The Electronic Visa (e-Visa) has emerged as one of the most innovative services implemented in the area of freedom of movement and people-to-people contacts.E-Visa allows the management of the visa application process to take place entirely in a virtual environment. Everything is done with the help of the Internet: the visa application and supporting documents are submitted online, the payment is made online and the decision on the application is communicated online. Some of the best examples of e-Visa services I have encountered are implemented by the authorities of Australia, Turkey, New Zealand and Georgia.

Serving as Chief Information Officer at the Moldovan Foreign Service, I had the opportunity to lead the development of the Moldova e-Visa Service in partnership with the World Bank’s eTransformation project.

The Moldovan e-Visa service was launched on August 1, 2014. So far, we can make the following observations and conclusions about the benefits of e-Visa: