Otkat vizy (Russia)

Otkat vizy 🇷🇺
Location: Russia
Definition: Crossing the border under the pretext of shopping tourism to collect passport stamps required for a multi-entry Schengen visa
Keywords: Russia – Finland – EU – Europe - Borders – Migration – Tourism – Mobility
Clusters: Gaming the system
Author: Dr Olga Tkach
Affiliation: Swedish School of Social Science Subunit, Helsinki Inequality Initiative (INEQ)
Website: https://cisr.pro/en/team/tkach/

By Olga Tkach, Grant-funded researcher, Swedish School of Social Science Subunit

Otkat vizy is a colloquial Russian phrase that literally means ‘taking visa for a ride’ and describes the tourist practice of crossing the border for a short visit or one-day shopping with the purpose of collecting border stamps and fulfilling the requirements to use a long-term visa properly. This practice is widespread among citizens of the regions of north-west Russia, especially St. Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad Oblast’, in close proximity of eastern Finland. In contrast to other regions of the Russian Federation, St. Petersburg residents have relatively easy access to Finland, developed cross-border transport service, and fairly relaxed requirements for acquiring a short-term Schengen visa. Official residents of the region can apply for a short-stay ‘C’ visa for up to 90 days per half-year, based on a reduced set of documents: (1) international passport with at least six months’ remaining validity, (2) completed applica¬tion form with a photo, and (3) travel health insurance. They are not required to submit supporting documents, such as a statement of employment, salary slips, bank statements, proof of real estate property, proof of hotel reservation, or return travel tickets, yet these can be requested from an applicant (Dekalchuk 2014: 11; EUR-Lex 2009).

In fact, a short-stay multiple-entry Schengen visa, issued by the state of Finland to the residents of its neighbouring region of St. Petersburg, opens a travel opportunity towards the other 25 EU countries that can be visited via Finland or directly from St. Petersburg. The Schengen Agreement does not stipulate how many days can be spent in each Schengen country. There is a somewhat obscure conditionality to enter the Schengen Area via Finland when using this visa for the first time and this resulted in the practice of ‘opening the visa’ (otkrytie vizy), i.e. making a first entry to the Schengen Area via Finland. The related practice of otkat vizy, i.e. collecting the required stamps by going back and forth from Russia to Finland, therefore, balancing countries of destination with a Finnish priority has become a common way to satisfy the requirements for the Schengen visa. As the ‘stamp in a passport’ cannot be acknowledged as the legitimate and justified purpose of the trip at the passport control, the border crossers hide the real purpose of their visits under the pretext of shopping (Studzińska et al. 2018: 122).

The practice of taking the visa for a ride and opening the visa with multiple entries in Finland. Source: Olga Tkach. © Olga Tkach.

Conceptually, otkat vizy is the case of ‘documentary practices’ (see Navaro-Yashin 2007) of mobility, or in other words, keeping the letter of the law to exercise the freedom of movement in Europe. Indeed, the traveling practices of the visa-dependent people display a repetitive pattern of cross-border activities that turn highly regulated border controls and visa formalities to their advantage, while also adhering to the formal requirements. Other practices include: multiple border crossing to (ab)use a legal duty-free allowance and import goods (see also mrówki in small-scale smuggling), or the so-called ‘marriage of convenience’ in order to obtain a visa for regular travel to a more prosperous country (e.g. Brennan 2003; Kraler 2011: 221-83). Migrants also use border-crossing strategies to renew a visa/permit of the host country (e.g. Green 2015; Schenk 2018: 193). Such patterns can serve long-term and pendulum migration, as well as short-term mobility, which often goes under the radar in migration studies. Much less is known about visa policies and border experiences in contexts, not associated with smuggling, complex borders, ethnicity, or entrepreneurship. Yet they have important implications.

For example, the mass otkat vizy at the Russia – Finland border has multiple consequences for politics, economy, and everyday life for both countries. Member states at the edge of the EU can individually negotiate agreements on local border traffic with neighbouring non-EU countries. By simplifying visa regulations with north-west Russia, the Finnish state balances its commitment to Schengen standards with its national interests. Mass visa issuance and cross-border shopping activities of Russian visitors, interested in otkat vizy much more than shopping, boost local trade and regional development of eastern Finland that had suffered from its geographical and border-induced peripherality, both in Finland and Europe overall (see Eskelinen et al. 2013: 47-113).

The Russia-Finland cross-border tourism industry has flourished since the 2000s, leading to the opening of the Finnish visa application centre in 2011 and the development of a wide net of travel agencies and transport companies. One can easily organize a trip from St. Petersburg to most destinations in Finland, with a choice of a high-speed commuter train, a ferry, luxury or low-cost buses, door-to-door minibusses and cars, car-sharing services, or even a free round trip bus service in return for spending 100 euro in a shopping mall on the Finnish side of the border.

Example of a bus company doing daily trips to Finland. Source: Olga Tkach. © Olga Tkach.

The number of crossings at the Finnish-Russian land border has grown from 1.3 million in 1991 to 8.4 million in 2010 (Eskelinen et al. 2013: 53). By 2019, the number of passengers crossing the Finnish eastern border from Russia has exceeded 9.5 million (Findicator 2020). Since the early 2000s, the trend of short trips predominating at this destination persists: 81 percent of the trips lasted less than eight hours and 94 percent of the visitors crossed the border at least once a month (Eskelinen et al. 2013: 53). In the late 2000s, about 70 percent of all border crossings are same-day tours to Finnish border towns, such as Imatra or Lappeenranta (Studzińska et al. 2018: 122).

Qualitative research on selected St. Petersburg residents has shown how the holders of the unified Schengen multiple-entry ‘C’ visas issued by the state of Finland balance their trips to Finland with other trips to the Schengen Area (Tkach 2021). Interviewed via in-depth semi-structured discussions, the 28 regular travelers report that otkat vizy practices reduce travelers’ visa anxiety. By ‘imitating’ tourism to Finland, even if for short periods, they ensure the right to travel elsewhere in Europe without additional hustle and costs for visa application.

These trips can begin at about 4 am when the bus driver picks up passengers across Petersburg and end past midnight. The border crossers spend almost the whole day on a bus, moving from one shop to another. It may cost around 15-30 euros for a round bus trip in addition to purchases. Tourism to the ‘good old Europe’ is seen as a reward for the compulsory visits to border towns in Finland that many perceive as shopping trips rather than travel abroad. In fact, otkat vizy operates as an aspect of care for the unified Schengen multi-visa that although partially and fragmentarily but equates St. Petersburg residents as non-EU travelers to Europeans. The purpose of local tourism is dual as it also enables tourism to a deeper Europe. From September 2019, the visa process requires two additional documents: a preliminary plan of the trip and proof of financial means, but these did not make the procedure any harder. Finnish authorities mirror the ‘imitation of tourism’ by imitating tougher constraints on issuing visas, yet without much detriment to their local economy.

The practice of otkat vizy illustrates the multi-dimensional nature of border regimes that serve supranational, national, and regional policies highlighting the significance of small-scale interactions. Its façade conceals a strategic use of formal institutions of visa and border control, which is beneficial for both sides. It becomes economically and symbolically crucial for the eastern part of Finland, particularly for the towns close to the Russian border. It also maximizes mobility chances to the Schengen Area of the Russian citizens, which is of great value for them as ‘third-country nationals’ with a relatively low passport index.

References

Brennan, D. 2003. ‘Selling Sex for Visas: Sex Tourism as a Stepping-stone to International Migration’, in B. Ehrenreich and A. R. Hochschild (eds.), Global Women: Nannies, Maid and Sex Workers in the New Economy. New York: Metropolitan Books: 154-168

Dekalchuk, A. 2014. ‘Schengen Borders in Practice: Facts about Finland (and Russia)’. Working Paper. Series IR “International Relations”. No. WP BRP 05/IR/2014. National Research University – Higher School of Economics, Moscow

Eskelinen, H., Liikanen, I. and Scott J.W. (eds.) 2013. The EU-Russia Borderland: New Contexts for Regional Cooperation. London and New York: Routledge

EUR-Lex. 2009. ‘Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas (Visa Code)’, 10 May, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32009R0810

Findicator. 2020. ‘Border crossing’, 23 March, https://findikaattori.fi/en/105

Green, P. 2015. ‘Mobility Regimes in Practice: Later-life Westerners and Visa Runs in South-East Asia’, Mobilities, 10(5): 748-63

Kraler, A., Kofman, E., Kohli, M. and Schmoll, C. (eds.) 2011. Gender, Generations and the Family in International Migration. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press

Navaro-Yashin, Y. 2007. ‘Make-believe Papers, Legal Forms and the Counterfeit: Affective Interactions between Documents and People in Great Britain and Cyprus’, Anthropological Theory, 7(1): 79-98

Schenk, S. 2018. Why control immigration? Strategic uses of migration management in Russia. Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press

Studzińska, D., Sivokoz, A., and Domaniewski, S. 2018. ‘Russian cross-border shopping tourists in the Finnish and Polish borderlands’, Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography, 72(2): 115-126

Tkach, Olga. 2021. ‘Care for the Visa: Maximising Mobility from Northwest Russia to the Schengen Area’. Nordic Journal of Migration Research 11(2): 108–123. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33134/njmr.408