300 000 visas issued by Bulgaria’s consular office in Moscow and 150 000 in Kyiv ...
07 August 2012 News
Growth trend in the number of visas issued to Russian and Ukrainian tourists continues.
This year, Bulgaria’s consular office in Moscow alone has issued 14 per cent more visas than in the same period of 2011. Today the 300 000th visa was issued to a Russian citizen. By August 1 2012, 281 217 visas had been issued; in the same period of 2011, the number was 247 595.
An increase has also been seen at Bulgaria’s consular office in Kyiv, which by August 1 2012 had issued 151 355 visas, 45 per cent more than in the same period last year (104 443 visas to August 1 2011). Daily, the consular section at the Embassy issues 2500 to 3000 visas.
At the beginning of the year, at the initiative of Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Bulgarian Government adopted a decision allowing holders of Schengen visas to visit and stay in Bulgaria, without the need for the issuing of Bulgarian visas. Another step to ease the procedure for issuing Bulgarian visas was the July 1 decision that citizens of Russia, Ukraine and Moldova could receive a one-year multiple entry visa if they had already visited Bulgaria in 2011.