Visa Information Russia & CIS
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VISA SUPPORT & INVITATIONS
This page gives information and links on how to obtain visa, invitations, letters of support, letter of invitation for visa for Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The links to Governments and Online Visa Services give you the opportunity to make a comparison between travel agencies and their prices for visa support.

Russia Visa

Russian embassies in the world

List of Russian embassies in the world

Application of Visa to Russia: what do you need

  • the usual stuff : 1 nice picture of yourself, passport valid at least 6 more months
  • Russian Visa Application forms : Application form for the visa for Russia
  • Maximum duration of stay in Russia : 1 year on business visa, 1 month on tourist visa
  • Price of Russian visum : price depends on the speed of processing, if you have time you sometimes must insist that you want to wait 10 days, because they otherwise charge you lots more to give you the visa on the same day.
  • Russia Tourist visa : you need an invitation, which is a piece of paper you buy by email at a travel agency (see below). Some consulates don`t accept faxed invitations. (give them a call in advance to check). Because the agency also prepares pro forma reservations of accomodation (which you don`t have to use), you have to provide them the cities where you will spend the night. If these cities still are written on your visa or not depends on the embassy where you apply.
  • Russia Business visa : gives you more flexibility when travelling, because there are no cities listed .HIV tests for multiple entry visas must be performed no longer than 3 months before entry into Russia.  Previously, it was 6 months.
  • Russia Transit visa : in case you are doing only a transsiberian railway journey, you can get an extra long transit visa valid for 10 days stay, you need a visa for the next country and a onward ticket

Russia Visa : Letter of invitation - Visa support - ONLY FOR TOURIST VISUM

As always with invitations, the most important thing for an independent traveller is to find an agency which does not requires you to take any extra services (hotel bookings, transport, tours, …) which limit your freedom and cost you lots more. Also the way of payment is important, as bank wire or Western Union payments are not as practical as VISA or payment on arrival. The following selection is what I have found, feel free to send me details of other agencies who offer cheap invitations without further obligations. This selection is purely based on these criteria, it does not takes in account the quality of their service.

Registration of a Russian Visum

  • Russia tourist visa : within 3 business days after you arrived in the country you must register once, binnen de 72u (3 dagen) door de organisatie die je uitnodigt, if you want to register in a hotel you need a "booking letter" of the agency which provided your invitiation; check if they charge you for such a letter.
  • Russia business visa

Extension

If you have more questions

Customs

  • You have to fill in a Russia Customs Declaration Form at the border (English version is available), you fill in the amount of money and jewels you have with you and the name of your camera, let them date-stamp the thing and keep it safe until you leave.