The economic crisis forced the countries of Europe to look for ways out of the situation. Since tourism for many countries is one of the most sustainable sectors of the economy, which creates jobs for young people, the European Union is taking measures to increase the flow of tourists.
Today the European Union relies on tourists from China and Russia. Difficulties in obtaining a visa significantly reduce the possible flow of tourists from these countries, people choose visa-free destinations for holidays. To make the process of obtaining a visa more comfortable and simple, it was decided to develop and implement a system for issuing electronic visas.
Recommendations for issuing e-visas will be provided in September 2012. However, some countries (the Baltic states and Finland) fear a large influx of illegal migrants and insist on creating a single database, which will include all tourists entering Europe with fingerprints. Such a base will allow tracking violators, but it will take considerable time to form. In general, analysts suggest the introduction of electronic visas to Europe no earlier than 2017.
The issue of simplifying the visa regime and the gradual abolition of visas has long been mentioned by representatives of the EU and Russia at official meetings. At the Russia-EU summit in December 2011, a list of joint steps towards a visa-free regime for short-term travel was agreed, which is currently being successfully implemented. Russian representatives hope that short-term visa-free travel will be possible for the Sochi Olympics, that is, by 2014.
The e-Visa system has already been successfully operating in Australia since June 1, 2012. All June data can be filled in on a special website, and documents can be sent by regular mail. In this case, you do not need to send the original - a photocopy is enough. Visa payment is made with a bank card.
Confirmation of the issuance of a visa can come on the same day, or within 10 days from the date of submission of documents, by e-mail or regular mail. The visa sticker is not pasted into the passport; you can find out about its availability from the general electronic database Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO). Most likely, the same database will be used for the issuance of electronic visas to the EU countries.
