Azerbaijan to facilitate visa procedures for visitors from 10 countries

Visa procedures for foreign visitors from China and nine other countries will be simplified starting from February, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Starting from Feb. 1, facilitation of visa procedures at Azerbaijan's all international airports will be applied to nationals of China, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore, the ministry said.

The move was aimed to increase people-to-people exchanges, and promote tourism and business in the country, the ministry said in a statement.

Azerbaijan has relaxed visa rules for the United Arab Emirates nationals since Nov. 10, 2015.

Azerbaijan's normal visa procedure demands foreigners obtain a visa from one of the the country's diplomatic missions.

Citizens of Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan can visit Azerbaijan without a visa for up to 90 days.

Azerbaijan's visa facilitation agreement with the European Union, which excludes Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom, entered into force in September 2014.

The agreement reduces the number of documents sufficient for justifying the purpose of the trip, envisages issuance of multiple-entry visas, limits the length of processing and reduces the issuing fee or waives it entirely for many categories of EU nationals. Endit