State Committee proposes to reduce fines for violating the visa regime to $15 per night

The State Committee for Tourism proposed to reduce fines for violation of the visa regime by foreign citizens to $15 per night, Kun.uz correspondent reports citing the acting first deputy chairman of the committee Ulugbek Kasymkhodjayev as saying.

It should be noted that currently, in accordance with the article 225 of the Administrative Responsibility Code, “violation of rules of stay by foreign citizens entails a fine of 50-100 times the minimum monthly wages”. This is about 10-20 million soums (1200-2400 dollars).

“We prepared a document on the liberalization of punishments related to violation of the visa regime two months ago. To be honest, we have been talking about this since 2014. We believe, the better for a tourist, the better for the committee. But we are not the one who makes final decisions here, we can only propose. Now the document is under examination in several law enforcement and security agencies,” said Kasymkhodjayev.

According to him, on the one hand, it is very good that such a resonance was received by the recent history of foreign tourists who could not fly from Tashkent due to these restrictions.

“As a result, everyone understood that such a problem exists and the document we prepared began to move around the responsible authorities more quickly. Among the main proposals we put forward is to fine tourists $15 per night for violating rules of stay in the country. The money can be collected upon their departure at the airport. Tourists should not be restricted to leave the country for such an offense,” Kasymkhodjayev concluded.

It is worth recalling that last week Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed the Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with the General Prosecutor’s Office, the State Security Service and the Ministry of Justice, to submit a draft law to the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis, which envisages the liberalization of crimes related to violation of the rules of stay in the country. It should be submitted before the end of February.

In addition, the document should contain a differentiation of measures of administrative responsibility for violation of the rules of stay in the republic, ensuring the operational consideration of this category of cases by the authorized state bodies.

It should be reminded that recently two foreign citizens (Louis Bartoli and Philip Erfürth) were not able fly from Uzbekistan due to visa problems and were brought into custody. Later on, the State Committee for Tourism expressed its regret for the incident and offered reimbursement of material and moral damage in the form of providing a return air ticket and covering the cost of accommodation on additional days of stay in Uzbekistan.