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Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a federal law on the dissemination of a simplified procedure for the entry of foreign citizens by electronic visas to technically equipped airports in the Russian Far East.

The full name of the law: “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in the Area of Dissemination of the Simplified Procedure of Entry of Foreign Citizens by Electronic Visas in the Territories of Air Checkpoints through the State Border of the Russian Federation Located within the Far Eastern Federal District.”

The law, by analogy with already established preferences when entering the Russian Federation with respect to the free port of Vladivostok and the Special Economic zone in the Kaliningrad region, establishes the possibility of entry into the Russian Federation of foreign citizens on the basis of ordinary single business, tourist and humanitarian visas in the form of electronic document (electronic visas) also through air checkpoints across the state border of the Russian Federation, located on the Territory of the Far Eastern Federal District and determined by the Government of the Russian Federation. For this purpose, this federal law amends the federal laws “On the Procedure of Departure from the Russian Federation and Entry into the Russian Federation”, “On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation” and “On Amendments to Separate Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on the Issues of Social and Economic Development of the Kaliningrad Region”.

The electronic visa mechanism started working last year. Since August 2017, electronic visas started to be issued at two Freeport checkpoints: the Vladivostok (Knevichi) air checkpoint and the Vladivostok maritime checkpoint. Since January 1, 2018, electronic visa issuance systems have been launched at 9 other Freeport checkpoints: at “Pogranichny”, “Khasan”, and “Makhalino” railway checkpoints, at the highway checkpoints “Poltavka”, “Turiy Rog”, and at the maritime checkpoints "Zarubino", “Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky”, “Korsakov”, and “Posyet”.

Since August last year, when the system of issuing electronic visas for foreign citizens visiting the Russian Far East were issued more than 25.3 thousand electronic visas. Sixteen thousand five hundred and forty-six foreign citizens from 14 countries took advantage of the simplified visa regime in the Far East. Every week more than 1.5 thousand people used the simplified visa regime. Most often, citizens of the People’s Republic of China (12.4 thousand people) and Japan (3.9 thousand people) used E-visa. 131 Singaporean, 41 Indian, 24 DPRK citizens, 19 Saudi Arabians, 11 Mexican nationals, 9 Bahrainis, 7 Turks, 4 Iranians, 3 persons from UAE, and 2 persons from Kuwait and Morocco each also used this mechanism.

At present, there are nine air checkpoints on the territory of the Far East Federal District: Anadyr (Ugolny), Blagoveshchensk, Vladivostok (Knevichi), Magadan (Sokol), Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (Elizovo), Provideniya Bay, Khabarovsk (Novy), Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Khomutovo), and Yakutsk. In addition to Vladivostok Airport (Knevichi), which has already uses the e-visa regime, technically equipped for simplified entry by electronic visas are air checkpoints Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (Yelizovo), Blagoveshchensk, Khabarovsk (Nove), Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Khomutovo), and Anadyr (Ugolny). As far as the Far Eastern air checkpoints will receive needed equipment, the simplified entry procedure for electronic visas will be extended to the remaining air checkpoints in the Far East (Magadan and Yakutsk).

The federal law was adopted by the State Duma on July 3, 2018 and approved by the Council of the Federation on July 13, 2018.

By Eugenia Vasilyeva
e.vasileva@minvr.ru