Please read this information carefully. It clearly explains what needs to be done to receive a Russia visa. If you have any questions feel free to contact us at travel@grandbaikal.ru.
Part 1: Getting an Invitation
To obtain a Russian visa the first thing you need is to get an invitation or so-called visa-support letter. There are five types of invitations and visas: tourist, business, student, private, and transit.
Unless you plan to stay in Russia less than 3 days, the most efficient options in terms of price and time is the tourist visa.
A tourist invitation is needed to get a tourist visa. Tourist visas can be valid for up to one month and are usually single-entry. The invitation consists of a tourist voucher and a reservation confirmation, which can only be issued by a Russian travel agency registered with the Russian Ministry of Interior Affairs. Usually a tourist visa is the best option if you stay in Russia not longer than one month and need a single-entry visa only.
Part 2: Getting a Visa
When you have an invitation, you need to submit it to the Russian consulate and apply for a visa. It’s better to check beforehand with the Russian consulate that you will apply to if they accept copies of invitations or originals.
To apply for a Russian visa you need to bring the following: your invitation (a fax, in most of the consulates), your signed passport and the photocopy of the vital pages of the passport: the first page, the pages showing your name, birth date, passport number, expiration date (the passport should be valid for at least 3 month after the visa expires), three photographs (passport size - 3 by 4cm), a filled out visa application form (you can pick it up in the consulate). Also, male citizens age 16-45 are required to fill out a supplement form 95 to the standard application form.
After you submit all the documents and papers needed it should take the consulate from 1 to 21 days to make a visa, depending on how much you pay. The total visa expenses include: payment for an invitation (it is included in our travel package free of charge), visa application fee (paid to a Russian consulate), visa registration fee (paid upon arrival to Russian authorities or the travel agency, which issued the invitation) It is also included in our travel packages, unless stated otherwise.
Part 3: Getting your Visa Registered
You need to register your visa within three working days (72 hours) upon your arrival to any Russian city. The registration is a small stamp in your passport. If you do not register your visa, you may be fined by the police (if they stop you) and by passport control officials when you leave Russia.
There are several ways to get your visa registered. If you stay in a hotel they can register your visa for the whole period of your visa validity (but not more than 3 months). If you stay somewhere else (in an apartment, with your friends, camping etc.), then the Russian company / organization or the person that made the invitation for you should register your visa. However, if you are traveling with Grand Baikal this issue should not bother you at all.
