High Volume of Russian Visas for Iranians

The number of visas issued to Iranians by the Russian Embassy in Tehran sometimes reaches 800 to 900 a day, the Russian ambassador said. Speaking to ISNA, Levan Dzhagaryan also said a vast majority of applicants are leisure travelers. "Only a few are students and businesspeople," he said, adding that 63,000 Iranians visited Russia in 2016. According to Russia’s Federal Agency for Tourism—Rosotourism—the number of Iranians traveling to Russia in the first half of 2017 increased by 9% compared with the corresponding period of a year ago. Iran and Russia agreed to waive visa requirements for tours of up to 50 people earlier this year and are expected to completely abolish the visa regime by 2018.