Visa policy of Russia

Ordinary passports

Travelers who are nationals of the following 44 nations are not required to obtain a visa prior to visit Russia as long as their trip lasts no more than the visa waiver limit listed below.

From 2014, citizens of the countries, except Belarus, who have the right to a visa-free entry to Russia must not stay longer than 90 days within any 180 day period. Resetting the allowed period by leaving and re-entering the country is no longer allowed. Overstaying up to 180 days is punishable by a three-year entry ban, on 180–270 days by a five-year entry ban, over 270 days by ten-year entry ban.

1. ^ Internal passport/national identification card accepted.
2. ^ On 18 February 2017 the President of Russia has signed the decree "About Recognition of the Documents Issued to the Citizens of Ukraine and Persons Without Citizenship Living in Territories of Certain Districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions of Ukraine". Holders of passports of  Donetsk People's Republic and  Luhansk People's Republic can carry out entry into the Russian Federation and departure from the Russian Federation without execution of visas. The decree is applied temporarily, for the period before political settlement of a situation in certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine on the basis of the Minsk Agreement.
3. ^ For who born on or before 6 February 1992.
4. ^ If holding a letter of guarantee/invitation and a tourist voucher.

Tour groups

Citizens of  China may visit Russia without a visa for up to 15 days if traveling as part of a tour group (from 5 to 50 persons) that is accompanied by a representative of a tour operator registered in both countries.

Land border with Belarus

Citizens of third countries cannot move via Belarus–Russia land border due to a lack of international border crossing points. Visitors are advised by the Polish Embassy in Belarus to enter mainland Russia via Terehova–Burachki and Senkivka–Novye Yurkovichi.

Visa-free visits for up to 72 hours for cruise ship and ferry passengers

Since May 2009 international tourists entering by regular ferry via several ports have been able to stay in Russia visa-free for up to 72 hours, provided that they spend the night on-board or in accommodation specifically approved by the travel agency.

In addition tourists entering by tourist cruise ships can leave the ship visa-free on tours organized by any authorized local tour company, when entering Russia through the ports of Anadyr, Kaliningrad, Korsakov, Novorossiysk (Port of Novorossiysk), Murmansk (Port of Murmansk), Sevastopol (Port of Sevastopol), Sochi (Port of Sochi), St.Petersburg (Big port Saint Petersburg, Passenger Port of St. Petersburg), Vladivostok, Vyborg, Zarubino (Port of Zarubino).

Entry to the port of St. Petersburg by regular ferry can be done only from the ports of Tallinn (Estonia) or Helsinki (Finland). It is also possible to travel visa-free for 72 hours from the port of Stockholm with the stop in Helsinki.

E-visa to visit certain regions of the Far East

In July 2017, foreign nationals can obtain an e-visa for 8 days to visit 5 regions of the Russian Far East. Will be available to business, humanitarian and tourist purposes. Consular fee for the clearance of e-visas will not be charged. The list of countries will be approved by separate decree of the Russian government. Foreign nationals will have the right to freedom of movement within the territory of the region of Russia, which carried out the entry, subject to the restrictions of the closed territories. It is planned that the entry and exit for e-visa must be made through the following checkpoints:

The draft agreement assumes that foreign citizens before entry into the administrative center of Primorsky Krai Vladivostok will fill in a special electronic visa application on site of MFA. After verification of the questionnaire by competent authorities of the Russian Federation foreigners will receive notice providing the entry visa. A simplified visa scheme was supposed to be in place to be made effective on July 1, 2016, but was postponed due to the lack of regulations passed by the State Duma. On 29 December 2016 the law was submitted for consideration to the Parliament.

Visa-free zones

Local border traffic

The agreement was suspended indefinitely from 4 July 2016.

Diplomatic and service passports

Under reciprocal agreements, holders of diplomatic or various categories of service passports (official, service, special, consular) issued by the following jurisdictions are allowed to enter and remain in Russia for up to 90 days (unless otherwise noted) without a visa:

_{* - diplomatic passport only (diplomatic and service passports for Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia)}

_{D — diplomatic passports
S — service passports
O — official passports
Sp — special passports
C — consular passports}

_{1 — Unlimited
2 – 3 months
3 – 90 days within any 180 day period
4 – 90 days within any one year period
5 – 60 days
6 – 30 days
7 – 14 days}

APEC Business Travel Card

Holders of passports issued by the following countries who possess an APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) containing the "RUS" code on the reverse that it is valid for travel to Russia can enter visa-free for business trips for up to 90 days within any 180 day period.

ABTCs are issued to nationals of:

Visa-free transit

Passengers travelling through international airports do not need a visa for a transit of less than 24 hours, provided a confirmed onward ticket is held and the traveller remains in the international transit area (without clearing passport control).

Only five Russian airports have an international transit area:

In accordance with a treaty between Russia and Finland, though there are passport controls at borders, a visa is not required for just passing through the Russian part of the Saimaa canal without leaving the vessel.

The road from Värska to Ulitina in Estonia, traditionally the only road to the Ulitina area, goes through Russian territory for one kilometre (0.6 mi) of its length, an area called Saatse Boot. This road has no border control, but there is no connection to any other road in Russia. It is not permitted to stop or walk along the road. This area is a part of Russia but is also a de facto part of the Schengen area.

Closed cities

Several closed cities in Russia require special authorization.

Areas closed for foreigners

Duo to Government Decree of 1992y., parts of 19 subjects of Russian Federation closed for foreigners without special permits. This restriction is not applicable for Russian citizens.

Part of them:

Crimea

As of 2014 the disputed territory of Crimea is under Russian control and Russia enforces its visa policy there. However, Ukraine requires that foreigners should comply with Ukrainian visa regime including obtaining a Ukrainian visa if one is necessary. Otherwise, Ukraine may impose sanctions for "support of the temporary occupation of the Ukrainian territory".

Future changes

Russian government has instructed the Foreign Ministry to sign an agreement on visa waiver with the following countries:

As of November 2016 a draft law that will allow visa-free entry to non-citizens of Estonia and Latvia born after 6 February 1992 is in procedure of adoption.

Visa waiver agreements have already been signed with the following countries but are not yet ratified or applied:

Agreements

The Russian Federation has visa waiver agreements with 120 jurisdictions.
In the table, red indicates agreements signed and in force but not ratified or temporarily not applied.

Russia has concluded agreements that facilitate procedures for issuing visas to both Russian citizens and citizens of the partner jurisdiction on a reciprocal basis. Such agreements are in force with the following countries or political associations:

Russia has agreements on cancellation of consular fees, for execution of visas, with the following countries: Algeria (1965), Angola (15 Apr 1985), Cambodia (26 Sep 1983), Iran (15 Feb 1966), Japan (1 Apr 1965), Mauritania (1967), New Zealand (1 Apr 1962), Pakistan (1965).

Visa

The Russian visa is a machine-readable document, which is placed in the holder’s passport. All fields are indicated in both Russian and English, but are filled out only in Russian. The holder’s name appears in both the Roman and Cyrillic alphabets.

The name that appears in the machine-readable zone at the bottom of the visa represents the holder’s Cyrillic name mapped into the Roman alphabet. This allows Russian computer systems to read the Cyrillic name, despite the machine readers only being able to read Roman alphabet letters. As a result, the spelling of a name in the machine-readable zone does not necessarily reflect its spelling in the visa’s name field. For example, the name “Christoph” would appear in the field as “Kpиcтoф/Christoph”, but the MRZ would contain the name “Kristof”.

Contrary to guidelines for machine-readable documents, the issuing country’s ISO code (RUS) is not shown at positions 3-5 (i.e. V

While not printed on the visa, a photo is required in the visa application. The visa application form may be filled online and submitted to the diplomatic mission.

Types of visa

Depending on the purpose of entry into the Russian Federation and the purposes of stay, visas are categorized as:

A diplomatic visa shall be issued to a foreign citizen holding a diplomatic passport.
A diplomatic visa is issued:

A service visa is issued to the foreign citizen having service (consular, official, special) passport.
A service visa is issued:

Depending on the purpose of entry of the foreign citizen into the Russian Federation and the purpose of his stay in the Russian Federation ordinary visas are subdivided on private, business, tourist, educational, working, humanitarian and entry visas to the Russian Federation for temporary residence or citizenship ceremony:

1. An ordinary private visa is issued for a period of up to three months or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity for a period of up to one year to foreign citizens traveling to Russia for a short visit on the basis of an invitation letter.
2. An ordinary business visa is issued for a period of up to one year to foreign citizens traveling to Russia for a business trip.
3. An ordinary tourist visa is issued for a period of up to one month or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity for a period of up to six months to foreign citizens traveling to Russia as tourists, if holding an invitation letter by a Russian tour operator. Invitations can be issued by many hotels on request (sometimes for a fee) or through various online services associated with Russian tour operators.
   An ordinary tourist group visa is issued for a period of up to one month to foreign citizens traveling to Russia as a tourist in an organized tourist group (not less than five people), of holding a confirmation by an organization in the unified federal register of tour operators.
4. An ordinary student visa is issued for a period of up to one year to foreign citizens traveling to Russia for training in the educational institution.
5. An ordinary work visa is issued to foreign citizens visiting Russia for work purposes for a period of validity of the employment contract or civil contract for performance of work (rendering services), but no more than for one year.
6. An ordinary humanitarian visa is issued for a period of up to one year or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity for a period of up to five years to foreign citizens visiting Russia for a scientific, cultural, political or a sport visit, religious communication and contacts, pilgrimage, charity, delivery of humanitarian aid.
7. An ordinary entry visa to Russia for receiving a shelter is issued to foreign citizens for a period of up to three months if holding a decision of the federal executive authority authorized on implementation of functions on control and supervision in the sphere of migration on recognition of this foreign citizen as a refugee on the territory of Russia.
8. An ordinary entry visa to Russia to obtain citizenship of the Russian Federation is issued to foreign citizens for a period of up to one year if holding a decision on recognition of such foreign citizen as a native speaker of Russian.

A Transit visa is issued for a period of up to ten days to the foreign citizen for transit through the territory of Russia.

A visa of temporarily living person is issued for four months to the foreign citizen to whom entry into Russia is allowed for temporary residence, within a quota of delivery of permissions to temporary residence.

Applying for visa

All types of Russian entry visas are received through Russian embassies and consulates. Provided all the documents are ready, the process usually takes no more than 3-10 workdays for Russian travel visa.

Russian Tourist Visa requirements:

The Russian Consulate requires the visa application form to be printed on A4 paper with right and bottom margins of 5mm. A failure to meet these requirements invalidates the form.

Exit

Russia requires that an alien who needs a visa on entry be in possession of a valid visa upon exit. To satisfy this formal requirement, exit visas sometimes need to be issued. Russia requires an exit visa if a visitor stays well past the expiration date of their visa. They must then extend their visa or apply for an exit visa and are not allowed to leave the country until they show a valid visa or have a permissible excuse for overstaying their visa (e.g., a note from a doctor or a hospital explaining an illness, missed flight, lost or stolen visa). In some cases, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can issue a Return-Home certificate that is valid for ten days from the embassy of the visitor's native country, thus eliminating the need for an exit visa.

A foreign citizen granted a temporary residence permit in Russia needs a temporary resident visa to take a trip abroad (valid for both exit and return). It is also colloquially called an exit visa.

Costs for visa

Some Russian embassies and consulates, but not all, require visa applications to be submitted in person to visa processing centres instead of directly to the consular section. Costs differ per administration center.

Fingerprinting

From January 2015 visa applicants from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Myanmar and Namibia will be obliged to provide fingerprint scans. After a trial period it will be decided whether to expand this to other countries as well.

Statistics

2,300,166 Russian visas were issued in 2015. Most visas were applied for from the following countries:

According to the Federal Security Service and the Federal State Statistics Service,
most visitors arriving to Russia were from the following countries of nationality:

General Rules

The law "On the legal status of foreign citizens in the USSR" was used by the Russian Federation. Action extended from 1 January 1993. Chapter III of the law "entry into the USSR and exit from the USSR Foreign citizens" was replaced adopted the Federal Law No.114-FZ 1996 "On the Order of Exit from the Russian Federation". The law was repealed with the adoption of the Federal Law 115-FZ on 25 Jul 2002 On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation. The laws establishes that as a general rule all foreign citizens and stateless persons need visas for entry and exit from the territory of Russia and the period of temporary stay (90 days within 180). It also establishes a number of exceptions addressing certain groups of travelers. It should be noted that the basis of the legal status of foreign citizens and stateless persons are secured primarily by the Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993 - Art. 62 and Art. 63.

According to the Russian Constitution, international treaties of Russia override the domestic legislation. Russia has concluded a number of bilateral or multilateral treaties on visa abolishing or simplification and is seeking to negotiate new such treaties. The visa policy Russia applies the principle of reciprocity, the principle of specular.

In September, 2013 the president of Russia has sent the bill of introduction of 72-hour visa-free transit to parliament. The list of the airports and the list of the states which citizens will be able to use visa-free transit in the tourist purposes, will be approved by the Government of the Russian Federation after ratification. In 2014 the parliament has suspended ratification of the bill for an indefinite term.

In April 2014 Crimea’s Tourism Minister proposed a visa-free regime for foreign tourists staying at Crimean resorts for up to 12 days and a 72-hour visa-free stay for cruise passengers. Visa-free access for Chinese citizens was proposed in June 2014. Visa-free entrance in cruise courts to Sevastopol began to be carried out from September 2015 Other of the proposals has been not realized.

International events

Participants and members of delegations coming to participate in the musical events are either provided with a simplified visa regime (e.g. Eurovision Song Contest 2009) or the right of visa-free entry (e.g. International Tchaikovsky Competition 2015).
Currently (September 2015) the law providing permanent visa abolition for participants and jury members of art competitions is being planned by the Government of Russia. The focus of this regulation will be on the International Tchaikovsky Competition.

Participants of the 1st Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok did not require a visa. Entrance was allowed with passport and the accreditation certificate only.

Prior to the adoption of a special law, participants and members of delegations arriving to sporting events, could count on a visa-free entry or visa facilitation (determined by law for each event which has to pass ratification in parliament and to be signed by the president). On 13 May 2013 the presidential decree on the abolition of visas for athletes, coaches, team leaders and members of foreign official delegations, as well as judges from the international sports competitions came into effect. It envisages entry on the basis of passport and accreditation certificate. The order of the President or the Government of Russia is sufficient for visa abolition or simplification of registration of visas.
Visas were abolished for participants of the 2013 Summer Universiade, the 2014 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Moscow, the 2014 World Judo Championships in Chelyabinsk and the 16th FINA World Championships in Kazan. Participants of the XVI World Aquatics Championships in the Masters category were exempted from visa fees.

The right to enter Russia without a visa was also given to visitors during thee 2014 Winter Olympics and 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi if they were in a possession of tickets for the event.

Players of 2016 IIHF World Championship will be able to obtain visas on arrival for the fans will be simplified procedure for issuing visas.
This experiment is planned to be extended to the visitors of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

2018 FIFA World Cup holders of tickets for matches of the championship will be able to enter Russia without a visa with personalized card of viewer (also known as the passport of a fan or fan-ID) and national passport from 4 June to 25 July 2018.
Foreigners participating in events and athletes included in the lists of FIFA, will have to obtain visas, but in a simplified manner. In particular, visas for this category of citizens will be issued within 3 working days from the date of filing and without consular fees. This procedure will be applied until 31 December 2018. Foreigners involved in activities and not participating in sporting events, will travel to and from Russia by an ordinary multiple-entry work visas that will be issued for a period of 1 year. Foreigners, attracted by the FIFA, its subsidiaries and contractors, confederations, national football associations, the Russian football Union, organizing Committee "Russia-2018" will be entitled to work in Russia without obtaining a patent.