Visa policy of Russia

The Government of the Russian Federation allows citizens of specific countries/territories to visit Russia for tourism or business purposes without having to obtain a visa, often based on bilateral agreements. Citizens of other countries have to obtain a visa from the embassy of their residence country.

Visa policy of Russia (the map doens't include Peru).

Visa

Russian visa

The Russian visa is a machine-readable document, which is placed in the passport. It contains a transcription of the name in the Cyrillic script and all fields are indicated in Russian and English. The indication of nationality and entry requirements however is only written in Russian. The machine-readable strip contains the name based on romanization of the Cyrillic name, and does not necessarily reflect the name as it was written in the Roman script (example in the figure: Christoph --> (Cyrillic) Kpиcтoф --> (transcription; roman) Kristof). Contrary to guidelines for machine-readable documents, the issuing country abbreviation (RUS) not is shown at the positions 2-4 (e.g. starting V>RUS), and the last name starts immediately in the second field: VLASTNAME>>FIRSTNAME.

Types of visa

There are several types of Russian visas - travel visa that usually lasts for 30 days, business visa and homestay visa that applies when a person is staying at their friends or relatives home.

Applying for visa

All types of Russian visa are received through the Russian embassy. Provided all the documents are ready, the process usually takes no more than 3-10 workdays for Russian travel visa.

Russian Tourist Visa requirements:

• Original passport
• One photo (colour, passport size photo)
• Tourist invitation
• Russian Consulate Application Form

The Russian Consulate requires the visa application form to be printed on A4 paper with right and bottom margins of 5mm. A failure to meet these requirements will invalidate your form.

Costs for visa

Visa applications must be submitted in person to visa administration centres - not the Russian Embassy or Consulate. Costs differ per administration centre. Visa Handling Services charge a small amount on top of this fee; however, they normally check the completed application form meets all requirements and submit the documents on your behalf.

Eligible countries for visa-free entry

Holders of passports issued by the following nations are not required to obtain a visa prior to travel:

Unlimited period

• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Moldova
• Tajikistan
• Ukraine
• Uzbekistan

Special requirements:

• Estonia and Latvia – non-citizen passport holders only [1]

90 days

• Abkhazia
• South Ossetia
• Argentina (a maximum of 90 days in a 180 day period for ordinary passport holders and provided the purpose of visit is not for work or commercial reasons)
• Brazil (a maximum of 90 days in a 180 day period for ordinary passport holders and provided the purpose of visit is not for work, study, charity, scientific research, religious or commercial reasons)
• Chile (a maximum of 90 days in a 180 day period for ordinary passport holders and provided the purpose of visit is not for work or commercial reasons)
• Colombia (a maximum of 90 days in a 180 day period for ordinary passport holders and provided the purpose of visit is not for work or commercial reasons)
• Ecuador (a maximum of 90 days in a 180 day period for ordinary passport holders and provided the purpose of visit is not for commercial reasons)
• Guatemala [2]
• Israel "Tourist documents or the original invitation accordingly are required to be presented to the Russian Immigration authorities. Visa free regime does not apply for Diplomatic and Service passports holders."
• Macedonia
• Nicaragua (a maximum of 90 days in a 180 day period for ordinary passport holders and provided the purpose of visit is not for commercial reasons)
• Peru
• Uruguay
• Venezuela

30 days

• Cuba
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (NOTE: Many tourists have reported situations where they were barred from entering BAH on account of not having a so-called "tourist voucher." These are corrupt officials looking for bribes and should be reported to the Ministry of Tourism and Sport.)
• Macau (entering into force later in 2011)
• Montenegro
• Mozambique (Diplomatic and Service passports holders only)
• Serbia (with biometric passports issued after 9 April 2008)
• Thailand
• Turkey

14 days

• Brunei (Only Diplomatic and Service passports holders)
• Hong Kong (Only Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport holders)

Visa-free regime for cruise ship passengers

Since May 2009 international tourists have been able to stay in Russia visa-free up to 72 hours when entering Russia through the ports of Anadyr, Sochi, Novorossiysk, Vladivostok, Korsakov, Kaliningrad, Vyborg or St.Petersburg by ferry. This exception applies, however, only to persons who travel within an organised group and do not intend to explore the cities on their own.

Transit without a visa

Passengers travelling through international airports do not need a visa for a transit of less than 24 hours, provided a confirmed onward ticket is held, the traveller remains in the international transit area (without clearing passport control).

That said, most Russian airports do not have an international transit area. The most important exceptions are:

• Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport (SVO) which has an international transit area common for terminals D, E and F;
• Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport (DME) which has an international transit area in its only terminal;
• Yekaterinburg's Koltsovo International Airport (SVX) which has an international transit area in its international terminal.

Flights to or from Belarus or Kazakhstan are considered domestic, so transit without visa does not apply.

See also

• Visa requirements for Russian citizens

External links

• How to Get Russian Visa at Moscow Russia Insider's Guide
• Russian Visa Requirements
• UK-based Visa Handling Service