Fieldwork and Visas

Make sure you have the appropriate visa

Two recent incidents are a reminder to BASEES members planning to visit the Russian Federation of the importance of being in possession of the appropriate visa. We have been informed of two cases, both in Nizhnyi Novgorod, of foreign nationals giving lectures and seminars being apprehended by the migration service. The most recent incident was last week when Arthur House – the editor of the on-line journal The Calvert Journal and the Junket – was arrested and found guilty of violating the visa regime. Arthur was on a multiple-entry business visa that he had used on previous occasions to give lectures but the court found that this visa did not give him the right 'to deliver a lecture' or to take part in ‘other educationalactivities’. He was fined 4000 rubles, asked to leave the country within five days and faces a visa ban for five years. This follows an incident earlier in the month in Nizhnyi Novgorod when two Norwegian nationals were fined and asked to leave the country for participating in a five-day workshop in Lobachevsky State University where they gave presentations to students of journalism on human rights. They were also on business visas.