Temedar

I've never seen anyone being asked to provide it during passport control on entry to Russia.

pdquick

I just picked up my new 3-year multiple entry tourist visa yesterday.

For visa support (the letter of invitation, or LOI), I used gotorussia.com. You click "Visa support only" and it gives you options for 1-hour, 12-hour, and 24-hour turnaround time. I chose the 24-hour option for $20. For the LOI, you select single-entry or double-entry, whichever applies to the current trip; don't confuse this with the fact that you'll be applying for the multiple entry visa. The LOI only applies to the current trip. After entering my passport, hotel reservation, and credit card details, I got the link to the LOI in my email inbox instantly (i.e., no 24-hour delay). You open it and print out the document.

My hotel would have provided the LOI free of charge, but with the provision that if you cancel your reservation, you become liable for a €75 charge to your credit card. I decided to be out $20 rather than risk being out for €75 if something went wrong with the visa or travel plans.

When filling out the form at visa.kdmid.ru, you have to put in the name of the agency issuing the LOI, and the reference number. On the gotorussia.com LOI, the official name is "Atlanta" but I only know that because I can read Cyrillic; they don't say that in Latin script anywhere on the page. They do, however, tell you in English to use the "Reference number MBT 014449." When entering it into the application, you only use the numbers. If you have an LOI with only Cyrillic letters, look for the phrase "Референс Но." I also had to transliterate the address, which for gotorussia.com's "Atlanta" is Ulitsa Pyatnitskaya 3/4, 3yi Etazh, Moscow 115035, Russia. The final printed form omits the address, so who knows if it's even necessary?

I had to cut down my passport photos, which were 2"x2". They want 25x45 mm. I gather from other comments that the visas didn't include the photo as recently as last year, but now they do.

I live in San Francisco, so I went to the San Francisco Invisa Logistics site at 145 Natoma Street. The cross street is New Montgomery. Use the Montgomery stop from BART or Muni Metro and walk down New Montgomery. Natoma is between Mission and Howard, after Minna. Turn right from New Montgomery and go to the red brick building at the left end of the alley. They have a finicky outside gate. You ring 002 on the intercom and then you have to pull really hard on the doorknob the instant you hear the click. Both times I was there it took multiple tries to get the gate open to get inside. Take the elevator to the second floor.

The couple ahead of me was turned away because they had printed confirmation of their reservation of their river cruise, but no LOI. I handed in a copy of my confirmation from my hotel along with the LOI, but the clerk handed the reservation confirmation right back to me. All they want is the LOI. The home-printed copy is sufficient.

The clerk quizzed me about my departure date, which is different from my visa start date, but only to be sure that the date on the visa application was not in error. I explained that I would be in Finland for the first few days before going to Russia. She told me my visa would be ready on August 11 (ten business days later) and handed me an invoice to take to the cashier two windows down. I handed the cashier my postal money order for $193 and she gave me a receipt.

Yesterday I went back to the window, handed the cashier my receipt, and she handed me the passport with the new visa in it, and that was that.

TravelinSperry

In my case they didn't ask bupkus. Entry was as easy as pie with the Visa. Exit was easy too (although the guy at exit seemed pissed I was an American - threw my Passport back at me after he stamped it). Perhaps he was just having a bad day and it had nothing to do with me being an American. But it sure felt bad whatever it was

BuildingMyBento

Hi FT,

I'd like to go to St. Petersburg and Moscow early next month; is it too late to apply for a tourist visa (even if I used an agent to do everything)? I'd be applying in NY, if that affects anything.

Also, since this would be my first Russian visa, am I still permitted to the 3-year one?

Thanks,
BmB

nycflyer

I started the visa application in NYC in person at the end of July and am visiting Russia now. Turnaround time from passport drop off to pickup was 10 days. I got the 3-year multiple entry visa, my first Russian visa, an easy choice as the price is the same as for single entry.

ils-usa.com shows appointments at the "Visa Application Center in New York" as early as this Monday 17th, but accepts walk-ins. Prepare docs beforehand including visa support invitation, the online visa application and (Russian-spec) visa photo of yourself. WayToRussia is a good guide of necessary steps and includes a link to get the invitation. US citizens don't need proof of health insurance.

The fee for regular 10-day service is $160, which rises to $450 if you wait and need expedited (2-3 day) service.

BuildingMyBento

Thanks for your reply, nycflyer.

Encouraing to hear that you got a 3-year visa for your first. What was the system like at ILS USA (e.g. if I wanted to bring my laptop to work, is that possible? do we need proof of insurance?)?

Did you have to show proof of an airline reservation?

nycflyer

ILS is a contractor for the Russian consulate, they pre-filter for errors that could delay your visa application. You prepare the application beforehand, then bring hard copies (not your laptop) of 1) the invitation letter, 2) the visa application itself and 3) your visa photo to the ILS office plus your passport. They check those documents, then send them for processing.

You don't need to show an air reservation or proof of health insurance (US citizens). If you're not covered by health insurance abroad you should get a travel policy.

UA Fan

Some of my experiences:

1. There is no need to apply through any other visa agent apart from ILS. I believe all that these agents do is transfer the docs to ILS.

2. You don't have to apply in the embassy nearest you. I live in DFW but applied at the NY embassy as the IAH embassy had some extra requirements (health insurance proof).

3. Contact the hotel you will be staying at and they might issue the invitation for free. If you cancel your reservation with them, there is a fee. I stayed at the Park Inn in Ekaterinburg using points and got it done for free.

4. Make sure you get the invitation dated on the date you enter Russia, rather than just the days you plan on staying in the hotel issuing the resv.

BuildingMyBento

Thanks for your replies, nycflyer and UA Fan.

Yesterday I applied with waytorussia, and today I received the "Visa Support Documents" email.

Which of the two pdfs should I print out for the consulate (I'm just going to have the consulate fill out my application)?

BmB

payam81

I have a half day stop over at SVO and thinking about a day tour in to the city.

Reading the Visa requirements for Canadian passport holders, it looks like there is a category for 72 Hour Transit Visa that seems to fit my purpose of visit.

Does anyone have experience with this and is this the category I need for a quick city tour? Obviously I wouldn't have a hotel reservation or a LOI for a tourist visa so I think this is the right category, but thought I ask the more experienced folks here as well.

Many thanks!

payam81

To answer my own question, TR2 Transit Visa was the right category. They needed a letter to say I'd like to go to town for a few ours in lieu of an LOI which I just hand wrote right there.

The girls at the visa center were a bit surprised that I'm paying CAD $145 for a few hours of visiting Moscow.

BuildingMyBento

I'll be in Moscow today and tomorrow (12/13 September) if anyone would want to meet up. Staying near Novokuznetskaya.

JFSV

Just FYI - I just read (via newsletter from Real Russia) that apparently there are new (easier) rules regarding Business Visas for EU citizens and a couple of other countries such as Japan. Has anyone seen anything else on this?

In short, this means I could now apply for up to 3 year business visa with relatively a quick turn around and reasonable cost.

I know this was available already for US passportholders but seems this was not the case (until now?) for EU citizens.

Scifience

How have others handled the "list of countries visited in the past 10 years" question?

The form asks for both the country and "visit date," which would seem to suggest a separate entry for each visit, but the form seems to max out at 30 entries so there's no way I can list them all... actually, even if I just do one per country, ignoring multiple visits, they won't all fit.

ffsim

I put the most recent visit to a particular country starting with the most recent and working backwards. If you've visited more than 30 countries in the past 10 years, I'd just cap it at 30. It's not like the give you any 'additional comments' section IIRC.