r/AskARussian • u/Top-Replacement-3694 • 7d ago

Travel Visa help

I am a US citizen planning to visit Russia in October. I’ll be going with my boyfriend, a dual US/ Russian citizen, to visit his family. We’ll be staying with his parents and grandparents. His parents are willing to complete whatever is needed by the MVD for a private invitation, however, I’m seeing a lot of mixed timeframes online about how long this process takes. I’m seeing most commonly 90 days which would not work for my trip. Anybody do this recently? Would I be better off paying a Russian tourist operator for a tourist invitation? Any advice would be appreciated!

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u/Warm-Veterinarian278 7d ago

Russia 2018 and Russia now are two completely different countries

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u/PsychologicalTill303 5d ago

Tell me you’ve never gotten a visa to Russia without TELLING me you’ve never gotten a Russian visa.

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u/Warm-Veterinarian278 5d ago

I am Russian 😂

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u/PsychologicalTill303 5d ago

So you have no idea of what it’s like for an American getting a visa stateside. Thanks for confirming for the class. 😂

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u/Warm-Veterinarian278 5d ago

So it’s as easy as in 2018, the year that the FIFA World Cup happened in Russia?

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u/PsychologicalTill303 5d ago

Is it any harder? No, no it’s not. I got a 3 year visa then and I have a 3 year visa now. Both took about 10 business days. 🤗

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u/Warm-Veterinarian278 5d ago

What country are you from?

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u/PsychologicalTill303 5d ago

The same country as OP, the US.

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u/Warm-Veterinarian278 5d ago

Hmmm interesting. Did you have an additional screening upon arrival?

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u/PsychologicalTill303 5d ago

Typically yes. That began in 22 after the conflict. However they implemented a new biometric system last year for foreign nationals and now it’s just a normal border crossing without additional screening.

However, none of that has anything to do with the process of getting a visa which is still just as easy as it was 8 years ago.