Organising A Russian Tourist Visa
Discover Independent Russia Travel and How To Get Travel Documents
Sep 25, 2008
Many tour operators offer trips to see the highlights of Russia, and letting someone else handle the paper work for entering the country is often the easiest way to visit. However, there are some great flight deals to some of Russia’s airports (check out Swiss Air and Aeroflot for example), and it is possible to do it all yourself, get a personalised tour, and save money.
Getting A Visa
Non-Russian passport holders will need a visa to be able to enter Russia. This means a fee is paid and the visa attached to your passport. As this requires contact with a local Russian embassy, make sure there is ample time to organise a visa before the date of your trip.
To get a tourist visa, visitors need some paperwork, which includes what is known as an invitation to enter the country. Don’t panic, this doesn’t mean a Russian has to invite you to stay! All it means is that you have booked a hotel in advance, and they have sent official confirmation that rooms are booked.
Of course, for many independent travellers, booking a hotel seems the wrong way round in the booking process; many book flights first, and then look around for hotel deals.
Russia issues a number of types of visa, including single or double entry tourist visas, or business visas, which allow holders to conduct business in Russia. These cost a lot more, and require a business invitation.
Getting A Hotel Invitation
To get an invitation the legitimate way, travellers must book direct with a hotel, or use a Russian hotel agency. Unfortunately, western sites such as Expedia or E-bookers cannot provide an official hotel invitation suitable as evidence to obtain a visa.
This system creates another yet issue for the internet savvy traveller: which hotel booking sites can be trusted?
As usual, there are some common rules to observe:
- Check the age of the information on the website. If the detail of the hotels are sketchy, or the prices wildly out of date, steer clear
- If a deal looks unbelievable, it probably is! If the prices of the hotels appear much cheaper than other websites, it could be a scam.
- Do some additional research. If a hotel or agent website looks promising, do some additional web site searches to find out if there are any tales of disaster lurking on the web.
- Consider how the companies contact you. If they seem inordinately concerned about getting money upfront, then be wary.
- Use a credit card to pay for your purchase. This will offer you additional insurance protection if it all goes wrong.
Be aware that some websites offer the paperwork as part of the booking process free of charge, while others see it as an opportunity to request more money on top of the hotel room charge.
One trustworthy choice is bestrussiahotels.com. Although they do charge extra for the paperwork, it arrives in the officially accepted format (in Russian), in an easy to print off pdf.
Alternatively, there are websites that offer fake invitations for a fee. They produce invitations, which state you are staying at a specific hotel. In reality, these holders are free to choose other hotels.
While these invitations offer more flexibility to book hotels later, of course there is a risk that the papers are identified as fake and visa requests rejected. Likewise, if you are caught up in any trouble in Russia, arriving in the country on fake papers may create more bother!
Although getting a tourist invitation and visa sounds like a lot of hassle and feels confusing, the reality is that it is usually straightforward, if the traveller is a little careful and takes time to organise their trip.
Don’t forget to check for any recent changes to the Russian visa rules on the website of your local Russian embassy before you start the process.
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