No more Visas to visit Russia?

[viking]

Something on  a Russian news channel today about a meeting with Putin and VP Joe Biden. Has anyone else heard about the removal of visas to visit Russia? Is this bilateral? Anything about Russians ( women of course) being able to more easily come here?

[GoodOlBoy]

Has anyone else heard about the removal of visas to visit Russia?

http://www.russianwomendiscussion.com/index.php?topic=13161.msg259808;topicseen#msg259808

[Jack]

Has anyone else heard about the removal of visas to visit Russia?

viking, just not going to happen any time soon. Any time soon meaning years. I doubt visa free for Russians coming to America is going to happen in my lifetime.  And of course only my opinion.

[Faux Pas]

I'd be very surprised if anything at all were a result of a meeting between Putin and Biden other than lots of vodka and passing around a few women or young boys. Whatever their pleasure du jour may be. With the changes in the last couple of years that visa applications must be walked into the consulate either in person or an approved company. Somebody in the Putin/Medevyeve cabinet is making some money on visas.

Excuse my pessimism. I just have no confidence Putin or Biden either one care about visa free travel

[vwrw]

About two years ago, I read an interview from the American ambassador in Moscow that they were thinking about abolishing visas between Russia and USA. His estimates were that it would happen in 5 years, although it was not a promise, of course.  At the time of the interview, 92 % of guest visas for Russians were approved. There were no gender specifications.

A while ago I was trying to find the link to the article on other forum, but I found out it would be time –consuming and I could not afford to spend much time on doing that.

[BC]

Aside from a few, I think that now days there are no visa 'free' country aside from a few, maybe Canada.

Most of EU is 'visa waiver' that still requires you to fill out (and pay a fee) for a background check before you fly.

http://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/
http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.html

At the very most, 'visa waiver' and that is optimistic.

[GQBlues]

The present US administration's modus operandi is, if the task at hand serves no other purpose than to pose for a photo-shoot, send Biden. At least put on a show to the American public that he can at least act like he's actually doing something.

Yep, visas will be lifted soon and Anna Chapman was seen heading to SVO to catch a Delta flight to Washington DC yesterday.

[vwrw]

For the sake of conversation, let’s assume that the govs have decided to make the travel for Americans and Russians visa-free. Do you think it would lead to an increase or decrease in the number of Russian -American marriages?   

[GoodOlBoy]

Do you think it would lead to an increase or decrease in the number of Russian -American marriages?

I think Jack and a few of the other Ukrainian "providers" here on RWD would be out of work.

But hey that's OK, Barack will give them all 99 weeks of unemployment money and some of that free Obamacare too!

GOB

[Maxx2]

No more visa/ticket scams. Just ticket scams

[Forever Optimistic]

A few years ago I said "No way" when this subject came up. But now that nearly a decade has passed since 9/11 I am inclined to think this time visa-free travel might be a possibility before the next presidential election.

I had the same thought about the end of visa money scams. It's too bad that more scams cannot be eliminated.

[SFandEE]

I think this would be a positive reflection on America and is a wise chess move by Putin.

To answer the question about how this will effect marriages between Russians and Americans I think there would be a dramatic increase, especially for the first few years, stabilizing and probably reducing over time.

I honestly do not have a sense of the actual number now, but percent increase at first would be huge.

[ECOCKS]

Nothing will come from this any time soon.

I still think something is wrong with the tourist visa issue rate stats in Russia.

 

[chivo]

Much has happened positively, and continues to move forward in a positive manner ever since the Obama administration took office. There has been a easing of restrictions on visas and when we talk about visas, remember much is based on reciprocity between countries.

I have had a much easier time dealing with my visa situation here now than during the Bush administration and know for a fact that visas issued to Russians for travel to the 'good ol' USA' have eased considerably during that time. 

From my experience talking to many, many people who have applied for a tourist visa to America over the last couple of years, only 2 have been denied (1 denial was a renewal believe it or not). Just from my numbers and it's enough to draw a conclusion, the approval rate is well over 90%. Reciprocity!

I expect things to continue to improve for visas for both Russians and Americans as they are now for me here in Russia (unless an a-hole is elected President of America in the next election), although I do think visa free travel between America and Russia is still years down the road. You will see it happen first in Europe for Russians and once that happens things might move forward rather quickly.

[roykirk]

On a slightly related topic, didn't Putin/Medvedev promise in a recent interview that travel to Russia would be visa free for all countries during the Sochi Olympics? 

My wife had no trouble getting a tourist visa even during the waning days of the Bush administration.  Her mother likewise had no trouble getting a recent tourist visa to visit us for a month.  When she moved here on the K-1, however, they held her up for two hours in Customs and asked her 20 questions.