Seafarers’ Union of Russia and Russian Labour Confederation request to facilitate issuance of US visas to Russian seafarers

The Seafarers’ Union of Russia (SUR) and the Russian Labour Confederation (KTR) sent a joint letter to Mr.Jon M.Huntsman, Jr., Ambassador of the United States of America in Russia, with a request to facilitate issuance of non-immigrant US visas to Russian seafarers.

As one knows, due to a disagreements between the USA and the Russian Federation, American visas, following the decision of the US Embassy, are issued only in the consular department of the Embassy in Moscow. The trade unions believe that this situation will not only make obtaining American visas much more difficult for seafarers who live far from Moscow but will endanger jobs for Russian seafarers in general, even though there is big demand for Russian seafarers in the international job market because they are well prepared and competent specialists.

By approximate estimation there are 100 to 150 thousand Russian seafarers working in the maritime industry. A considerable number of vessels (mostly those flying flags of convenience), where there are Russian crewmembers, visit American ports.

Without valid US visas it would be impossible to change crews in the United States. That means that for crew replacement a vessel should go to ports outside the USA which also means extra costs for shipowners. As a result, seafarers can stay on board longer which contradicts the terms of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006 pertaining to the maximum duration of onboard service.

Since visa interviews now take place in the US Embassy in Moscow, visa processing involves additional costs as shipowners have to pay for seafarers’ travel and accommodation. Taking into account all of above, this cam lead to situation when shipping companies will prefer not to employ Russian seafarers.

The SUR is concerned with the current situation, and requests the American party to take measures to facilitate issuance of visas for Russian seafarers.  “We, the trade union, as a workers’ representative are concerned about the potential loss of employment opportunities for Russian seafarers and the resulting unemployment among them. Additionally, the Russian Federation is currently the only state which has fully implemented all the technical and organizational requirements of the ILO Convention No.185 on Seafarers’ Identity Documents. During the procedure of obtaining the Russian seafarers’ identity document, Rusian seafarers are thoroughly checked against their potential involvement with terrorist organizations. In case od doubt, the process of verification can be extended to 180 calendar days”, says the trade unions’ letter to the US Ambassador in Russia.

Among the measures which could facilitate issuance of visas, the trade unions suggest possibilities of remote interview, sending documents by post, much longer periods of validity of the visas, etc. Such an approach could, inter alia, mean a significant decrease in the workload upon the US Consulate which now has to process requests for visas from all over the Russian Federation.

The current situation also makes worry the crewing companies which have to adapt to new conditions.

“The situation with American visas does not cause us any enthusiasm and definitely complicates our work”, said Vice General Director of BGI St. Petersburg (a crewing company) Mr.Pavel Kargin.

“The process of obtaining a US visa is delayed for quite a long time which is inconvenient for ourselves, for the shipowners and, naturally, for seafarers. We keep trying to solve the problem by sending employees to neighboring countries for example the Baltic states – if the employees have Shengen visas; this takes much less time which is vey important for us. Luckily for us the problems with employing seafarers are not yet too big. American visas are valid for two years; some of the employees already have visas which are still valid, and for others we start preparations as early as possible. We have much more headache now but we keep trying to solve the problems in the process of work, but if the Embassy decides to mitigate the visa problem, we will be only happy”, Mr.Kargin added.

Both the SUR and the KTR, in close cooperation with our American union partners, the Seafarers’ International Union of North America (SIUNA), the American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, are ready for any working consultations, whether in the United States of America or the Russian Federation. The First Vice President of the SUR Igor Kovalchuk is going to talk on this matter at the forthcoming meeting of the AFL-CIO.