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.
The current situation in Ukraine makes cross-border cooperation with the neighboring countries even more important, Barents Secretariat leader Rune Rafaelsen says. At the same time, Norway has joined NATO’s condemnation of Russia’s military escalation on the Crimea peninsula.
After years of booming border traffic, October saw a slide in people crossing the Russian-Norwegian border. Shopping tourism is less attractive as ruble hits all time low on Friday.
In the summer of 1968 the Soviet Union marched up tanks and soldiers along the border to Norway. On the Norwegian side the military had no idea about what was happening, a new documentary film shows.
Russia and EU agree that a roadmap on the introduction of visa-free travel will be elaborated, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Spanish counterpart said after their meeting in Moscow yesterday.
Do you think it is frustrating to wait in the queue into Russia at one of the border crossing points in the Barents Region? Forget about it. At the Valalimaa border station from southern Finland to Russia, the queue of trucks was 16 kilometers long last Sunday.
3-year-old Daria Dzhambanova became border-crosser No. 150.000 when she with her parents entered Finland from Russia’s Kola Peninsula on their way to visit Santa Claus.
Only 0,7 percent of the population in the Russian border areas to Norway have applied for the ID-card permitting them visa-free border-crossings. Among Norwegians, the interest is much higher.
KIRKENES: Russia’s General Consulate in Kirkenes outsources parts of the visa handling to a private company. Longer opening hours, free consultation and online applications are some of the advantages for the public.
