How to see Greece without Schengen: "Island" Greek visa

"Schengen" is the most problemable visa, it is necessary to have a stable and solid income, as well as medical insurance (about the policy).
In addition, the design of this visa is quite expensive in time and finance.

But few knows that Greece can be visited without the presence of Shengen in a foreign passport.

Closed territory for open entry

A few kilometers from the shores of Turkey, in the Aegean Sea, scattered by a generous hand of someone from the ancient gods, the most beautiful islands that are part of several Greek archipelagos - southern sprays and northern sprays.

The names of some of them are, Rhodes, Lesbos - please the ear of any traveler, because it is here that the real tourist paradise is.

In season - from April to November - ferries come to these Greek islands from neighboring Turkey and bring on excursions to those that rest in the neighboring tourist Mecca - the fashionable Turkish resorts Marmaris and Bodrum.

From one state to another tourists in just a few hours of the sea. It is for these "Turkish guests" an open Schengen visa is required: stepping on the shore of any of the Eldlala Islands in the Aegean Sea, each of them receives a disposable Greek visa.

In 2012, Greece has canceled inbound visas for Russian tourists who come with a tour of Marmaris and Bodrum to Kos Islands, Lesbos, Rhodes, Samos and Chios.
The main condition for visa-free tolerance was the guest's return on the shores of Turkey for several days and the ban on traveling beyond the specified islands into the rest of the regions of Greece.

But almost immediately after the innovation entry into force on the territory of Greece, two Russian tourists who arrived from Turkey for a day excursion were literally dissolved. From the island of Rhodes, they somehow moved to the mainland of Greece, and from there after some time flew to Moscow. Therefore, the Greek side, barely starting the experiment, closed it.

Now citizens of the Russian Federation and Ukraine arriving for a one-day or two-day tour of the Russian Federation and Ukraine are obliged to issue a "island" visa, which gives the right to stay on the islands near Turkey within two weeks.

Bad news: to get somewhere else in Eldead with this visa it is impossible.

Good news: In 2014, Castelaorizon and Simi islands added to the list of "visa-free" islands.

Short-term visa: design and receipt

If you decide to visit not only Turkish resorts, but also the best Greek islands, such as Rhodes or Kos, then you need to make such a decision in advance.

Documents for registration of a short-term "island" visa should be filed no later than a week before the planned excursion.

You can make this in several ways:

• still at home through the tour operator, from which you bought a ticket to one of the Turkish hotels;
• through the hotel guide of his tour operator, being already directly in Turkey;
• through local Turkish tourist agencies, which carry small booking tours to the Greek Islands.

For a short-term visa to the islands of Rhodes, Kos, Samos, Lesbos and Chios, the following documents are necessary:

• certificate from the bank confirming that at least 500 euros are currently available at your account;
• two photos (you can take a picture of both at home, so in the port of arrival at the customs post when you immediately design a visa);
• photocopy of passport;
• ferry tickets to destination and back;
• if the excursion is multi-day, then confirmation of the paid armor at the island of stay.

The tour operator manager or one of the tourist firms of the Turkish coast will prepare all the documents necessary for the Greek side, but the visa itself receive and pay tourists will be already on the land of the Greek Island, passing customs.

The visa is drawn up only after the originals of all documents are present..

The cost of a short-term visa is 35 euros.

Important details

The cost of the "island" of the Greek visa in the design of it through the Turkish travel agency will increase almost twice: the amount will be made up from payment of the work of the agency and directly from Greece's duty for receiving a document on the entry.