How to get a Russian business visa

Need a Russian visa?

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• official invitation
• passport with at least two blank visa pages
• money order
• cover letter
• filled out form

1. You need an official invitation issued by the Russian Ministry of the Internal Affairs of Russia, its local offices or the Russian Foreign Ministry, its regional offices, or any other authorized Russian agency. The official invitation must contain the following: official seal and legal address of the agency, document registration number, date of registration, signature and name of an authorized official, travel itinerary, dates of stay, names of persons invited.

2. 

   Your passport with at least two blank pages for the Russian visa.

3. Make a copy of your passport's pages with your name and signature on it.

4. US citizens must fill out the application form foud here: http://www.consulrussia.org/docs/Visa/Form_USA_eng_letter.pdf
   Non-US citizens must fill out the application form found here: http://www.consulrussia.org/docs/Visa/Form_NonUSA_eng_letter.pdf

5. 

   Make a money order or a cashier's check for $250 if you want the processing to take 3 days and $131 if you do not mind if the processing time is between 4 and 20 days. Make payments payable to the Russian Consulate General.

6. You or your company must also write a cover letter specifying the purpose of your visit, dates of arrival and departure, cities to be visited in Russia and the telephone or fax number where you can be reached.

7. 

   If you fit into any category below, please visit the following website: http://www.consulrussia.org/eng/rules.html
   
   
   Children
   Guests of foreign diplomatic staff
   EU citizens
   Former USSR and Russian citizens
   German citizens
   Canadian citizens
   Citizens of Estonia, Israel and Finland, as well as for the citizens of Schengen Agreement Member-States (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and other Schengen states)
   US citizen staying over 6 months
   Non-US citizen staying over 3 months
   Need a double-entry Visa

Tips & Warnings

• This information is from the San Francisco consulate. See if your general consulate has different instructions.

Resources

• San Francisco Consulate - Business Visa

[greatstuff]

on 7/31/2009 5*

[jenng]

on 7/31/2009 Great article on How to get a Russian business visa 5*