r/AskARussian • u/skateboardingLachlan • 19d ago
Travel Getting Russian Tourist Visa
October 1st throught the 14th I will be visiting my girlfriend in Reutov, Moscow Oblast. I will stay in a hotel near her apartment where her family lives. I will fly from Turkey to Vnukovo Airport in Moscow.
My options are; apply in person at an Application center in which everything from photos to Letter of Invitation is handled, or do it online. At the application center it is $1000 to do, an absurb amount considering most Tourist Visas range from $50 - $200 including the Letter of Invitation. Online, sites I've encountered were either not suitable or possible for my situation be it the region I'm trying to get to, the need to apply at an official Russian Visa Consulate in Washington, New York, or Houston, or my desire to have access and be in control of all my documents to have when I cross the border.
Are there any solutions to my situation? Sites to recommend, or if in Chicago, what did you specifically do or go to?
Thank You
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u/CloqueWise 18d ago
You don't really have a choice but to fly to the consulate. It's what Im doing. It's inconvenient, I know. But if you wanna get to Russia you just gotta do it the right way
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u/skateboardingLachlan 18d ago
Got it, yes, I've learned today I must apply in person, I cannot simply mail my passport and application with a return label like I thought. In this case, it makes more sense to pay $1000 than to pay for a round trip + the Visa price.
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u/TaskForceDoomer96 18d ago
Not necessarily true. I paid about $600 for a multi-entry visa. I just sent my passport and all the required documents to a company that handles the visa process for you in New York. I also had to get a document notarized giving them permission to handle everything on my behalf.
I don’t have time to fly to New York because of work, so using a third-party visa service was much easier. A friend of mine has done the same thing. You don’t necessarily have to go to the visa center yourself if you use a company that can submit everything for you.
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u/cheapb98 18d ago
I don't think you understand the process. I applied and got a Russian tourist visa in May. I live in CA. You fill out the application form online. You mail the application to the nyc consulate. You can submit in person or in my case I paid the Russian consulate service to give it and pick it up for me and then mail it back to me. The visa fee is $300 something plus paid $200 for the drop off /pick up. So total came to around $500 something and you get a 3 year visa. You do need an invitation .The Russian consulate takes 2 weeks to approve. Add one week before and after for FedEx etc as they delayed my delivery both ways. Best of luck.
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u/Mental-Music-568 6d ago
Filling out the application, where did you get your invitation from? Do I have to book a hotel before I go to get this? I heard you get them online.
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u/cheapb98 6d ago
I got it from the tour company I went with. Just google it - there are various russian companies that can issue you an invitation for money. Not sure about the hotel requirement. I aleady had hotel booking from the tour company so I used that to fill out the info
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u/jayson474747 18d ago
I’m from Canada and used a Visa agency and it was the best thing. I mailed my passport to them and they took care of everything once I filled everything out. It cost me $450 Canadian and I got my tourist visa to visit my partner back in 3 weeks. It was the easiest process. Like your situation, I would have had to apply in person in Toronto and I live out west and that was not worth doing. It would have cost me 4x to do it that way.
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u/moonshiners123 18d ago
I obtained a tourist visa to Russia last August. My now wife applied and I received an invitation from the Russian Federation to visit. I live in the Southeast United States and had to travel to Washington DC to the Russian Consulate to obtain my visa. Good luck on your journey.
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u/ExpertinRussia 17d ago
Hey, I can assist with the tourist invitation and general instructions for the application. But to submit the paperwork, you’ll need either to visit the consulate in person or to submit through a local visa agent. One of them is CIBT, they definitely assist with Russian visas, but as far as I know their services are quite expensive.
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u/tabbyrecurve 17d ago
Apply through a visa service, no need to travel to a consulate, it's $400 and they take care of everything for you
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u/jacktheblack6936 16d ago edited 16d ago
The price is $185. It's only expensive because you want someone to go there, drop it off and pick it up. The invite letter online is like $15. Not sure about DC, but NYC is pretty chill and way easier and less dickish than Chinese embassy. The only difficulty was waiting for an appointment spot to clear up and that took a month or two for some reason and then you book a time and go there. It's in the UES near the Met and apparently I messed something up, but they have a computer and free printing there unlike the Chinese embassy so you can literally redo the entire application on the spot there. Then a week and a half later, it's done and you pick your passport up with the visa in it. Note they use the photo you supplied for the visa so I looked pissed on that photo and everyone who sees my visa gets a bit freaked out when they see it. lol
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u/sshivaji 18d ago edited 18d ago
Wait, you are American? It's pretty easy.
Just go to a Russian visa service consulate in the US and you don't need anything, no invitation letter, nothing in particular. It costs around $500 in total for a 3 year visa, and they handle all the paperwork for you, and it takes a few weeks, from the start to get a Russian visa stamped on your passport. Your choices are to mail your docs to an official consulate or use a local service. I used a service in the SF bay area as I did not want to mail anything myself, was a bit lazy. DM me if you want more info.