It appears you have not registered with our community. To register please click here ...

!!

Welcome to Russian Women Discussion - the most informative site for all things related to serious long-term relationships and marriage to a partner from the Former Soviet Union countries!

Please register (it's free!) to gain full access to the many features and benefits of the site. Welcome!

+-

Author Topic: New Russian visa for relatives  (Read 3154 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline wiz

  • Alt Forum
  • *****
  • Posts: 1012
  • Country: gr
  • Gender: Male
  • Born in Greece living in England
  • Spouse's Country: Russia
  • Status: Married 5-10 years
  • Trips: > 10
New Russian visa for relatives
« on: March 08, 2010, 01:47:49 PM »
New Russian visa for relatives

The Federation Council of upper house of Russian parliament on 2nd March 2010 endorses the bill facilitating the reception of Russian visas for foreigners with close relatives who are citizens of the Russian Federation. The document defines parents and spouses as close relatives.
 
Under the bill, heads of diplomatic missions and consulates of the Russian Federation are given the right to issue entry visas to a foreign citizen or a stateless person if his of her relative, a citizen of the Russian Federation, makes a corresponding written request.
 
As I understand things, the theory is the relative just need to write a letter of invitation (without having to register it at OVIR or police), and this letter will be sufficient for you to get a private visa (valid up to 3 months, single or double entry).
 
We have to wait to find out on the practicalities of this from the various Russian consulates, such as how long will it take to process, costs, actual documents required, what about grandparent inviting gradchildren, do the inviting Russian national need to be living in Russia and so on!
 
The law has to be signed by the president before it comes into force but that may happen before the summer.

Its certainly a good move in the right direction, and now the dependancy is on other countries to reciprocate.... but the UK will of course do nothing, as usual. :(

Offline UTRO

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 893
  • Country: ca
  • Gender: Male
  • Spouse's Country: Russia
  • Status: No Selection
  • Trips: > 10
Re: New Russian visa for relatives
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2010, 01:50:35 PM »
Very cool Wiz and just in time for me! Let us hope this Bill comes to fruition!!  :clapping:



Offline wiz

  • Alt Forum
  • *****
  • Posts: 1012
  • Country: gr
  • Gender: Male
  • Born in Greece living in England
  • Spouse's Country: Russia
  • Status: Married 5-10 years
  • Trips: > 10
Re: New Russian visa for relatives
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2010, 12:09:18 AM »
My Letter to the President and also the Prime Minister
of The Russian Federation




I hope they will agree to look favourably my request!   ;)


On the 14 of January 2010, I wrote a letter to the President of The Russian Federation D. Medvedev and copied over to the Russian Prime Minister, V. Putin, highlighting to them a problem that my self and other people in a similar position have to face and asked for their help to eliminate te problem we are facing each time we have to travel to Russia and also improve our family life!

Do I expect anything to come out of it?

Not really but it's my view that if you don't ask you will never get anything. I am waiting to see if I ever going to get an answer or my letters will be thrown to the dusbin.

We will see soon!    ;D



President of the Russian Federation[/color] ...........................................................14 January 2010
Ilinka Str, No 23
103132,
Moscow,
Russia.



Your Excellency

Happy New Year to you, your family and to all people in the Russian Federation.

I am writing to bring to your attention a small problem that affects my family and of course a few other families and I hope you will consider our plight and will offer your help in trying to resolve our problem.

I am a Greek citizen, living in the UK and I am married to a lady who is Russian National.

After our wedding in Russia, my wife applied under the European Directive 2004/38/EU and was granted a visa, FREE of any charges, by the British Consulate and came to join me in the UK. As a Greek citizen, I exercised my right under the same EU Directive for free movement in the European Economic Area and my wife was granted a Resident Card which gave her the right, not only to reside in the UK with entitlement to work freely but also to FREE National Health Care and  other state benefits. Additionally her Resident Card allows her to travel to any European country that is a member of the European community without the need for a Schegen or any other type of Visa.

The Russian Federation in co-operation with the European community have streamlined and simplified the Visa requirements in 2007 for travel between our respective countries and reduced the financial cost but still that doesn’t not resolve the problem that my wife and I we have to face when we need to travel together to Russia.

My wife and I have a family, her 70 years old mother, who lives in Russia and obviously we support her financially to make her life comfortable. Unfortunately due to our current work situation we can’t visit her often but we try to do it as often as we can.

The problem we are faced is that I (personally) can not travel at a moments notice in an emergency situation, regarding her old mother, and support my wife with my presence there because I am required to have a visa to travel to Russian Federation. I am sure you do realise that how ever fast can be the service provided by the staff at the Russian Consulate in London and as we live outside and away from London, I still need a few days before I receive my visa.

Under the circumstances, I would like to ask for your help to resolve this problem. I am sure with a good will on the part of your Government a solution can be found and the Russian Federation could facilitate and offer to me the same benefit and freedom of movement when I need to make a family visit Russia, especially in an emergency situation without the need of a Visa. By doing so you will be reciprocating the same Conditions afforded and as provided by the EU to my wife, a Russian National.

Having followed in the press the efforts of your Government to normalise relations with the European Community to reach to an agreement for Free travel between our respective parties, it is my view that the Russian Government by offering a solution to my problem, which affects also a small number of other people too, in the EU countries, it would be another opportunity for your Government to demonstrate to the EU its willingness and efforts for a fair solution to the current stumbling block, which stops Russian citizens travelling freely to the EU countries.

Thank you for your time and I hope my request will receive your attention and consideration.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Your sincerely

« Last Edit: March 12, 2010, 12:35:20 AM by wiz »

Offline wiz

  • Alt Forum
  • *****
  • Posts: 1012
  • Country: gr
  • Gender: Male
  • Born in Greece living in England
  • Spouse's Country: Russia
  • Status: Married 5-10 years
  • Trips: > 10
Re: New Russian visa for relatives
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2010, 01:09:57 AM »
LATEST NEWS

On Moday, 8 March at 5.30, I received a call from the Russian Embassy in London, in connection with my letter to the Russian President, that surprised me, which advised me that my partner, a Russian National, can write a simple letter of invitation for me and then I can apply for a visa (valid up to 3 months, single or double entry) via the Visa Centre in London but not directly to the consulate.

I asked him about costs and was told the same costs apply as now, ie The Europeans will pay 35 Euro plus the VC fees and I can have the visa in 24 hours.

Unfortunately the person talking to me was not aware of any more details and we have to wait till the President sign the new Law.

I was surprised to even receive a telephone call from the Russian Consulate but the fact remains No solution was given to my problem and the changes they made to the law on the 2 March is nothing special, just eliminates our need to request an Invitation, which I always got it in less than 2 hours via email at the cost of $20, so no big deal there.

My view is that the Russians are always inflexible in making changes to the old systems to modernise their procedures and in my case they lost a good opportunity to pull the carpet under the European's feet on the forthcoming meeting with the EU in Rostov na danu on the 31 May!

My letter arrived in Moscow very early and with a small amendment to the new law they could exempt me from the Visa requirement for 5 years, same as my wife has now, arrange via the Consulate to issue the visa without any publicity for now and then on the 31 May talks stunt the Europeans with my example and accuse them for inflexibility, where they could show that they do everything on their part to abolish the Visa regime!

But then I have never noticed them to be astute in the Propaganda war abroad!

Before anybody jumps in and dispute my view, may I remind you what they did in the war with Georgia? They let Shakavilly to run rings around their neck and instead of taking with them Western reporters from day one, when they moved in to South Ossetia, they waited 8 days to do it... by then they had lost the propaganda war and was too late to change public opinion in the west!

Never mind one day they may learn that there are many ways to skin a cat!


Interesting article from Russia Today TV


Prospects for Russia-EU visa-free dialogue

We note the Russian media’s increased interest in the theme of a visa-free dialogue between Russia and the EU. In this regard, we would like to highlight the following points.

We started discussion with the European Union on the possibility of abolishing the visa regime way back at the Russia-EU summit in St. Petersburg in 2003. In 2007-2009 our Ministry held a series of extensive consultations within the framework of the visa-free dialogue, during which we discussed all EU concerns. Based on their results, we can safely say that no objective obstacles exist for visa abolition. Reasons of a political rather than a technical nature stand in the way of a visa-free regime.

Russia has repeatedly stated, including at the highest level, its preparedness to shift to visa-free travel, figuratively speaking, “even tomorrow,” and confirmed it with concrete examples: on May 21, 2008 fans from a number of European Union member countries were able to enter Russia for the final UEFA Champions League match without visas, and tourist groups arriving in Russia by ferry can stay on the territory of Russia without a visa for 72 hours.

However, our EU colleagues have shied away from specific agreements in this regard. It is regrettable that, having coped 20 years ago with the Berlin Wall, Europe – not our fault – still cannot part with such a rudiment of the past as the visa regime. Incidentally, this is an obvious non-fulfillment by our EU partners of their commitments under the Helsinki Final Act of the CSCE (OSCE) on freedom of movement, as well as the CSCE (OSCE) Vienna Document of 1989, which speaks of “the reciprocal abolition of entry visas” by participating states of the CSCE (OSCE).

Separately, I would like to draw your attention to a recently published remark of a “diplomatic source in Brussels” that without 27 readmission agreements between Russia and the EU member states, “visas can’t be abolished.” We emphasize that the May 25, 2006, EU-Russia Agreement on Readmission is being successfully carried out in respect to nationals of the states of the high contracting parties, and from June 1, 2010, will also be applied to third-country citizens. Thus, this question can be no obstacle.

We welcome the disposition of the current Spanish EU Presidency to move, finally, from words to deeds. In particular, we are talking about ensuring that the upcoming EU-Russia summit in Rostov-on-Don (May 31–June 1 of this year) agrees on a possible timetable for the abolition of the visa regime. Of course, it is unlikely that this will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but fixing such a period will be a driving factor for both us and Brussels to gradually move toward the ultimate goal.

Offline rambler

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 121
  • Country: fr
  • Gender: Male
  • Spouse's Country: Russia
  • Status: Married 3-5 years
  • Trips: 4 - 10
Re: New Russian visa for relatives
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2010, 05:04:37 PM »
Have you checked if you are glowing in the dark yet?   :D
Woman: "How do you write women so well?" Melvin: "I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability." Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets, 1997.

Offline wiz

  • Alt Forum
  • *****
  • Posts: 1012
  • Country: gr
  • Gender: Male
  • Born in Greece living in England
  • Spouse's Country: Russia
  • Status: Married 5-10 years
  • Trips: > 10
Re: New Russian visa for relatives
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2010, 10:52:17 PM »
Have you checked if you are glowing in the dark yet?   :D

No but I checked and found what I did to the French Government to change their policy regarding Free Movement!

For your information they changed their policy and started implementing the Directive 10 days after I made the petition and advised me by letter........ Visited Nice, Marseille and Toulouze with no need to have a VISA!  :D :D :D


Offline wiz

  • Alt Forum
  • *****
  • Posts: 1012
  • Country: gr
  • Gender: Male
  • Born in Greece living in England
  • Spouse's Country: Russia
  • Status: Married 5-10 years
  • Trips: > 10
Re: New Russian visa for relatives
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2010, 02:08:32 PM »
From the Visa Centre website in LONDON.

Important update:

In view of the changes to the Federal Law "On the procedure of entering and leaving the Russia Federation" on 15th August 1996 № 114-FL effective from 12th March 2010:

1.     Applications will be accepted from citizens of the Russia Federation lawfully staying in UK, to issue visas for members of their families who are foreign nationals (spouses, children under the age of 18, incapacitated children of any age) to enable them to enter the territory of the Russian Federation accompanied by the citizen of the Russia Federation, who signed the visa request form.

2.     The applications can only be submitted for the issuance of a single entry/double entry private visa effective for up to 3 months with the purpose of visit indicated as "private". The minimum time for processing such applications is 5 working days.

3.     Requirements (passport, visa application form, photograph and other supporting documentation must be also provided- please see General Requirements section of this website. The below can only replace a private letter of invitation, issued by a Russian Federal Migration Service agency):

 1.)     Citizen of the Russia Federation must be present in person at the time of application submission to sign the visa request form (this must be signed with presence of the Visa Centre officer). Hence, no postal application can be accepted. Presence of their family members is not required.

2.)     Documents confirming the kinship with a citizen of the Russian Federation should be provided. Only originals or legalized photocopies of marriage certificate (for spouses), birth/adoption certificate (for children), birth/adoption certificate and the medical certificate confirming incapacity (for incapacitated children of any age) must be provided together with copies of the valid passport and proof of the lawful stay in UK of the citizen of the Russian Federation.

3.)     The procedure of the migration registration implies informing (notifying) a relevant territorial office of the Federal Migration Service of a foreign citizen's arrival to the place of sojourn and must be carried out in the course of three working days after his/her arrival to the Russian Federation, accompanied by the citizen of Russia Federation who signed the visa request form.
No changes here either!

In a nutshell the Russians make things more complicated than easier, despite their claims before!
 
« Last Edit: March 19, 2010, 10:45:25 PM by wiz »

 

+-RWD Stats

Members
Total Members: 8883
Latest: Leroy14
New This Month: 1
New This Week: 0
New Today: 0
Stats
Total Posts: 540997
Total Topics: 20849
Most Online Today: 1982
Most Online Ever: 12701
(January 14, 2020, 07:04:55 AM)
Users Online
Members: 10
Guests: 1970
Total: 1980

+-Recent Posts

Re: American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by krimster2
Yesterday at 09:20:42 PM

Re: American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by Infoman
Yesterday at 09:12:54 PM

Re: American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by krimster2
Yesterday at 09:02:12 PM

American With Russian Fiancé - Scheduled For K1 Interview In Warsaw, BUT.... by Infoman
Yesterday at 08:45:42 PM

Re: What to do by Trenchcoat
Yesterday at 07:59:27 PM

Ukrainian refugee working for me now by ML
Yesterday at 07:04:53 PM

Ukrainian refugee working for me now by ML
Yesterday at 06:59:45 PM

Re: What to do by Trenchcoat
Yesterday at 06:57:42 PM

Re: If you don't know what you are talking about, post away anyway by Trenchcoat
Yesterday at 06:36:52 PM

Re: Twenty Years... and Counting (MarkInTx Update) by supranatural
Yesterday at 03:02:29 PM

Powered by EzPortal

create account