Finland is raising prices.

Employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, concerned about the “overload” of the visa department of their country’s Embassy in Moscow, decided in June 2010 to transfer the function of receiving applications for a visa in the Russian Federation to the Indian company VFS Global. Now the employees of the Moscow office of this Indian company will perform the functional duties of the Visa Center. Their competence will include issuing a visa form, receiving completed applications and transmitting them to the embassy. These applications will be handled directly by the embassy staff. In connection with these innovations, the cost of a visa will increase by one and a half times. Will Russians want to pay 21 euros on top (visa center fee) or will they prefer to spend extra time idling in line in a crowded visa office? The Russian Foreign Ministry is considering similar changes at its embassy in Helsinki.