Electronic visas for visiting Vladivostok to be issued as of Aug. 1

Electronic visas for visiting the free port of Vladivostok will begin to be issued on Aug. 1, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on June 8, TASS reports.

"On March 7, 2017 Federal Law N. 28 was adopted to introduce amendments to Russia’s corresponding legal act establishing the special rules of foreign nationals’ arrival in Russia across the state border in the territory of the free port of Vladivostok," she recalled.

"The system of issuing electronic visas for visiting the free port of Vladivostok is to be commissioned on Aug. 1, 2017."

"Foreign citizens crossing the state border in the port of Vladivostok will be granted single business, tourist and humanitarian visas in the form of electronic documents in accordance with the government’s resolution of April 14, 2017," Zakharova said.

See Russia visa-free: Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg and Vladivostok

"On the list of the countries concerned there are Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei, India, Iran, Qatar, China, North Korea, Kuwait, Mexico, Marocco, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tunisia, Turkey and Japan - 18 all in all," Zakharova said.

The Foreign Ministry will be issuing visas on the basis of an application filled in on the ministry’s website four days before the planned arrival. A color photo is to be attached to the application, Zakharova said.

"No other documents for obtaining an electronic visa will be required. The consular fee will not be charged. The visa will be issued for a period of 30 days. The maximum period of presence in the host territory of Russia is no more than eight days," Zakharova said.