Russia’s new e-visa: First outcomes
On August 1, 2023, Russia started issuing electronic visas. And, by November 20, 2023, more than 120,000 foreigners have obtained one!
Despite this inspiring number, certain aspects of e-visas remain challenging. Apparently, some of the applicants find the application form hard to understand. Moreover, one of the tour agents claimed that 7 out of 11 tourists have their application forms sent back for correction.
What’s so hard about the application form?
We created an exhaustive guide to the application form with screenshots of all the questions the applicant will need to answer. Yet, the form itself is truly not so easy to fill in. It will take time, as it has a lot of questions, some of which might seem strange. For example, you’ll have to answer whether you have ‘special knowledge and skills in the use of weapons, explosives, nuclear, biological or chemical weapons’ and name every country you’ve visited in the last three years. The President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry even estimated that the Russian e-visa form has nearly twice as many questions compared to other countries.
Some of the applicants also claim that they had problems with the photo: “I gave up after submitting 8 different photographs taken over two days. All were denied by the system as either ‘blurry’ (front cam of high end mobile), ‘taken too closely’ (but cropped to right proportion 1:0.77), ‘too lively a background’ (taken in front of white wallpaper), another one shot in front of a white door (glare and shadow) and a scanned ‘biometric’ image from a photo booth!”
Still, 120,000 people have supposedly completed the application successfully. Abide by all the rules of the application and read the requirements carefully!
Why might one be denied an e-visa?
Officially, an e-visa can be denied due to discrepancy in the application form. Also, the decision might be negative due to obvious reasons, such as entry bans, unlawful behavior during previous visits, unpaid fees and penalties in Russia or the applicant’s country being at war or experiencing a pandemic.
According to one of the chairmen of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, 7 applicants out of 11 are denied the visa. Yet, it’s important to note that some of them are denied because of minor mistakes in their application form and, after correction, their application should be approved. The problem with correction is that the application service doesn’t highlight the mistakes and one can only wonder what exactly has to be fixed.
