Finland’s consulate office in Murmansk processed 19,311 visa applications in 2009, just some few less than in 2008 when the office handled 19,361 visa applications.
The Petrozavodsk consulate branch processed more than twice as much as the Murmansk branch; in total 46,027 applications, down from 54,268 applications in 2008.
Both Murmansk and Petrozavodsk are branch offices of Finland’s Consulate General in St. Petersburg. In St. Petersburg the General Consulate received a record high number of visa applications last year; in total 546,520. Finland’s capital Helsinki is a very popular shopping and recreation destinations for the inhabitants of the St. Petersburg area.
Finland’s Embassy in Moscow processed 124,068 visa applications in 2009, down 20,000 compared with the year before.
In total, Finland received 735,926 visa applications in Russia, which is less than one per cent less than in the previous year (742,237), according to the statistics published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.
Yesterday, BarentsObserver reported an increase by 8 percent in the numbers of visa applications processed by the Norwegian General Consulate in Murmansk. 14,639 visas was issued from the Norwegian General Consulate last year.
