TravelTill

Travel to Russia


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time and frustration.

A single entry, 30 day tourist visa for citizens of EU-Schengen countries costs €35 and takes three working days for standard processing (€70 gets express service for next day collection). For UK citizens the price is £50 and processing takes 5 working days not 3 (express service is next day and costs £100). For citizens of the USA the price is, at the present, $140 ($150 for multiple-entry visas), with standard processing being at least 4 working days (express service is $250 and stated to be 3 working days).

In some countries which have a busy trade in Russian visas (e.g. UK and USA), the visa processing has been outsourced to private companies. These companies levy a further unavoidable application fee on top of the visa fees stated above. For applications made in the UK (by a citizen of any country) the application fee is £26.40 for standard service and £33.60 for express service. For applications made in the USA, the application fee is $30.

The total cost of getting a visa usually has three parts: invitation fee, visa fee and application fee. If you're lucky, one or more of these may be zero but be prepared to be hit by all three. Take as an example a UK citizen applying for a 30 day, single entry tourist visa with standard processing in the UK (not the cheapest example and not the most expensive): invitation bought through an agency - £15, visa fee - £50, application fee - £26.40 = £91.40 (that's roughly US$140).

Tourist, homestay, and transit visas can allow one or two entries. Tourist and homestay visas have a maximum validity of 30 days. Transit visas are typically for one to three days for air travel and up to ten days for overland journeys. Business and other visa categories can be issued for one, two or multiple entries.

Any business visa can permit a maximum stay in any one visit of up to 90 days. However, a business visa only permits a total stay of 90 days in Russia in a
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