Electronic declaration of commitment

From June 1st, 2009 on an electronic commitment must be filed by the inviting party in Austria on inviting business partners from Russia or Ukraine. The following procedure must be observed if inviting Russian business partners. The Austrian host calls on the aliens´ police authority competent for his head office, declaring that he is willing to stand surety for a visa applicant. On doing this all relevant documents (proof of identity, statutes, commercial register …) must be produced. Then the host receives an ID-number, which he passes on to the Russian visa applicant who has to produce it on applying for the visa. At least 48 hours pass before the commitment will reach the competent embassy, so applying for a visa before this period of time does not make sense. The procedure for inviting Ukrainian business partners is similar.

Please observe that in both cases the electronic commitment is only one part of the requirements for being granted a visa. Detailed information for Russian travelling salespersons can be found on the web pages of the Austrian Embassy in Moscow and Kiev.