(Apologies in advance if I am repetitive to other questions asked here, I couldn't find an answer to my specific questions).
I am dual citizen of Canada and Russia. I will be travelling with both documents and will not be getting a visa as my Russian passport is up to date and still valid. I am taking my bf, a Canadian citizen, with me, for 2 weeks. Currently, my dad lives in St. Petersburg and we are supposed to stay with him. We wanted to get my bf a private visa, however after my Dad started the process he realized that it was a huge nightmare. Instead, we are now trying to complete the process by getting my bf a tourist visa, which requires confirmation from a recognized tourist hotel.
At first, we were going to book a hotel with free cancellation to get the visa and then cancel before the flight - however we were nervous that we would be questioned about it (i.e. they would know it was cancelled) and that we would not be registered by the booked hotel as we would not plan to actually stay there and then raise red flags on the way out.
That being said, after searching online I came across this website. Everything seems straight forward but I need to confirm:
1) I can use the tourist visa invitation process outlined on this site to get a confirmed hotel for my bf's visa, but is it okay that I will not be on that invitation letter with him?
2) Upon entry into Russia, at customs, my experience with other travel is that they will ask you where you are staying to confirm your itinerary - do both him and I continue to confirm the hotel written on the invitation letter? Or does he only write that hotel and I write my dad's place? Will it not look weird that we're travelling together and I plan to stay with my dad while he plans to stay at a hotel? Should we just both say we're staying at that hotel?
3) After getting through customs, since we are not planning to stay in the hotel outlined in the invitation letter, and go to my dad's place instead, is it okay that the the visa registration is completed by my father even though our invitation letter states a specific hotel name that was seen by customs upon entry?
4) Once registered by my dad and it is time to leave - when customs inspects our papers and asks us questions - do we say that we ended up staying with my father and that he registered my bf's stay? Will they question why we booked a hotel but did not stay there?
As you can see - there a lot of uncertainties for me and it's making me stressed out. I don't want to put my bf in a bad situation.
Appreciate your help!
