All those avid football fans wanting to experience the Uefa Champions League final can do so with ease, especially now that they no longer need visas for Russia – however it is those who already have a visa that will suffer.
On May 21, Manchester United and Chelsea Football Club with face each other in the first ever all-English Uefa Champions League Final. Many fans were worried about getting to the final due to high costs and a shortage of accommodation and flights, the scrapping of the need for a visa has made the process somewhat easier.
Spectators of the match will now be able to use their ticket as a visa into the Russian Federation for a period of 72 hours between May 19 and 23. If you plan to stay longer than the prescribed 72 hours a visa is needed.
In return the Russian Federation wants a visa waiver for Russian fans wanting to attend the Uefa Cup final between Zenit St Petersburg and Rangers in Manchester next week.
In order to get access to the country for the game, you will need a valid passport, a genuine match ticket and a completed immigration form. However those fans that has already received or applied for a visa, will not be refunded even though the visa is now not needed.
“This is totally unfair to those who spend hard earned money on a visa” says Robert Stroud of www.globalvisas.com. He adds that “the recent rise in the visa cost from usual £45 to £65 make this double unjust.”
About 1000 fans paid to get a visa in the past few weeks thinking that a visa to the game would be essential. They are now stuck with a useless visa and many are heavily out of pocket.
This has caused much distaste in the mouth of soccer fan who question why the visa situation was not sorted out months ago when it was clear that many UK citizens would want to attend the game. The fact that the final would be taking place in Moscow has been known for two years now.
Moscow is expecting as many as 50 000 spectators for the game, with each club receiving in excess of 20 000 tickets each.
The exact details for the visa-free entry are still be formally finalised and are likely to be released by May 14.
The problems with movement between Russia and England has stemmed from a 2006 dispute over the murder in London of Kremlin critic Alexandra Litvinenko.
