Visa and Registration Services in Russia

Visa and Registration Services (Invitations for foreigners)

To visit Russia, the majority of foreign nationals, from wherever they may be, require a Visa. To apply for a Visa a foreign national must have a written invitation. The invitation may be issued by

• Individual

In this case it is necessary to gather a variety of official documents (such as proof of income) and make a request for an invitation at your local OVIR (Visa and Registration Office) during strictly enforced timeslots. If you are lucky and all the documents are processed, you will get the invitation after your third visitation, and will be able to send the original to the foreign guest.

• Travel Company

Travel companies specializing in tourism have special permission from the Ministry of Tourism to issue invitations to foreign nationals. It is a much quicker and stress-free option to issue an invitation from a travel company and can be processed in a matter of a few hours.

The cost of the invitation from a travel company, if it’s not included in the overall cost of the product (some hotels include it in their rates), averages at 830 to 2000 rubles. You can find plenty of offers on the Internet. Friends offers foreigners Visa processing for half the price – 415 rubles, which we process through our own Visa processing agency.

To receive your invitation just fill this online form and we'll send it to your e-mail within maximum 24 hours.

ONLINE APPLICATION FORM

Registration

After the trouble of getting an invitation and then a visa, under Russian law a foreigner must also be registered upon arrival. Although we don’t agree with this tedious system, we abide by the law to avoid large fines and unnecessary bureaucratic headaches for both us and our guests. We have had unpleasant situations in the past and have learnt our lessons. This is why we chose to create a special visa and registration support office within our company.

Why we charge

Processing the registration documents requires a lot of work (such as scanning, data entry, compiling statistical data for the immigration office about foreign visitors, etc). Also to submit the documents electronically, we have to process them through a private company that sends them to the federal government (for some strange reason this is impossible for us to do directly).

This company charges us 118 rubles. We charge 250 rubles for the overall processing of these documents. We do not include these additional costs in the price of our accommodation, which is set at the same price for both Russians and foreign nationals (not many companies do this, there are often hidden costs that foreigners do not see).

Unfortunately, the current Russian Federal law is quite complicated regarding immigration and foreigner registration. By setting up our own Visa and Registration support office and charging a small fee, we are trying to facilitate your entry into this country and minimize the worries and possible mistakes and fines that can come about as a result of Russia's confusing immigration system.