Pomor-visas make half of applications
Pomor-visas gives people in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk the possibility to travel to Norway without a prior invitation.
Norway started to issue Pomor-visas last autumn and the number of applicants from Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Oblasts that are applying for such multi-entry visas to Norway are increasing month by month.
Normally, Russians that are traveling to Norway need a prior invitation from a person or organization in Norway before applying visa. However, the new visa-regulations make special exception from the general rule for inhabitants of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk.
- 56 percent of all applications for visas in September handled by the Norwegian General Consulate in Murmansk were Pomor-visas, says head of the visa-section at the consulate, Lars Georg Fordal to BarentsObserver.
So far in 2010, 41 percent of the applications for visas to Norway are Pomor-visa.
Fordal says that more and more of the people traveling to Norway get Pomor-visas valid for two or even three years.
Russia on the other hand, does not have similar simplified visa-facilitation system like the Norwegian Pomor-visa system designed for people in the Barents Region. All Norwegians that intend to obtain a visa to Russia need to have a pre-approved invitation before entering the Russian Consulate General in Kirkenes or Oslo.
Read also: More visas to Norway issued in Northern Russia
The Russian visa-regulation system hampers the possibilities for private persons in the Norwegian part of the Barents Region to travel frequently to neighboring Murmansk and Arkhangelsk on private visits.
Asked by BarentsObserver why Russia has not introduced a similar Pomor-visa system for Norwegians, Consul General Igor Bulay at the Counsulate General in Kirkenes says “Why just don’t drop the entire visa-system?”
Read also: All time high
