MANDALAY, 20 February 2013: Citizens of another 22 countries are now
eligible for a visa on arrival at Mandalay International Airport,
Myanmar Times reported Monday.
The ruling came into effect 1 February according to Immigration and
National Registration Department assistant director, U Than Win, who
said most of the eligible countries are in Europe such as Belgium,
Finland and Austria. Israel was also named on the list. However, very
little information has filtered through to the travel trade, travellers
and even airlines that are still insisting passengers obtain visas in
advance from the nearest embassy.
“So far, citizens of 48 countries are eligible for visa on arrival.
This will be useful for eligible travellers who don’t have time to apply
for a visa at an embassy,” the assistant director said.
There are three types of visa categories: business, tourist entry and transit, costing U$50, US$40 and US$20 respectively.
He said: “The duration of a business visa is 70 days, while tourist
entry visas for seminars, meetings and workshops are valid for 28 days.”
Since 1 June 2012, a visa-on-arrival at Yangon International Airport
has been in force for visitors from 27 countries including most
countries from ASEAN and some European countries. In Asia, China’s Hong
Kong, Macao and Taiwan are listed.
The visa on arrival was introduced at Mandalay International Airport 1 November 2012.
However, just 76 visitors gained a business, tourist entry or transit
visa on arrival from 1 to 10 February. Another 158 tourists have been
issued a visa on arrival under a different programme that requires them
to get permission from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism prior to
arrival.
It should be noted that some airlines are demanding passengers have a
visa issued by an embassy before they are allowed to board the
aircraft. They claim they will have to bear the expense of repatriating
the passenger if the visa-on-arrival is not approved in Yangon.
Due to these uncertainties in the system, the standard recommendation
is to obtain a visa from the nearest embassy. In the case of business
travel a letter from an organisation or company in the country helps to
facilitate entry.
Myanmar is estimated to have attracted over 1 million tourists to the
country in 2012, an increase of 200,000 compared with 2011, due to the
significant political changes in 2012.
source: TTR Weekly
http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2013/02/more-nationalities-on-mandalay-visa-on-arrival-list/
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