Foreigners will be fingerprinted to get a Russian visa

“Starting from January 1, 2015 foreign nationals while obtaining a visa to Russia will undergo the process of fingerprinting” – announced the Head of the Consular Department of the Russian MFA Eugene Ivanov during the interview with the Interfax agency.

“We are planning to start working on the technology of scanning the fingerprints of the foreign nationals and people without citizenship who are going to get the visa to enter Russia. The working-off will be realized on the objects of the pilot zone. Toward this end were selected Russian foreign institutions in the UK, Denmark, Myanmar and Namibia,” – said the diplomat.

Following the pilot launching will be carried out the analysis of results on the basis of which will be drawn the conclusion on the expediency of extending of this practice to other consulates and representations of Russia in the world.

As noted Eugene Ivanov, the introduction of fingerprinting is not a step to tighten the Russian visa policy, it is one more measure in the fight against illegal migration, the preparation for which introduction was carried out over several years. Besides, the photo of the owner will be added in the visa that will provide additional protection to the document.

At the same time, work has been undertaken to simplify the procedure of obtaining a Russian visa: the number of required documents is reducing and the maximum period of validity of the tourist visa increases up to 6 months.

In addition, there remains the possibility of applying the principle of reciprocity: if a State makes an indulgence in visa policy with respect to Russia, Russia, in its turn, makes a similar relief for the citizens of this country.