ARMENIA PLANNING TO GIVE VISA WAIVER TO ESTONIAN CITIZENS
Baltic News Service
October 3, 2012 Wednesday 3:43 PM EET
JEREVAN, Oct 03, BNS – The Armenian parliament will Thursday discuss
granting visa waiver to member countries of the European Union,
including citizens of Estonia, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said
on Wednesday.
In accordance with the bill Armenia will scrap the visa requirement
with respect to citizens of member countries of the European Union
from January 10 next year.
In addition to member countries of the European Union Armenia is
planning to abolish the visa requirement also to citizens of countries
not belonging to the Schengen visa space: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland
and Liechtenstein.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said that doing away with the visa
requirement with respect to citizens of those countries did not
present a migration risk for Armenia. But Armenia hopes that dropping
the visa requirement will lead to animation of tourism and political
and economic contacts.
Starting from accession to the European Union from May 1, 2004,
Estonian citizens can enter on the basis of the passport or the ID
card into member countries of the European Union and of the European
Economic Area (EEA): Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland,
Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta,
the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland.
In addition to European Union and EEA countries Estonian citizens can
now enter visa-free into more than 90 world countries. Generally it
is necessary to carry a valid passport for entry into the country. Of
countries not belonging to the EU and EEA it is possible to enter
on the basis of an ID card Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia. The terms
of entry and stay in the country vary from country to country. Most
countries make it possible to say in the country visa free from 30 to
90 days, but on the Philippines the period is 21 days. The Foreign
Ministry recommends getting acquainted with the terms of entry in
the country and of the stay there before getting off.
Last, from this Monday, October 1, the visa waiver agreement between
the European Union and Brazil entered into force and on its basis
Estonian citizens can enter visa free also into Brazil.