Considers outsourcing of visa service
Norway’s Consulate General in Murmansk plans to enter agreement with an external company for receiving of the visa applications and handing out issued visas.
More and more people in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk regions apply for visa to Norway, Sweden and Finland.
In February, Finland opened the world’s largest visa-centre in St. Petersburg. The centre is operated by a private Indian company that receives applications and delivers out visas on behalf of the Finnish Consulate General in the city. Now, Norway wants to do the same in Murmansk.
Read also: Finland might open visa centre in Komi - Look to Finland - Finland welcomes more Russians
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently issued guidelines on how to make such outsourcing of visa-handling possible.
- Here in Murmansk we are looking into possible outsourcing in cooperation with Finland, says Norway’s General Consul Jon Fredriksen to BarentsObserver.
BarentsObserver has previously reported that Norway and Finland will locate their General Consulates together.
- How the visa handling will be and what specific procedures will be is something we will have to come back to, says Jon Fredriksen.
The General Consul also informs that today’s visa-section will continue to stay closed for one week day in addition to weekends. The closed day is changing from Fridays to Thursdays from mid-May.
22 percent more visa-applications were handled by the Norwegian General Consulate in Murmansk during the first four months of 2011 compared with the same period last year. Norway also issues Schengen-visas on behalf of Sweden in Murmansk.
Read also: The Russians are coming!
- We recommend people to make online visa-applications. That is easier, you can get a fix time for delivering documents and by that don’t have to wait in queue. Also, with online applications, the handling time is three days instead of normally five working days, says Jon Fredriksen.
