Tehran ready to revoke visa requirements for neighbors

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

Tehran expressed readiness to annul visa requirements for visitors from neighboring countries if the other side does the same for Iranian nationals.

“Iran is prepared to waive visa requirements or facilitate the process of issuing visas for all countries, especially the neighbors, if they take similar action,” said Hassan Qashqavi, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular, Parliamentary and Iranian Expatriates' Affairs, Press TV reported.

Qashqavi cited Kuwait as an example, saying that Iran is planning to annul visa requirements for Kuwaiti nationals as the Arab country no longer requires Iranian visitors to obtain visas.

He also said Iran has nearly halved tariffs for issuing health visas compared to the fees charged for ordinary visas.

Qashqavi noted that Iran is a safe destination for foreign tourists as there has been no report of any incident for foreigners visiting the country over the past few years.

Iran also abolished the visa regime with Azerbaijan, in turn Baku simplified visa regime for the Iranian nationals.

Since February 2010, Iran unilaterally abolished the visa regime for citizens of Azerbaijan, with the exception of journalists.

Azerbaijan and Iran also agreed within an intergovernmental commission to simplify the visa regime and the introduction of disposable (30-day) visa for entering of the Iranian citizens into the territory of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

Nakhchivan is one of Azerbaijan's regions which has been under blockade over the last 20 years due to Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories.

The governments of the two countries decided earlier to adopt new measures to simplify visa regime for the citizens of the two states.

The officials of the two countries stressed the importance of simplification of visa regime between the two countries for the development of tourism.