Almaviva warns of disruption to Italian visa bookings in Russia

Italian visa operator Almaviva reported problems with its website and booking system in Russia on October 14, attributing them to disruption at its cloud-hosting partner's data centres.

The operator's notice said visa application statuses could also appear with a delay. The company said technical specialists were working to resolve the problems.

The Association of Tour Operators of Russia explained that a delayed status update does not in itself mean there is a problem with the processing of documents. A passport may already be ready while the website still displays older information, Prime reported, citing the association.

Separately, the Russian Union of Travel Industry previously reported difficulties with British visa services. Online bookings through VFS Global were suspended from October 12 because of technical work.

According to the union, applicants temporarily could not book appointments, change existing bookings or upload documents through the British visa operator's website. The Almaviva and VFS Global notices concern separate systems and different technical circumstances.