The Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov exchanged diplomatic notes during a meeting in Bali on November 19 on the new visa agreement between the U.S. and Russia.
According to the upcoming agreement, tourists and business visitors from both the United States and Russia to be granted multiple entry, longer validity (36 month) travel visas. The agreement has to be approved by the State Duma and the Federation Council before it can come into force.
The agreement clearly shows that the relationship between Russia and USA is getting better, says United States Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle to Interfax. – This is another sign that the “reset” of relations between our two countries is of practical use for ordinary people, he states.
If the agreement is approved, Americans will get a better visa deal with Russia than Norwegians have. Norway has made it far easier for Russians living in the Barents region to get visas to Norway and the Schengen area through introducing the so-called Pomor visa for citizens of the Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Nenets regions. With the Pomor visa ordinary Russians, including children, can get a multiple entry visa with up to five years validity without any invitation from a Norwegian institution. For ordinary Norwegian tourists it is impossible to obtain a multiple entry visa to Russia in a legal manner.
Norwegian tourists to Russia are only granted visas with a maximum of two entries and a maximum duration of 30 days. Multiple entry visas can only be obtained by people who have a business partner in Russia, or a legally and officially approved organization they want to visit, that can give them an invitation that allows them to apply for a multiple entry visa. The first multiple entry visa you get, is valid for one year. Thereafter you can get a two-year and subsequently up to five-year valid visa.
Read also: Norway wants additional visa-liberalization
