Russian Visas
Procedure of issuing and extending russian visasTo enter the Russian Federation a foreign citizen must submit a valid identity document, accepted as such by the Russian Federation, and a visa, if no other order of entry into the Russian Federation is established by an international agreement.
To obtain a visa a foreign national should apply to a diplomatic or a consular representative office of the Russian Federation personally or by his legal representative and should submit the following documents:
- a valid identity document, accepted as such by the Russian Federation;
- a completed visa application form with one photograph;
- one photograph (30x40 mm);
- a medical insurance policy, unless otherwise provided for by international agreements of the Russian Federation;
- an additional certificate proving that the applicant does not have HIV (AIDS), in case the foreign national applies for a visa for a term exceeding three months.
To obtain a visa the visitor must have an original visa support letter ("priglashenie” to the Russian Federation), issued by one of the Federal Migration Service offices. The letter can be issued on application by a citizen of the Russian Federation, as well as by a foreign citizen or a stateless person residing in the Russian Federation, or by a legal entity.
The following types of ordinary visas can be issued on the basis of invitations provided by the Federal Migration Service offices:
- private;
- business;
- humanitarian;
- study;
- work.
It is necessary to know that the actual purpose of the entry of the foreign citizen must correspond to the type of the visa issued to him (her) .
Entering the Russian Federation the foreign national fills in a Migration card, giving the information contained in the visa, and upon arrival to the point of destination in the territory of the Russian Federation he (she) submits the available documents to the host country for registration in the Migration Service.
A foreign citizen, who did not leave the territory of the Russian Federation upon the date of the visa expiry or did not apply for its extension, can be brought to administrative responsibility (money penalty amounting for 2 000 up to 5 000 rubles) up to and including deportation from the Russian Federation and the sequential 5-year exclusion.