Visa to Russia - The Right Way.

In order to enter Russia a valid passport and entry visa are required. Travelers without passport or entry visa may be subject to large fines, days of processing backlog s, and /or immediate deportation by route of entry (at own expense). All types of visa to russia are issued by Russian Embassies/Consulates abroad based on a support letter (the so-called "izveshenie" or invitation) from a Russian individual or organization (e.g. 'sponsor') and other supporting documentation. The US Consulate in St. Petersburg (and Embassy in Moscow) cannot act as sponsor.

In most cases a single-entry tourist visa is sufficient for traveling to Russia for a short (up to 30 days) period of time. All you need to do to obtain this visa is to contact your hosting travel agent / tour operator in Russia and request their visa support kit. It consists of two documents issued per person: a Tourist Confirmation Letter (also called Letter of Acceptance) and a travel voucher. Usually there is a small charge for issuing these documents and for faxing them to you and to the Russian Consulate in your area. After you receive these documents you will need to mail or take them in person to the Russian Consulate servicing your area (click here for a list of Russian Embassies).

A complete application for visa to russia consists of the following items:

Depending on the turnaround time you choose, your tourist visa can be ready anywhere from the same day to twelve business days.

Sometimes errors in dates or other information on visas occur. Therefore it is helpful to have someone who reads Russian check your visa to russia prior to your departure from your home country. In case you plan to travel to a number of Russian cities, have all points of entry and all itinerary points in Russia printed on visa to avoid potential difficulties in registering visas and/or lengthy delays in travel.

Visa to Russia Advice for Cruise Passengers.

If you are planning to take a cruise to Russia, you need to consider the following. In case you will join the cruise company shore excursions (which many first-time travelers do), then getting visas through your cruise line is the optimal choice. However, if private tour arrangements are more to your liking and you want to have a personal tour guide showing you around, please refrain from using the cruise reference number supplied in your cruise brochure - get your visa support kit from the actual company you will be touring with. This is extremely important because the Russian customs regulations stipulate that your hosting travel agent (i.e. your visa sponsor) is held responsible for your entire stay in Russia and, hence, can exercise control over your entry into Russia.

This said, if you obtain your visas through the cruise company and decide to tour St. Petersburg with a private tour guide, you may well be refused disembarkation. While being profoundly frustrating, such a refusal is perfectly understandable, since the cruise line's local travel partner clearly cannot assume responsibility for those touring the city on their own. Fair is fair.

Additional Points to Consider.

All travelers staying in Russia more than 3 days must register their visa thr ough a hotel or their sponsor . Visitors who overstay their visa's validity (even for one day), or neglect to register, may be prevented from leaving and/or pay late registration fine at the customs when leaving from Russia. Thus, travelers who have not registered their visa during their visit run potential risk of missing their flight back home, as filling out forms and paying the fine takes some time.

Due to random document checks by police, carry original s or copies of passports and registered visas. Failure to provide proper documents can result in detention , heavy fines or even cancellation of your visa resulting in your immediate deportation. A recent case of similar deportation took place in Moscow when an American couple were stopped by police in the Arbat Street for document check and were deported the next day, as their visas had not been registered for 11 days since their entry to Russia.

Travelers planning to stay more than 3 months in Russia must present a negative HIV certificate. The c ertificate must contain applicant's passport data, proposed length of stay, blood test results for HIV infection, including date of test, signature of doctor conducting test, medical examination results, diagnostic series and seal of hospital/medical organization. Certificate must be in Russian and English , and valid for 3 months from the date of medical examination.