The tourist visa-issuing procedures for citizens of the Russian Federation and Ukraine will be facilitated

06 February 2015
министърът на туризма Николина Ангелкова и министърът на външните работи Даниел Митов

The visa-issuing procedures for citizens of the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Georgia will be facilitated. This agreement was reached today by the Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova and the Minister of Internal Affairs Daniel Mitov at a meeting in the Ministry of Tourism.

The decision comes in response to the approaching summer tourist season and reflects the Ministry’s desire to encourage the tourist flow from Russia and Ukraine.  This is one measure to counteract the negative trend of a drop in the number of early bookings for 2015 by tourists from these countries. Data shows that compared to the January-November 2014 period there has been a drop in Russian tourists of 3% and the number of Ukranians has decreased by 8%.

The visa fast-tracking procedures include the issuing of short-term two-time or multiple entry visas with a one-year expiry date for organized tourism for citizens that have used Bulgarian visas before. The visa facilitations are also valid for real-estate owners from the cited countries. Those of them who have not visited our country before can use short-term one-year two-time or multiple entry visas for private visits while those who have been previously in Bulgaria will be issued two-time or multiple visas for three years.

Minors and juvenile citizens of the cited countries are also eligible for a visa fast-tracking procedure. Those who wish to visit the country on tourism or as part of an organized youth camp (education, sports, cultural exchange) will be issued short-term multiple visas for 5 years. The expiry date of these visas will not exceed the legal age for which these citizens are eligible for free visas. Handicapped people can use one-year two-time or multiple entry visas.

The validity of all issued visas will match the validity of all travel documents.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already sent instructions on the visa-issuing facilitation procedures to all our diplomatic missions and consulates.

 

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