Translated material
American Dream
Someday Russian citizens will be able to travel to the United States without visas
In the future, Russian citizens will be able to travel to the United States without visas, American Consul General in Russia James Pettit said yesterday. “An important factor that determines whether a visa exception program can be extended to a particular country is the low percentage of refusals of American visas to citizens of that country. Russia is definitely moving in this direction,” the diplomat noted. He said that during 2006, about 126 thousand Russians received non-immigrant entry visas to the United States, while a year earlier - 113 thousand. At the same time, according to the Consul General, “the percentage of refusals has decreased significantly - from 25% four years back to 11% now.”True, this still far exceeds the maximum permissible share of “refuseniks” of 3%, which, according to American law, allows for the introduction of a visa-free regime. Therefore, Mr. Pettit refused to specify the timing of Russia’s transition to a visa-free regime : “It will still be some time before Russians will be able to travel to the United States without visas.” The US Consul General’s references to a significantly reduced “refusal” percentage look convincing. However, even the most loyal US allies from among the Eastern European countries, including Poland and the Czech Republic , cannot switch to a visa-free regime. The White House trusts these countries to host components of the national missile defense system, but the Americans are not yet going to let their citizens in without visas. “Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, no new country has been added to our visa waiver program,” said Consul Pettit.
As the head of the press service of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry, Irina Tyurina, noted in an interview with Vremya Novostey, “The American visa has traditionally been and remains one of the most difficult to obtain for Russians.” She recalled that in recent years the United States has not weakened, but only tightened, the visa regime for Russian citizens. We are talking about introducing an intermediary between those wishing to apply for a visa and the embassy, represented by the Pony Express company, which registers applications and delivers passports with ready-made visas.
In addition, visa applications are only accepted in English and in electronic form . “This procedure has only led to an increase in the cost of obtaining a visa and lengthened the time frame for returning passports: now, even when it is known that a visa has been received, we have to wait another two days for the return of the passport through the courier of an intermediary company,” noted Ms. Tyurina. According to her, “the innovation was beneficial only to the embassy itself, since now it could not bother with checking the correctness of submitted documents and payment receipts.” In addition, even successfully passing the interview does not mean receiving the coveted visa. “Sometimes the American side continues to consider the application after a personal conversation with the candidate,” the interlocutor told VN.
Currently, citizens of 27 countries are not required to obtain a visa to visit the United States if they intend to stay in the country for no more than 90 days for tourism or business purposes. The list includes most EU countries. With the exception of Slovenia, they all represent the Western European region. Citizens of Australia, Japan, Singapore, Brunei and New Zealand also do not need American visas for a three-month period.