Specimen issued for Vietnam visa exemption

The duration required for granting a visa exemption for overseas Vietnamese to enter Vietnam has been reduced from seven to five business days on receipt of valid applications, according to a prime ministerial decision. The decision, which amends certain provisions of the regulation on visa exemptions for overseas Vietnamese, will come into effect on April 15, 2012. The decision also regulates in detail the visit extension for holders of visa exemption certificates when their 90-days in Vietnam are over.

Accordingly, those who want to extend their stay in Vietnam are required to carry out procedures for extension five days before the period expires. An extension file includes the passport of the individual applying for extension and the application for visa renewal, replacement, or modification, or visit extension. This application must be certified by the police of the ward or commune where the applicant temporarily resides.

The extended period of stay must not exceed 90 days for each time of extension.

Source www.tuoitrenews.vn

Insurance Australia Group Limited, one of Australia's general insurance group

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is requesting that health insurance become mandatory for all Australian visa applicants. The request was made by vice president of the Victorian branch of the AMA, Stephen Parnis, following recent figures released by the AMA that shows the number of immigrants treated in the Victoria’s public hospitals have tripled in the last six years.

The report stated that from 30 June 2010 to 30 June 2011, there were over 30,000 patients treated at Victorian hospitals who were not Australian citizens. Parnis’ fear is that the increase may be due to growth in “medical tourism” wherein individuals travel to a foreign country for a medical procedure. The concern is that as not all Australian visa applicants are required to have medical insurance, some patients may leave the country without paying their bills.

Currently, individuals on student visas and skilled workers and their dependents on 457 subclass visas are required to have health insurance as part of their entry conditions. It is not a requirement for Australian tourist visa applicants to have proof of health insurance. However, forcing visit visa holders to have medical insurance may put off people from visiting Australia and have a detrimental effect on the tourist industry.

Parnis’ says that requiring health insurance for all visa categories would be a positive step for the medical industry.

“If people have the means to come to Australia on an international holiday they should have the means to make allowance for their own healthcare,” said Parnis.

Australia has Reciprocal Health Care Agreements with several countries including the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Italy, wherein citizens of these countries can access medical care in Australia in the same way as permanent residents. Although it is important to note, according to the report, most international patients seeking medical care in Australia were not from countries that fall under this agreement.

Source workpermit.com

Sample of a multiple-entry Indian visa.

NEW DELHI: As tourism becomes a key driver of the Indian economy with its growing foreign exchange earnings and income generating potential, the government has to streamline infrastructure and visa procedures to tap the segment’s full potential, experts across the industry say.

“Travel and tourism is the second largest employer in India and the second largest revenue earner. It needs no introduction. The country is a continent in itself. But the government has to sort out the visa road blocks and infrastructure loopholes,” Iqbal Mulla, president of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), told IANS on the sidelines of a South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange (SATTE) business forum.

Source The Economic Times

Russia. Discount card for coffee

The Moscow authorities plan to complete their work on the all-in-one tourist card, which will include a transportation ticket, a season ticket to the Moscow museums and a discount card for restaurants and museums. Moscow is doing its utmost in a bid to attract foreign tourists and to show them that it ranks among 5 tourist centres which are developing fast. Relevant information is posted on the big tourist portal TripAdvisor.

More than 4 million foreign tourists visit Moscow every year. In several years’ time the number of tourists may top 7 million. Should the visa-giving regime be simplified, more cheap hotels be built, freight prices be lowered, and information centres for tourists be set up, the above-mentioned task will be easily resolved. Plus it is necessary to adopt the experience of St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Vienna and many other European cities and to work out a tourist card.

The St. Petersburg tourist card includes a season ticket to 25 museums, a ticket to several general tours and a public transport ticket. Besides, it can be used as a discount card in hotels, cinemas and cafes. The pluses of such cards are evident: they save tourists’ time and money.

In Moscow private business will be involved in the implementation of the tourist project, Head of the Moscow Committee on Tourism Sergei Shpilko says.

“Both the development and the fulfillment of such projects is the prerogative of private investors, meaning first of all their ability to reach agreement with popular museums.”

An expert with the Public Chamber of Tourism (Russia), Roman Bobylyov, has a different opinion. He says that the Metro passes and the ground transportation tickets present the main problem here.

“Will the Moscow authorities be able to regulate the public transport fares? The point is that this is the main issue here.”

Probably, a bank card will become a new global payment document for tourists, Roman Bobylyov says. And still, it is clear that a very complex visa giving procedure and also high prices on air tickets and on railway tickets remain the main problem for foreign tourists visiting Moscow, Sergei Shpilko says. European tourists usually travel without visas and buy cheap air tickets, Sergei Shpilko says. Besides, there’s a lack of hotels in Moscow, Roman Bobylyov added.

“There’re many expensive hotels in Moscow while a segment of worthy 3-star hotels of European class is practically non-existent in Russia.”

There’re information centres for tourists in many megapolises abroad – in the historical part of the city, in airports and at the railway stations, with the foreign language speaking staff. The personnel members give tourists city maps and guidebooks. Such centres will appear in Moscow later this year.

Source The Voice of Russia

Tourism Ministers showing their commitment to build up a single ASEAN

MANADO, Indonesia (eTN) – There is a funny expression in French media. They regularly mention “marronnier” (chestnut tree), as soon as a topic comes into the media on a regular basis. For example: “Winter Sales” or “Crowded highways for holidays.”

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has its own “marronnier” – visa issues. Every ASEAN Travel Forum (ATF) experiences ministries from each member country reaffirming his commitment to simplify visa issues and work on a single ASEAN visa.

At almost every press conference, questions generally emerge on visa procedures to some member countries. ATF’s last edition in Manado in mid-January was no exception. Visa again became the issue, with ministers reinstating to work on creating a single visa. But more countries are now raising their voice in favor of a rapid single visa implementation.

During ATF, various ministerial meetings – Cambodia, Indonesia, or the Philippines – voiced their strong support to the single visa as they see it as a means to rapidly boost the appeal of the region for travelers. Indonesia’s Minister for Tourism and Creative Economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, formally introduced ASEAN as the single tourist destination during the tourism forum in Manado. However, she admitted that the campaign would only gain in importance once “problems involving common visas to non-ASEAN residents are settled.”

For now, non-ASEAN travelers have to play with different rules for almost each country. It goes from relatively liberal policies in Malaysia, the Philippines, or Thailand, to simple visa-on-arrivals rules for Cambodia, Laos, or Indonesia. The toughest visa conditions are to be expected in Myanmar and Vietnam, but there are also some changes in the air. Myanmar just announced at the end of last month to implement e-visa facilities and relax entry into the country.

In an interview conducted by the Myanmar Times newspaper, Union Minister U Tint San declared on February 1 that the government will try to introduce an e-visa system from March that would allow international visitors to apply from anywhere via the Internet before visiting Myanmar. In parallel, the e-visa would allow travelers to enter or exit from any border crossing point. The web address for the proposed e-visa site is www.myanmarevisa.gov.mm . At ATF, Phyoe Wai Yarzar, Secretary of the newly-formed Myanmar Tourist Board, explained that e-visa facilities would, in fact, be the most efficient way for the government to balance the absence of diplomatic representations.

They are also rumors that Vietnam would work on a e-visa solution. There is already the possibility of getting a pre- E-visa clearance in certain cases. But the procedure remains expensive and on a case-by-case basis. Officials from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism admitted during the ATF that lengthy visa formalities are certainly a major handicap to the development of tourism. Nothing official has been announced so far, but it seems that the government seems to realize that it has to change the way visa is provided if Vietnam does not want to lose out tourists to other destinations.

Last but not least, the long-expected common visa between Cambodia and Thailand – announced many times and delayed many times as well, due to political tensions between both countries – became available since February 1. The single visa gives access to both countries and should be soon extended to Laos.

Source eTurbonews

The visa on arrival counter at an airport in India

NEW DELHI: The number of foreigners availing Visa on Arrival (VoA) scheme has registered 72 per cent increase in January as against the same period last year. There were as many as 1,359 foreigners, who availed VoA scheme in January as compared to 790 VoAs issued during January 2011, registering a growth rate of 72 per cent, officials said.

As a facilitative measure to attract more foreign tourists, the government had launched Visa on Arrival scheme in January 2010 for citizens of five countries — Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore.

The Government had extended the scheme to four more countries — Combodia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Philippines — from January 2011. Encouraged by the response, the Tourism Ministry is now considering to extend the scheme to 14 more countries, including Germany, Russia, France and CIS countries.

“The proposal to extend the scheme to more countries is under active consideration by the government. We have also proposed to extend the facility to more international airports including Goa, Hyderabad and Bangalore,” a Tourism Ministry official said.

Currently the VoA facility is available in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata airports.

The first month of the year also witnessed a growth of about 50 per cent in foreign exchange earnings and 9.2 per cent rise in foreign tourist arrivals in the country. There were total 6.81 lakh foreign tourists in the country in January this year as against 6.24 lakh during the same month last year, registering a growth of 9.2 per cent. Forex earnings during January 2012 were Rs 8,623 crore as compared to Rs 5,777 crore in January 2011, a growth of 49.3 per cent.

Source The Economic Times

Social media like Twitter in Japanese

The Japanese government has turned to social media to boost tourists visiting the country after spending $280,000 (Y21.5 million) to invite ten influential thought leaders from across the world to visit the country, according to a report from The Mainichi Daily News. The plan comes after the government opted against a unique proposal to offer 10,000 free flights to visitors that communicate their vacation in Japan using blogs and social media. The innovative plan was hatched in October but it failed to gain the support of the Japanese tourism board, which has instead opted for a more targeted approach to leveraging social media.

The guests began arriving from 31 January and a succession of well known foreign bloggers and social media figures will visit the country, during which they will see a number of areas that were affected by last year’s earthquakes. The government is hoping that coverage from the influential tourists will demonstrate how well the recovery process is developing, and encourage greater awareness and more tourists.

A total of ten guests are set to arrive between now and March. The first intake of figures included Spanish blogger Roger Ortuno Flamerich, US-based food blogger Louisa Liu Chu and Khaled Hamza, who leads Egypt-based Muslim community website ikhanweb.

Later this month, two as yet unnamed influential Twitter users – a Chilean university professor and a Chinese children’s storywriter – will come to the country in the next round of visits.

The Japanese tourism industry has been hit hard following the triple disaster earlier this year which left 20,000 people dead and a further 80,000 other displaced due to radiation concerns.

Visitors numbers to the country were down 50 percent over the first three months after the tragedies, while the strength of the Japanese Yen has been another fact putting potential visitors off coming to the country, according to Yahoo.

Source Travel Daily News

Etihad Airways is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates

Travellers on Etihad Airways transiting through the UAE will now receive a complimentary 96 hour tourist visa, being offered in cooperation with Radisson Blu hotel on Yas Island and assisting travellers making a stopover visit on route to their final destination with an easy transit.

Etihad stated the visa is valid for travellers previously eligible for Etihad Airways’ paid-for visa service (available at a cost of DH300), including passport holders from Bangladesh, Belarus, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam, the carrier stated.

Citizens of the following countries can enter the UAE without a visa prior to arrival, granted a tourist visa for up to 30 days on arrival, as long as they hold a valid passport with at least six months validity past the period of stay: Australia; Andorra; Austria; Brunei; Belgium; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hong Kong; Iceland; Ireland; Italy; Japan; Liechtenstein; Luxembourg; Malaysia; Monaco; Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Portugal; San Marino; Singapore; South Korea; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; United Kingdom; United States of America; and The Vatican.

Eligible guests must have confirmed overnight accommodation at the Radisson Blu Yas Island, available at promotional rates from $70 per person per night. For those travellers that book a three night stay will also received a complimentary Abu Dhabi City Tour, according to Gulfnews.com.

Etihad Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer Peter Baumgartner commented on why Abu Dhabi was an ideal transit destination by saying “Not only is Abu Dhabi the place where East meets West, it is also a world-class destination in its own right. With complimentary visa services on offer, more Etihad Airways guests will have the opportunity to experience the signature Arabic hospitality and exciting attractions of the UAE in a convenient and affordable way.”

Travellers can apply for a complimentary visa and to book accommodation at the Etihad Airways website. A passport copy and passport-sized photograph are required for processing visa applications and terms and conditions apply.

Source Travel Blackboard

A Malaysian 30 days single-entry social visa issued in Beijing, China

BEIJING: Chinese visitors will have a breezier and faster entry into Malaysia with the easing of the visa application process – a move that will increase the number of arrivals, bringing in more tourist yuan. Already responsible for spending RM3.1bil in Malaysia last year, the Chinese are expected to outstrip tourist receipts in 2012 and surpass the number of arrivals which hit 1.4 million last year.

With the appointment of a joint-venture company to process visa applications in China – meaning that tourists will no longer need to visit Malaysian missions in the republic for their travel documents arrivals have jumped by 40%. While the one-stop visa application centres began operations in April, only visa applications from tour groups were processed. Now, the facility will be opened to individual travellers.

Source The Star

Myanmar e-visa's proposed website

THE Ministry for Hotels and Tourism is pushing for a significant liberalisation of Myanmar’s visa regulations and plans to introduce an electronic visa application system from next month, Union Minister U Tint San said last week.

“We are trying to introduce an e-visa system from March that would allow international visitors to apply for a visa from anywhere via the internet before visiting Myanmar. They would no longer need to go to a Myanmar embassy to apply for a visa. The pilot project will begin in February before it is officially launched in March. We hope the system will be successful,” he said in Nay Pyi Taw on February 1.

The web address for the proposed e-visa site is www.myanmarevisa.gov.mm.

He said the ministry was also working to attract direct international flights to airports at Bagan and Ngapali “in the near future”. “We are also in discussions with other ministries to allow tourists to enter or exit the country at any checkpoint by either air or land,” he said.

Tourists wanting to enter Myanmar by land currently face a raft of restrictions: only a handful of border crossings are open to foreigners and a regulation introduced in mid-2011 requires tourists to enter and exit at the same checkpoint.

A ministry spokesperson said the e-visa system would be rolled out at all entry points, including border crossings. “In late December, we had coordination meetings with the Minister for Hotels and Tourism on … the launch of an e-visa system at entrance and exit points at airports, seaports and border checkpoints to make it more convenient for foreign visitors entering Myanmar,” a ministry spokesperson said.

“We also discussed boat voyages in Kawthoung Region, development of Dawei and Myeik tours and the establishment of more hotel zones for the next peak season. All these plans are being discussed and we will try to implement them very soon – before the next peak season.”

The government introduced a visa on arrival system on May 1, 2010 that allowed foreign visitors from any country to apply for a visa on arrival at Yangon and Mandalay international airports without having to make any prior arrangements with a travel agency.

Hailed as a “breakthrough” for the industry, it was suspended by the Department of Immigration and National Registration just four months later. Visa on arrival is currently permitted on Myanmar Airways International flights from Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in Cambodia and China’s Guangzhou.

Source The Myanmar Times