Travellers All Over Russia Can Apply for Estonian Visas by Courier Service
17.11.2009
The Foreign Ministry concluded an agreement with the company Freight Link (Pony Express), which offers courier service, so that Russian residents would have the opportunity to apply for visas to visit Estonia even from the more distant areas of the country. The agreement will allow people to apply for an Estonian visa without having to go to Moscow.
Director General of the Foreign Ministry’s consular department Lauri Bambus stated that the new service will make applying for a visa easier for those who wish to visit Estonia by helping to avoid the excessive expenditure of time and money. “When applying for a visa, it is generally required that the visa application be brought to the embassy in person. In accordance with this agreement, people in Russia can now apply for visas to Estonia via a courier service, without having to go to Moscow themselves,” said Bambus. “With this new opportunity, people will no longer have to spend money on travel to and lodging in Moscow,” he added.
Starting this month, the courier service will transport visa applications to the Estonian Embassy in Moscow and return travel documents to applicants from 38 service locations all over Russia, except for in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Pskov. To use the service, the visa applicant must pay a service fee (1 600 roubles) in addition to the visa fee. The courier service does similar co-operation with Latvia, the United States, and Canada.
It is possible to bring visa application to the service locations listed on the website:
http://www.ponyexpress.ru/services_visa_estonia.php
If they wish, visa applicants still have the option of presenting their visa application directly to the Estonian representations in Russia.
The Foreign Ministry will monitor the implementation of the courier service and currently is not considering employing a similar service in other countries. In order to facilitate applying for Estonian visas in third countries, Estonia has concluded agreements for the issuing of Schengen visas with many European Union nations.
More information about visa representation agreements on the Foreign Ministry’s website: http://www.vm.ee/?q=et/taxonomy/term/132
 
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