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.
Visa applicants from remote areas in northern Norway can still send passport and papers by mail and have them delivered to the visa centre by some locals.
Voluntary border patrols of local civilians give invaluable help to the regular border forces along the Russian-Norwegian border, a regional border guard commander says. In the course of the last 10 months, these patrols have contributed to the detention of more than 70 violators of the border regime.
Visiting Finland this week, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev expressed confidence that no lame excuses can be made in relation to the introduction of visa-free travel between EU and Russia. Finland will continue to do everything to support visa-free regime and Norway shares the vision of visa-freedom with Russia.
Talks on the introduction of a visa-free regime was not on the table, but representatives of the EU and Russia in a recent meeting instead agreed that there is a need for facilitation of short-term visas.
Number of visas to Finland increased with 71 percent the two first months of the year. The traffic boom at the border stations between Kola and Lapland is up 40 percent.
Never before have so many people crossed the Norwegian, Russian border in the north. The newly introduced visa-freedom for the inhabitants in the border area counts for part of the increase.
CHISINAU. Finnish and Norwegian experiences from border management and cross-border cooperation could serve as best practices for other European border regions, the participants of this year’s European CBC Forum concluded.
STORSKOG: Queues are getting longer as traffic between Russia and Norway is now twice the capacity at the old border check-point. Chief of Police in Eastern Finnmark, Ellen Kathrine Hætta, urges funding to new facilities.
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.
