Electronic Visas Are Now Available in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region

Citizens of 53 countries can now visit the Leningrad Region and St. Petersburg by electronic visas. Such an easy wayis available since October 1. Foreigners can also use electronic visaswhen they go to the Far East and Kaliningrad, the tvbrics.com correspondent reports with the reference to TASS.

The list of 53 countries approved by the Russian Government in September includes European countries, India, Indonesia, Iran, Qatar, China, Bahrain, the DPRK, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Turkey, Philippines and Japan. Citizens of Great Britain, Canada and the USA cannot use visas of a new kind. By the way, citizens of the South African Republic and Brazil do not need a visa to visit Russia.

In the long run, the possibility of issuinge-visas for foreigners will be available in all Russian regions. According to plans, this rule will come into force on January 1, 2021. Such option is provided by the federal projects "Digital Public Administration" of the National Program "Digital Economy".

Russia expects an increase in tourist flow afterthe introduction of the new rules.

The electronic visa is valid for 30 days from the moment of its registration; with it a foreign citizen can stay eight days in Russia. And no consular fee will be charged for its issue.