The rumor, that “the Russia has tightened passport requirements” was been going around since last June. Therefore, the “General Authority for State Registration” has informed that: “citizens who have passports issued after 2002 do not need to renew them”.

Because travelling to the Russian Federation without a visa became legal in 2015, the requests for new passports have increased. For example: prior to 2015, approximately 130,000 people requested passports, annually; this number has now increased to 160,000. Currently 40% of the daily operations at the “General Authority for State Registration” are related to “ItgeltKhamba Tour”.