Russian visa support

Russian visa support

Summary - The Scope of Law:
The law "On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation" (Federal Law #115-FZ) was signed on 25th July 2002, and became effective on 1st November 2002.
The main purpose of this law is to limit illegal immigration from the former CIS countries, and to create a legal basis for relationship between foreigners and Russian government.
It also regulates such issues as Notification on Arrival, describes the process of applying for a permit of stay in Russia or for Russian citizenship, as well as the procedure to obtain a Work Permit.
 
Step 1: Get an Invitation
First, you need an invitation to apply for a Russian visa. Please, choose the most appropriate type of invitation, depending on your needs:
  • Tourist Invitation         
  • Business Invitation  
  • Invitation to working visa
  • Invitation to student visa

N.B.

According to the new Agreement between the European Community and the Russian Federation on the facilitation of the issuance of visas to the citizens of the European Union and the Russian Federation from 1st of June 2007, the EU citizens could apply for a business, commercial, student and cultural visa with the letter of invitation from the partner organization in Russia. Previously this letter of invitation should be issued by the Ministry of Home Affaires. The citizens of the EU could apply for multiply visa from 2 to 5 years.

 
Step 2: Prepare the Documents
Once you have your invitation (Russian visa support), you need to prepare the following documents to apply for your Russian visa:
 
  • Your Passport  (Should be valid at least 3 months after your Russian visa will expire and contain at least one clear page - for visa)
  • Passport-size Photo (Should be recent and good quality)
  • Consulate Application Form (Available either at the Russian consulate where you will apply or through a travel agency if you choose full visa processing services)
  • Consulate-Specific Documents (Almost all consulates will require an HIV certificate if you are traveling to Russia for 3 months or longer or require a multiple-entry visa. In case you apply for a business visa, some consulates may require a letter from your employer)  
 Type of Russian visa:
 
  • Russian Tourist Visa
  • Russian Business Visa
  • Working visa
  • Student Visa
  • Personal (Private) Visa
  • Transit Visas
  • 72-hours visa
Step 3: Apply for Russian Visa
Finally, you need to submit all your documents, including your visa support, to the Russian consulate.
 
 
Step 4: Once in Russia, You need a Notification on Arrival
So you obtained the Russian visa, finalized your travel arrangements, and now arrived to Russia. At the airport You will get a migration card. You need to fulfill it (preferably in Russian) and to keep it during Your stay at Russia.
Than You have 3 business days (excluding weekends and holidays) to send a Notification on arrival to territory body of FMS (simplifying registration procedure).
• If you are staying in a hotel:
The hotel will usually send notification for You in territory body of FMS (former OVIR, territory body of the Federal Migration Service).
• If you are staying in an apartment or with friends:
The Person You are staying at or the company you used to obtain your invitation need to fulfill the notification form and personally send it by post or get it to FMS territory body. In post office or FMS inspector will register Your Notification form and give coupon with the stamp.
On Departure, You should return this coupon to the post office or to FMS territory body.
 
What is the Notification on Arrival?
Every foreigner who comes to Russia should have Notification form on Arrival registered within 72 hours upon arrival, excluding holidays and weekends. Before it is 72 hours after your arrival, your tickets (train, bus, plane tickets) to the place you're in is the document, which can confirm how long you've been staying there.
 
With migration card, passport, visa and coupon of Notification on arrival Your stay in Russia is legal.
 
Problems in case if You don’t have any of this documents:
First, you might have problems with the police (if they stop you to check your passport), second, you might have problems with immigration officials when you're leaving Russia. The fines that you might pay (about $50-$100 US) in both cases are higher than the registration fee. In the worst case, you may even be deported from Russia, if you don't have your registration. If you are deported, you can't enter Russia for 5 years after the deportation. 
 
Work permit.
The Federal Law on the status of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation provides an opportunity for Russian employees to invite foreign workforce in the RF.
  1. The government issues an annual quota for foreign workforce. The number is not defined clearly, it will be formed depending on the local employers' requests.
  2. To be able to work legally in the Russian Federation, a foreign citizen needs a work permit, which should be obtained by his employer at the RF immigration officials.  
Please, note, that a standard business visa allows any foreigner to come to Russia for short business meetings, conferences, exhibitions, negotiations, etc. A foreign citizen can not be permanently employed with such visa, at least officially (but it depends on any specific business).
 
In other words, the work permit is an official invitation from a business based in Russia, for a foreign citizen to have a permanent job with this business.
 
It is important to distinguish the "work permit" (which is a document that belongs to a foreign citizen) from the "permission to employ foreign citizens", which is obtained by any company to be able to legally employ foreign citizens.
 
  • All employers, who need to hire a foreign citizen, now need to get a permission to employ foreign citizens (without exception).
  • All foreign citizens, officially employed in Russia, will be registered in Russian immigration and tax officials by the employer.  
There are certain categories of foreign citizens, who don't need a work permit:
  • Temporary and permanent residents.
  • Students, teachers.
  • Diplomats, representatives of international organizations  
If the Work Permit is Not Obtained: In this case, a foreign citizen who doesn't have a work permit may be fined and deported from Russia. The employer will also be fined, and might have additional administrative charges (e.g. inability to employ foreign citizens for a period of time). The sum of fine is up to USD 32.500. 
 
Restricted Cities in Russia
New Information (May 2006) Some cities in Russia are under restricted entry regulations. Practically, this means that you will have to undergo through stricter than usual passport control in these cities.
 
Baranul, Habarovsk, Irkutsk, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Murmansk, Omsk, Petropavlosk-Kamchatsky, Petrozavodsk, Piatigorsk, Rostov-Na-Donu, Sakhalin, Stavropol, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Ufa and Vladivostok.