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Archive for the ‘Visa Exemption’ Category

AFGHANS hoping to embark on a grand tour of Europe, or any other continent in fact, are likely to find their wanderlust curtailed by immigration officials. According to an index compiled annually by Henley & Partners, a law firm, natives of Kabul, Baghdad and Mogadishu are required to fill in visa applications for more countries than anyone else. Scandinavians and Finns, by contrast, can travel to 173 countries or territories (out of a possible 223) without the need to fill in forms with curious questions dreamt up by bureaucrats.

Source: The Economist

According to media sources in Phnom Penh, the visa exemption for citizens of five states in the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has cost Cambodia’s treasury US$14.1 million in reduced revenue since it was introduced in January 2008.

Citizens from Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam currently qualify for the exemption.

Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon told the Phnom Penh Post that the visa exemption agreement will be extended next year to Thailand, and by 2015 to the remaining three ASEAN members of Brunei, Indonesia and Myanmar.

“We realize that our visa-exemption program for travelers from ASEAN countries results in lower national revenues, but we will continue it because increased arrivals can boost economic growth kingdom-wide and will create many jobs,” Minister Thong Khon said.

Tourism is one of Cambodia’s key economic engines. More than two million tourists visited the country last year, many drawn by the Angkor Wat temple complex in the northwest.

The Ministry of Tourism reported that Cambodia issued 278,842 visas to ASEAN nationals in the first six months of 2009, which cost the government US$5.5 million. That compared with 431,426 visa exemptions issued last year at a cost of US$8.6 million.

Source: eTurbonews

Citizens from countries outside ASEAN can apply for Vietnam visa on arrival at http://www.vietnam-visa.com/.

Turkish and Russian officials signed on Tuesday a readmission agreement, a step that brings the two countries closer to introducing a visa-free travel regime for their nationals.

The agreement on readmission of illegal immigrants was signed in Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. The agreement will enter into force simultaneously with a visa exemption agreement that was signed in May 2010.

Thanks to this agreement, the fight against illegal migration was also included in the wide activities of cooperation between Turkey and Russia, the statement said. Officials expect illegal migration could become a bigger problem when Turks and Russians are allowed to travel without having to obtain a visa. Turkey, which seeks a visa exemption for its nationals in their travels to European Union countries, is still negotiating a deal with Brussels for the readmission of illegal migrants who transit Turkish territory to reach EU destinations.

Economic and political ties between Turkey and Russia have grown dramatically in the past years. Tourism is also booming as about 3 million Russians flock to Turkey every year, particularly to tourism destinations along the Mediterranean coast. The Foreign Ministry said the visa-free regime would help the two countries further improve their cultural and social ties as well as develop economic and commercial relations by boosting contacts between Turkish and Russian businessmen.

The decision to sign a readmission agreement, seen as the final obstacle before a visa-free regime, was made during a visit to Russia by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last year.

The agreement was signed by Şakir Fakıllı, the director-general for consular affairs at the Foreign Ministry, and Russian Deputy Director of the Federal Migration Service Nikolay Smorodin in Moscow on Tuesday. Fakıllı said he hoped the ratification processes of both the visa exemption and readmission agreements would be completed in a short time so that visa-free travel could begin as soon as possible. The readmission agreement obliges the parties that signed the agreement to readmit persons who enter the other country illegally. Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said visa-free travel between Turkey and Russia could begin as soon as April.

Collected by Vietnam visa online.