US and Russia Agree on Streamlining Visa Issuanse for Both Countries
Posted on Jul 14, 2011 1:32pm PDT
On July 13, 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today announced an agreement on the issuance of nonimmigrant business, tourist, private and humanitarian visas to the Russian Federation, and for business and tourist visas to the United States, as well as short-term official travel visas to both counties. The maximum validity period for business visitors visas has been raised from 24 months to 36 months. The agreement also addressed streamlining the visa issuance process by requiring less documentation necessary for visa application.
The meaning of this step is positively promising and it is clearly mutually beneficial. It was undoubtedly difficult for Russian nationals to obtain a US visitor's visa as well as it was difficult for a US naturalized citizen from former USSR to obtain a Russian visa. Let's hope that the implementation of the agreement will take place promptly; it will be interesting to follow the developments of it.