The Russian government introduced a fast-processing system of electronic St. Petersburg visa (or Leningrad region) and the Kaliningrad region in October 2019. This visa is valid for citizens of a majority of the European Union countries excluding the United Kingdom, Norway, and most Eastern countries including India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Turkey, Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Korea, Singapore, and Oman. If you are from the USA or UK, you need to apply for a standard business visa or tourist visa Russia instead of eVisa.

Visa Rusia Application Process:

There is no need for any sponsorship, hotel reservation, invitation or visa support to apply for Russian e-visa. You will need to provide your recent passport-size photo with a full-white background, authentic information about yourself including your full name, occupation, date of birth, home address, a valid email ID, and contact number. Along with that, you will need to submit health insurance documents, passport details and expiration date. Make sure that your passport has at least one blank page on which the stamp will be applied. Also, EU citizens must have travel insurance when applying for eVisa Russia.

Far-East Russia Visa Requirements- Vladivostok and Siberia:

The electronic visa Far-East Russia can be obtained for visiting the following areas:

• Amur region
• Vladivostok
• Sakhalin
• Khabarovsk
• Zabaikalsky krai
• Kamchatka
• Buryatia (including Ulan-Ude and Baikal eastern shore)

Citizens of the European Union countries, Norway, Switzerland, and some Asian countries including Taiwan, India, Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Singapore, Malaysia, and Turkey are eligible to apply for Russian visa application. Additionally, the UK and USA citizens can also apply for electronic visa Far-East.

E-visa Far-East will be granted for no more than a 30-days period and you can enter the specific territory of your choice within the Far-East Russia region for an 8-day period. Remember that you can only travel within the Far-East region and not anywhere else in the Russian Federation.

Far-East Russia eVisa Application Process:

As per the eVisa requirements, applications must be submitted no earlier than 20 days and no later than 4 days before your desired date of entering the Russian Federation if you wish to obtain a visa at the right time. It takes a maximum of four calendar days for your application to be processed and visa to be issued. You will need to submit your most recent passport size photograph with white background, personally identifiable information including your full name, occupation, date of birth, residence address, and contact number.

Furthermore, you will be required to submit health insurance and travel insurance documents for a Russia visa online. Complete information of your passport including passport number, your full name on the passport, and expiration date. Make sure that your passport has a blank page for stamping purposes

Russia Visa Requirements for UK/USA Citizens and Other Regions:

For residents of the UK or USA who are not eligible to apply for Russia electronic visa, or want to visit certain regions that are not covered under the Russia eVisa program such as, Irkutsk region or Moscow, there are special ways to apply for Russia visa online. For this purpose, you will need to fulfill the following requirements:

• Obtain a Russian visa support letter or invitation letter. This can be obtained online after filling out and submitting a Russia tourist visa form. Provide a valid email address where you will be sent the tourist visa support document.
• Carefully fill the electronic visa Russia application form and keep cross checking if you are entering the right information.
• Once you have submitted the form, you will receive the visa application number. Now, you will be required to book an appointment at any official Russian visa center. Use ILS/VHS if you are applying from the USA, Germany, France, or any other country in the EU, or Asian country, and VFS Global if applying from the UK.
• Ideally, you should visit the Russian visa center a few days after receiving the application number. This will be a ten minutes long appointment and you will only be required to submit the application along with the visa support document, your passport size photograph, and passport. You may be asked to present valid travel insurance to get your Russian visa, so it is better that you carry it along when visiting the visa center.
• Your passport will be sent back to you within two weeks after the visa is issued.

What if you cannot Visit the Consulate to Obtain Russian Visa?

There might be situations when you are unable or do not want to go to the consulate on your own. In such a situation, you don’t need to postpone your visa application process because we can help you out. It is possible to hire a credible travel agent to pick your passport from the consulate and deliver it to you. You only will need to collect Section 1 and Section 2 documents and the rest will be the responsibility of the travel agency.

Russia eVisa - What you Need to Know?

Your passport must indicate full date of birth, that is, the date, month, and year of birth clearly. If the full date of birth is not specified in your original passport, your Russian eVisa application will not be accepted for processing. Remember that Russia eVisa is a single-entry visa issued for a period of 30-days. During this time you can stay in the selected region for a maximum of 8 calendar days.

You need to be very careful when traveling on an eVisa as there are certain restrictions imposed on travelers regarding their movement within the country. Such as, if you are staying in St. Petersburg and want to travel to Moscow you will need a Moscow visa for this purpose. There aren’t any active checkpoints between the two cities, but this doesn’t mean that you can travel freely.

If you try to travel to a location outside of the region you have obtained the eVisa for, you will break the Russian immigration law. It is suggested that you stay within the region of your Russia eVisa, and leave from that very destination.

Another important point to note is that the 8-day duration will not be calculated in hours. For instance, if your Russia visa is valid from 22 August 2020 to 23 September 2020, you can enter your desired region anytime within this duration. Regardless of the time of your entry, you must leave the country before the start of the 9th day; that is before 12:00 am midnight. Such as, if you have entered St. Petersburg on 25 August 2020 at 1:00 pm, you should be leaving the city on 1 September 2020 before 23:59 pm and not 1:00 am.

How we can Help you Obtain Russian Visa Easily?

If you want to obtain a visa without facing any problems or risking rejection due to application mistakes, it is better to hire a travel agent and prevent yourself from the hassle of applying all over again in case your application is rejected. Moreover, you can learn a great deal about the salient travel restrictions and rules that you must follow while traveling with a Russian eVisa.

Consult our visa specialists today to apply for a Russia visa online. Our specialists have a full understanding of Russian visa requirements and can fill the form on your behalf and check the validity of your documents before submitting them. Moreover, we will help you select the right category of eVisa between the permitted eVisa categories because if you choose the wrong purpose of visit the application will be rejected. Such as, if you intend to visit Russia to meet your friends, you will need to apply for a different category of visa. Contact us today to learn more about how to correctly apply for a Russian visa.