Citizens of 11 new countries will soon be able to travel to Russia with an e-Visa, the validity of which could soon be extended.
The Kremlin announced this weekend an expansion of the list of countries whose citizens can apply for an electronic visa (e-Visa) to enter Russia.
Order No. 3583-r, signed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on December 5, indicates that citizens of the following 11 countries will soon be able to take advantage of the simplified electronic visa system to travel to Russia:
- Barbados, Bhutan, Eswatini, Jordan, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan and Zimbabwe.
At the same time, Andorra and Serbia were removed from the list of countries eligible for e-Visa following the signing of bilateral agreements between these two countries and Russia establishing a visa-free travel regime for their citizens.
With this update, the total list of countries qualified for issuing the Russian e-visa now reaches 64 states.
64 countries eligible for the Russian e-Visa
The e-Visa, relaunched on August 1, 2023, was designed to simplify entry procedures into Russia. The main characteristics of this system are as follows:
- Multiple uses: the e-Visa is valid for tourist, commercial, humanitarian and private visits.
- Simplified procedures: no document, such as an invitation letter or a hotel reservation (voucher), is required to apply for an e-Visa.
- Fast process: e-Visa issuance takes less than five days.
- Accessibility for children: visas for children under 6 years old are free.
Applications for electronic visas must be made via the official portal of the Russian Foreign Ministry: evisa.kdmid.ru.
Here is the list of countries and territories whose nationals can apply for an electronic visa to enter Russia:
- Austria, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bhutan, Cambodia, China (including Taiwan), Cyprus, North Korea, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Eswatini, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Myanmar, Norway, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, Saint Lucia, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia , Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Vatican, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
The e-Visa could soon allow you to stay up to 30 days in Russia
While it is currently valid for 60 days, upon approval, and allows a maximum stay of 16 days, the electronic visa could soon see its validity increased.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently submitted for public discussion a draft law containing amendments to the current law 114-FZ “on the procedure for leaving the Russian Federation and entering the Russian Federation”.
According to the document, the Russian government is considering two important changes regarding the electronic visa for Russia:
- it is proposed to increase the validity of the e-Visa from 60 to 120 days;
- the length of stay authorized under this visa could increase from 16 to 30 days.
The bill stipulates that a change in the number of entries is not on the agenda and that the e-Visa should, for the moment, remain single entry.
“The introduction of the mentioned changes seems timely in view of the results of the analysis of the annual monitoring of the e-Visa system (which has been operating since August 1, 2023), which shows its success and growing demand. Between August 1, 2023 and July 31, 2024, 541,000 e-visas were issued to citizens of 55 eligible foreign countries, representing 70% of the number of visas in all other categories issued during the same period to citizens of all countries foreigners combined (771,000) »explain the Russian authorities.
According to them, “this bill will help increase the number of foreign citizens entering [notre] countries for tourism, trade, humanitarian and visiting purposes, while maintaining the appropriate level of migration control and requirements aimed at ensuring the national security of the Russian Federation”.
