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| Israel eases visa process for Russian tourists
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The beach of Tel-Aviv
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JERUSALEM (EJP) --- In an attempt to increase Russian tourism to Israel, the Israeli Tourism Ministry is streamlining its process of acquiring a visa to enter the country. The new system follows a successful trial-period.
The Israeli Government gave the go-ahead for the new system in July last year but had to go through a lengthy procedural progression until it was ready to be in use.
Online form
The first part of the process will be on the internet as the hopeful tourists fill out an online form. This eases a very lengthy process where previously the candidate would have to go to the Israeli Embassy in Moscow. Many would have to travel large distances for this initial meeting without success.
Only after the Israeli Embassy reviews the candidates will the successful ones be invited for a follow-up meeting in Moscow. Russian citizens having legally visited Israel in the past as well as those already possessing visas to the United States or Schengen countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden) will benefit from the streamlined process.
The government is examining introducing similar Internet services to other countries in the region, the Ministry of Tourism added. Tourism Minister Avraham Hirschon said earlier in the year that the next country to benefit from the visa streamlining could be Ukraine.
Rise in Russian tourism
The revised procedure follows efforts by Israel`s Ministry of Tourism to ease the visa application process for Russian tourists. In 2005, the number of visitors arriving from Russia rose 22 per cent over the previous year to 68,000. The applicant will be asked to pay a surcharge of just over 13 Euros.
The Russian tourist industry is seen as one of the largest by Israel and the large number of applications for visas is seen as expediting the process. Israel is home to a large contingent of former Russians with some estimations of well over one million in Israel.
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