1. Visa House
2. General Info

General Info

If you are a citizen of the Russian Federation carrying a valid Russian passport, you must enter the country on this passport without a visa. If you left the country before 1992, you must enter Russia on passport of the country of your citizenship. Please see the list of visa-free countries and visa-free trips to find out whether you can travel to Russia without a visa. In the other cases, you will need to obtain a visa.

If your child is under 14 years of age and is added to your passport, he/she can enter Russia on your visa. If a child has his/her own passport, he/she will have to obtain a separate Invitation for a family member visa type. While making an order, please, provide us with the appropriate information on a child travelling together with you. In case one of the parents travelling with a child is a Russian passport holder, the child will need a Russian passport or a private visa. Tourist visa will not be accepted in this case.

To enter the Russian Federation, you need:

• Step 1 – Obtain the Visa Invitation
• Step 2 – Get the visa issued by the Russian Consulate
• Step 3 – Register your visa upon arrival to Russia

To simplify the procedure of a visa getting and avoid possible problems in Russia you are advised to:

1. Familiarize yourself with the information on Russian visas and choose the appropriate type of visa reflecting the purpose of your trip
2. Be informed of visa costs and its following registration
3. Find the best visa assistant who will help you to get an Invitation and a visa at the Consulate and will be able to ensure your secure stay in Russia
4. Place an order and follow its progress.

1. Familiarize yourself with the information on Russian visas to avoid possible problems and unnecessary waste of time, efforts and money. Try to figure out the basic components of the visa getting process, as well as the following entry, stay and departure procedures.

2. The visa cost depends on its type and urgency, your citizenship and chosen Russian Consulate as well as on experience and reliability of your local visa assistant.
The visa cost consists of the sum of compulsory fees, overhead expenses, prices and quality of the visa assistant's services.

Compulsory fees are:

• state fee for a Visa Invitation processing – is charged for certain visa types (400 RUR)
• consular fee – the amount depends on your citizenship and visa urgency (e.g. 35 EUR for non-urgent visa for citizens of the EU)
• Visa Application Centre service charge – in case there is a Visa Application Centre acting under the Consulate, a fixed fee is charged for processing of the documents (usually 30 EUR); in case the biometric data are required, an additional fee is charged (see the list of the Russian Consulates and Visa Application Centres; biometric data are required in London, Edinburg, Copenhagen, Myanmar and Namibia)
• postage – is charged in case when the registration of a visa upon arrival to Russia is processed through the Post Office (about 700 RUR)

Overhead expenses are:

• delivery of the original Visa Invitation to you – Consulates require the original of the Invitation to process some visa types (e.g. the express delivery of the original Invitation for multiple-entry business visa from Russia to some European country costs about 40 EUR)
• your personal trips to the Consulate to submit the package of documents or receive the visa, or postage needed to send the documents and to receive the visa
• the purchase of medical insurance
• submission of some additional documents required by the Consulate

The cost of visa and your waste of time and efforts is determined by the prices and quality of your visa agent's services. A good visa agent will offer you to process a visa with minimal compulsory fees and overhead expenses. Please be noted that there are a lot of different ways to get the desired result in the field of Russian visas.

3. Find the best local visa agent who will help you to get a Visa Invitation and a visa at the Consulate and will be able to ensure your secure stay in Russia.

• One agencies are able to easily solve difficult problems, whereas with others the easiest things can turn into big problems
• Some agencies aim to the long-term future, while others are less far-seeing and just want to find an easy way to make money
• The reputation of some agencies is proved by the years of successful work and appreciations of the grateful clients, while others try to praise themselves without proof.

Please be noted that, under the Russian legislation, a foreign national can be invited to Russia only by a Russian legal entity or individual (Visa Sponsor), whose name is indicated on the Russian visa. Often only a Visa Sponsor is able to solve your possible problems (e.g., replacement of a lost visa, visa extension, etc.)

We advise you to find a visa assistant who:

• uses services of a reliable Visa Sponsor
• has an office in Russia, and you know its address and telephone number
• is accredited to the Russian Migration police
• can help you to register a visa and to solve your possible visa problems
• has a long-term experience of work with Russian visas and can offer additional services
• renders services at reasonable prices without hidden fee

Visa House is your best visa assistant. Our long-term experience of work with Russian visas, use of modern information technologies and good reputation earned from our clients allow us to claim it.

4. Ready to begin? Then start with choosing visa type and local visa assistant, place an order and follow its progress.

Having chosen Visa House you can place and follow your order at any time and from anywhere in the world. Our System has the unique means to let us communicate easily with you. Knowing the current status of your order, you will be safer and easier to plan a trip.