Russian Visa
A visa to the Russian Federation is a document, permitting stay in Russia for a specific period of time. Visa lists entry/exit dates, your name, passport details, and a purpose of travel. There are seveal types of Russian visa: tourist visa, business visa, private visa, transit visa.
Any type of visa to the Russian Federation is issued by Russian Consulates in your country. Visa requirements and fees vary from country to country; please check with the Russian Consulate in your country of residence. You can obtain a visa from a Russian Consulate directly or via one of agencies assisting in visa application formalities offering their help to obtain a Russian visa, if they there are in your country. The agencies work in close contact with the corresponding Russian Consulates. Many travel agencies can take care of your visa via one of these visa-assisting agencies. If you will apply directly to the nearest Russian Consulate, please note that in many countries Russian Consulates do not accept applications sent by post.
To apply for a Russian visa, you need the documents also known as visa support documents, which depend on the type of visa you request. The Euler Institute staff can assist you with the necessary visa support documents. To get our help, you have to complete online our Visa Form by filling in all data fields, and to submit it. This will return to you by e-mail the completed form to confirme that we have received it. In case you encounter any problem with this Visa Form, please send an e-mail to Yanina Shibaeva (shibaeva@pdmi.ras.ru).
The assistance of Euler Institute staff depends on the type of visa you need:
Tourist visa
To apply for a Russian tourist visa, you will need as visa support documents a hotel voucher and a booking confirmation of tourist acceptance for every night of your stay in the country. These visa support documents can be arranged on a commercial basis by a travel agency or an appropriate visa-assiting agency. In this case, you will not need any assistance of Euler Institute staff. But if you will book directly a hotel in St.Petersburg, please get in touch with them to obtain tourist visa support documents. Normally it suffices to have a copy of visa support documents in order to get a tourist visa (please check with the Russian Consulate). Demand them to sent you such a copy by fax or by e-mail as an attached file. Note however that not all hotels are licenced to issue visa support documents, and you may ask the Euler Institute staff for assistance concerning needed visa support documents by sending us the aforesaid Visa Form duly fulfilled. Note that a citizen of EU country who works abroad in one of non-EU countries, and who wants to enter Russia from the country there he works, is strongly advised to apply for a Russian tourist visa, because the issue of a business visa in this case meets usually some formal difficulties.
Business visa for residents of EU countries
To apply for a Russian business visa, you will need an official invitation from the Euler Institute. Such an invitation can be provided by the Euler Institute staff free of charge. However, you will need an original of this invitation in order to obtain a visa. The original will be sent to you by an express mail the postage of which will be added to your registration fee.
Business visa for residents of non-EU countries
To apply for a Russian business visa, you will need an official invitation issued by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Such an invitation will be obtained for you by the Euler Institute staff free of charge. Note that it will take at least 4-6 weeks. In many cases, a copy of this invitation suffices (please check with the Russian Consulate); such a scanned copy will be sent to you by e-mail as an attached file. If the original is required, this adds the postage to your registration fee.
Note that an official invitation is not a visa! The visa has to be stamped into your passport by the Russian Consulate!