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Russia is concerned about the surcharges for getting Schengen visas
02.06.2010
Russia is concerned about high surcharges for the issuance of Schengen visas. "Some Embassies and Consulates of the European countries in Moscow and in other cities of Russia were not prepared for the influx of the applications of the Russian citizens”, announced Vladimir Chizhov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation under the European Union, who was a member of the Russian delegation of Summit Russia – EU in Rostov-on-Don.
He reminded that the Embassies began to involve some commercial organizations for issuing visas – Visa Application Centres. "We are not against of involvement of intermediaries, but the main idea is that it shouldn’t be realized at the expense of those who apply for visas and lead to the increase of schedule times”, said Chizhov.
Mr. Chizhov noted that an existing visa facilitation agreement, which came into force 3 years ago, fixed the cost for visa of 35 Euros. "For the citizens of other countries without such agreement the cost is 60 Euros”, he reminded. – But if we add the fees of commercial agents to 35 Euros, the questions arises – who gets a benefit?”