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.
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.
The Border Commissariat will not be merged with the police as part of a nationwide police reform, while the two existing police districts in Finnmark will be united into one.
Visa regulations will be eased for white-collar workers from the EU, the U.S. and Japan, if a bill elaborated the Federal Migration Service is approved by the State Duma.
Russian citizens can by the end of the year enter Finland at the Vaalimaa border crossing point with the use of automatic control of identity and passports.
20 percent more people crossed the Russian-Norwegian border in the first six months 2010 compared with the same period last year. The main reason is Russians going to Kirkenes for shopping on Saturdays.
