The Russian government has presented a bill to the State Duma proposing the suspension of certain provisions within international agreements that simplify visa issuance to citizens of the European Union, the Kingdom of Denmark, Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Kingdom of Norway, and the Swiss Confederation. This move is aimed at aligning the visa fee collection system.
The corresponding legislative initiative, identified as bill 453075-8, was placed in the parliament’s legislative activities database on a Friday.
The main objective of this legislation is to synchronize the regime for collecting visa fees for Russian visas with the current norms established by the European Community, the Kingdom of Denmark, Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Kingdom of Norway, and the Swiss Confederation. These countries have unilaterally suspended the application of these international agreements with the Russian Federation regarding visa simplification, opting instead for increased visa fee rates, as explained in the bill.
Consequently, it is proposed to fully suspend the provisions of Articles 6 of each of these agreements (Article 7 in the case of Liechtenstein).
As a result, the cost of Russian visas will increase depending on the urgency and the number of entries, ranging from $50 to $300. It is estimated that the corresponding revenue from visa issuance may increase by 2.8 times.
It is worth noting that this bill takes into account the fact that Russia launched an electronic visa system on August 1, 2023, which is accessible to citizens of European countries. The final cost of obtaining an electronic visa ($52) is similar to the price of a short-term single-entry visa ($50) under Russian legislation.
