Three days processing of visa-applications is history. “Always apply at least 15 days prior to scheduled departure. Our processing time is 10 days,” says Marit Egholm Jacobsen, head of the visa section at Norway’s Consulate General in Murmansk.
Italy is ready to bring the question of visa-free travel between the EU and Russia up for a vote in the Union, the country’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said today. With the new Lisabon Treaty in place, that vote could result in visa free travelling already in 2010.
Without solving the visa issue, it will not be possible to build an extensive and long-term partnership between Russia and the EU, President Dmitry Medvedev told German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
October was a busy month at the borders from the Kola Peninsula to Lapland and Finnmark. Finland issued 69 percent more visas in Murmansk compared with same period last year.
No cold international climate stops Norway and Russia to invest heavily in cross-border road infrastructure. Excavators and dump trucks work day and night upgrading Russia’s highway to NATO.
In last week’s session in the State Border Commission, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered less red tape and more efficiency on the country’s state borders. He also appointed his close ally Sergey Ivanov new deputy head of the commission.
