The Slovenian Government has adopted a proposal for the simplification of the visa procedure for short tourist visits to Slovenia. The relaxation of the visa regime relates to transactions with authorised travel agents for tourists coming to Slovenia for short visits and applies to citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Russia, Turkey and Serbia and Montenegro.
From the point of view of the prescribed standards of the common visa policy, travel agent transactions are exempted from the general rule under which a visa applicant must apply in person at a diplomatic/consular mission. In these cases the visa applicant is represented by an intermediary – the authorised travel agent – and is only required to appear in person at the diplomatic/consular mission when this is requested by an official of the consular section of the mission. For this type of transaction, minimum standards enabling the effective implementation of the visa procedure and suitable controls over visa transactions must be met.
Travel agent transactions imply a closed list of countries for the citizens of which an authorised travel agent may appear as an intermediary. In view of existing visa regime relaxations on the basis of which Slovenia unilaterally recognises the documents of Schengen countries, travel agent transactions will be possible for the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Russia, Turkey and Serbia and Montenegro.
The travel agents authorised to submit visa applications at a diplomatic/consular mission will be selected by the tourism directorate at the Ministry of the Economy. Visa applications will be dealt with by the Slovenian embassy in Zagreb and it will be possible to conclude the procedure of issuing visas for groups of tourists one working day after the application is submitted.
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