12 12.12.14 - Press conference of U.S. Consul in Armenia Frank Tu and U.S ambassador to Armenia John Heffern Consul: no change in procedure for 10-year U.S. visa December 12, 2014 - 17:39 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The new visa rules, which the United States has approved for Armenian citizens, envisage longer terms of validity, without other changes in the procedures, Consul Frank Tu said today (Dec 12), introducing recent reforms, Tert.am reports. Under the new measure, which will be effective starting January 1, Armenian citizens wishing to travel to the United States for tourism or business purposes will be granted multiple visas for a maximum period of ten years. Describing the reform as very good news, the consul said he hopes that it would also boost the tourism development. According to Tu, best efforts are made to facilitate the visa application procedures. As he noted, last year the U.S. Embassy launched a new program enabling citizens to obtain visas without interviews. As for the visa issuance procedures, he said it is a completely different process. Ambassador John Heffern, in turn, hailed the visa facilitation agreement in promoting closer ties between the citizens of Armenia and the U.S. Top stories David Vardanyan is the son of former Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan who who is currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. The number of state universities will be reduced from 23 to 8 by 2030, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan has said. From September 21 to November 11, a total of 2,820 Russians registered at a place of residence in Armenia, the police has said. The situation on the contact line between Karabakh and Azerbaijan was relatively stable overnight, the Defense Army says. Partner news | Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. U.S. believes peace is “possible” in South Caucasus The United States continues to believe that peace is possible in the South Caucasus, Vedant Patel said. |