped right on the Russian border. Requests are considered over a period of four days.
Visas will be valid for 30 days from the moment of their issuance and the allowed period of stay in Russia will be up to eight days. Visas will be issued without a consular fee.
The free port Vladivostok is a port area that enjoys special customs, tax, investment and related regulation. Vladimir Putin on July 4 signed a law under which the free port regulations also apply to the Khabarovsk territory (the Vanino Municipal District), the Sakhalin region (the Korsakov City District), the Kamchatka territory (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky), and the Chukotka autonomous district (Pevek).