How to get entry permit for visiting the frontier zone in Yakutia?

Actually, international visitors' first question sounds in another ways. Like, ‘ Do I need to get entry permit for visiting Yakutia. ‘ Answer, ‘ No. ‘ But an inviting organization or person needs to point in invitation applications which settlements within Russia including Yakutia invited international travellers intend to visit. That's the ordinary procedure. So to visit Yakutia, foreign guests is required to have only valid Russian visas (read how to get a visa).

Next questions I always hear is whether this or that region of Yakutia is open for foreigners. Usually, a requester lists all republic's region he or she wishes to visit. That's right approach. However, it is enough to know as follows.

Entry permits within Yakutia is obligatory, when travellers are heading for the regions located in so-called frontier zone . In Yakutia we've got five such areas. They are
- Allaikhovsky (with administrative centre Chokurdakh),
- Anabarsky (Saskylakh),
- Bulunsky (Tiksi),
- Oleneksky (Olenek), and
- Ust-Yansky (Deputatsky).
They are also known as Arctic regions. Check the map .

So, how to get entry permit for visiting the frontier zone?

The organization/person needs to apply visitors' documents to the Federal Service of Security in Yakutsk. Here the list of required data:

- fine scanned color copy of international passport . All passport must be seen and readable;
- information on the current place of residence : state, city, address, phone number.
- information on visitors' work place : the full name of organization, position, contact info (i.e. work telephone number, address);
- the list of the settlements travellers wish to visit in the frontier zone.

Visitors must provide the inviting organization/person with the listed data in advance. Why? The answer is below.

The entry permit issue procedures takes 40 days (prior to the date of arrival). That's the normal period. But the permit might be issued urgently, i.e. in 10 days .

If the traveller is a backpacker or regular tourist, the entry permit is easy to get via a local travel agency . For instance, via TourServiceCentre LLC (tel/fax +7-4112-351144, contact@yakutiatravel.com, Slava Mestnikov , his cell +79246621144). When contacting him, feel free to give reference to me :)

And one more thing. A travel agency's support is not free, certainly. It costs some cash. Current rates as follows:
- 1500 RUB/pers. for 40-day issue procedure,
- 2500 RUB/pers. for 10-day issue procedure.

What if travellers will go without permit?
They will be stopped by frontier guard (at the airport, river/sea port, in the sea, the delta of the Lena River, everywhere), then arrested, fined, deported and included in the black-list. Latter means they won't be allowed to enter Russia anymore.

So, be prudent, clever, accurate and remember, entry permit is a very important thing.

Written by Bolot Bochkarev.
Initially posted at AskYakutia.com