Question by Allan: What is best way to get tourist visa to Moscow Russia?
I will be in Ukraine and my girfriend wants me to travel by train to Moscow to visit and stay with friends. She does not want friends to have to apply for a visitor visa for me, she wants me to get tourist visa. It appears only way to get tourist visa is to have hotel reservations for time of our stay, about 5 days. I need to find out best way to get tourist visa without paying for hotels or plane tickets which I do not need?
Answers and Views:
Answer by Renaud
You can go thru a travel agency that can help you get your visa or at the very least give (sell) you the official documents you would require to apply for a visa on your own.
To apply for a visa yourself, you will need to provide a “visa support”, essentially a paper that is prepared by a travel agency registered with the Russian Ministery of Interior.
I use the services proposed by Go To Russia Travel http://www.gotorussia.com/index.htm. They are based in Atlanta, GA and will be able to give (for $ 29) you this visa support. You can apply online and just need to give some information (name, passport number, date of travel, destination). They will prepare the document, which will be validated by an official travel agency in Russia and will email it to you. Their service is reliable and fast. I’ve used it several times without any problem.
If you are residing in the US and don’t mind sending them your passport, they can also apply for the visa on your behalf. I’ve used that service in the past as well and again without any problem.
While this sounds weird (it definitely looks like you buy a visa thru some obscure channel), this is a totally legal business.
Note: depending on your nationality, you may also need to provide a proof of health insurance (I use TravelGuard, http://www.travelguard.com).
Note #2: If you stay in Russia for more than three days, you will need to be registered with the local authorities. Go To Russia has offices in Moscow and St Petersburg that can assist you with this as well. Normally, this would be taken care of by the hotel you’re staying at, but since you won’t stay at any hotel, those offices provide a valuable service. If you travel somewhere else, I’m not sure how you could get this registration done. I would call Go To Russia and ask. Everything is possible in Russia, after all…
Read all the answers in the comments.
What do you think?
Matthew M says
The bigger hostels will have travel support. They can help you with the visa for a small fee. Normally the price of staying at their faciltuy for one night. I have used a hostel in St Petersburg a couple times for this very thing, and it was very easy and all the info was on their website. Have fun.
Keith B says
Your prior answer is your best bet. Use Internet site Go To Russia.
John S says
There are a ton of online places to obtain the visa support that you need to get a visa. Your hotel or tour guide can also sell you the support letter some don't charge but it's extremely (99.999% rare) that they won't be prepared to spend about $ 260-300 to be on the safe side. The Russian Federation embassy's website will detail the process and provide forms. The good thing about the online visa services is that they can sell you the support letter and the visa all in one shot. Keep in mind the RF's regulation now as of the last time I checked is you have to be a maximum of 90 days out to apply. Also make sure that either you or somebody that you know speaks and reads Russian because the embassy is notorious for messing up documents. Make sure to list every city in Russia you intend to visit and definitely make sure to register at the hotels and appropriate local immigration offices. If you don't you will be in for a nightmare. Hope this helps! It comes from a former resident of Moscow.