Mexico will begin a new visa regime with lighter paperwork obligations on Monday, hoping to boost trade and tourism from Brazil, Russia, India, China, an Interior Ministry official said Thursday, Xinhua reported.
"The government... aims to simplify the authorization of visa and reduce delivery times so that the international competitiveness of Mexico will be strengthened versus other tourism destinations and investment markets," Alejandro Poire said.
From July, Mexico will receive visa applications by travel agencies on behalf of tourists, publish a list of nationals needing visas on all government websites, and commit to answering all visa applications within 48 hours.
In February, the Mexican government created a new visa class, the Long Duration Consular Visa, which lasts 10 years and allows visitors to come and go multiple times. Mexico is also planning a campaign to encourage Chinese tourism this year.
It also created the transit visa, specifically trying to encourage Brazilians to change planes in Mexico when making journeys to Asia, created electronic systems for Russians to apply for visas and plans to create third party visa applications in India, to spare travelers a trip to New Dehli.
Brazil, Russia, India and China are collectively known as BRIC nations.