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I think you are not allowed to travel out of Australia at the moment, but if you do manage, you would need to go on a quarantine in UK for 14 days and then when you come to Russia you can make a test within 48 hours and if the result is negative (and you upload it online) then you don't have to quarantine. Otherwise you have to quarantine also in Russia for 14 days.

Yes, if your girlfriend travels to Russia from Greece, she has to be on a quarantine for 14 days when she comes back to Russia. However, she can make a Covid test within 48 hours and if she uploads the negative results on a government portal, she doesn't have to quarantine then.

Hi Theodor,

You should get first the 3-month business visa. E.g. from July 15 (when they plan to open Russia) to October 15.

Then you will need to travel out of Russia (can also go to a neighboring country, like Estonia, Finland or Latvia) and reapply for a new visa — this time you can get one for 6 months or 1 year.

Each business visa gives you a possibility to stay every 90 in 180 days in Russia. So a 1-year visa enables you to stay only half of the time in Russia. If you want to settle permanently you'll need a work visa, which is a different thing.

In general, it's a good choice to set up a company in Russia. If your turnover is less than $1 Mln  a year, you can get special tax regime where you pay only 6% on your turnover as a company. Read more on https://waytorussia.net/Practicalities/Entrepreneur-Simplified-Tax-Russia.html

I'd recommend to buy your tickets using the passport you will use when you fly OUT — that's what's gonna be checked by the airline. If you just use your Russian passport to get into Russia, you don't need it for the tickets. However, when you fly out of Russia you can show your foreign passport you bought the tickets for and that should work.

Please help! My American and Russian passports have diff names; how do I buy my plane tickets since I will be using both passport to enter/exit the US and Russia. Do I have to buy one way tickets so the names match on each flight? (also stopping in Thailand)......???? Anyone, anyone? Thanks!

You should leave these fields empty if you are not visiting any particular organization or exhibition and let the visa company fill out these fields for you. Also, you should put "business" as the purpose of your trip if you are applying for a business visa support.

Well, basically your question is about showing the passport to the airline, because they are the only ones who care. In that case you will just show the both passports and probably better you buy your ticket on your American passport. So then you show the Russian one only at the border control and when you arrive or leave they just ask you where you came from but don't ask you to show the tickets.

It is better to use the same name as in your as in your passport.

Hi guys - This is my first post.

So!
As many people know the Philippines is one of the most corrupt places in the world.
I am applying for a 3-year tourist visa for Russia via the Russian Consulate in Manila, Philippines.

I took a loooooooong trip last week and was turned away because they said that this specified day is only for Russian citizens.
Which was completely the Opposite of what it said on the Embassy/Consulate website.
And there is no good contact number available anywhere for them, so a person is just forced to come to Manila from whatever province they are living in (through hellacious traffic - worst in the world), and cross their fingers.

So I was turned away, but before I left, the front desk guy told me that they "don't issue 3 year visas."
I assured him I'm a US citizen & yes US citizens can get that kind of visa.
He was Filipino & I think he only cares about the rules applying to fellow Filipinos, he was basically just trying to discourage me in any way he could, and obviously didn't even know what he was talking about.

So I have to take that looooooong trip from the province again this coming week to Manila (to the Russian Consulate) and hoping I can get the 3-year tourist visa that I require.
And yes I have followed all the instructions from this website (and from other sites) very carefully.
I got all my ducks in a row, dotted my I's, crossed my T's.

My question, if you can please fill me in...

Has anyone had any experience getting Russian visas from Manila?  Did you have many problems?  And for any kind of shorter visa I don't think you would have a problem.  But for the 3-year visa that American citizens ARE QUALIFIED for.... I don't think believe they come across many of these applications in Manila.
Going into this I have a bad feeling, with the level of corruption & Constant shakedowns of white foreigners here, I think they are going to really hassle me.
Or just turn me away - to make me go back to the province yet again, redo my application and get a short month-long visa, which is just not long enough for me.

Any feedback is much appreciated, thank you.

Hi, yes, you need a visa even in this case. If you just want to visit for one day a better option might be to take a cruise boat from Helsinki to St. Petersburg. Then they will arrange a special no-visa travel, which is available to the cruise passengers.

Hi Falk, Berlin is great! And the weather is super nice these days :)

Regarding your question: you should get the car documents, the driver's license, and car insurance valid in Russia. The insurance might be available at the border, but this is not 100% sure, so I'd double check once you're in Ulan-Bataar — maybe some agency there can provide it for you. Also, yes, you will need a document from your friend confirming that he lets you use his car to go to Russia. In Russian it's called "Generalnaya Doverennost'" or Генеральная Доверенность. This will prove to be a bit more complicated, but if I were you, I'd go to a notary office in Mongolia and ask them to provide this paper to you and to explain where you need it. You need to find a good notary who has experience with these cases, so they do everything right. Then you just get a Russian translation, as well as the translation of the car's technical documents and certificate into Russian (you could do all this at once). And then, yes, you can travel to Russia. Get a membership from some car association like ADAC just in case and ask if they have any partners in Siberia.

You might not be able to enter Russia on a separate visa if you're on a cruise ship as they have some special regulation that you can only enter Russia on a visa obtained through the cruise company. Why don't you tell them you join the tours and then just go do your own stuff when in Russia?

Hi Erik,

It's a great journey that you want to undertake!

All the information about the Russian visa is available on http://waytorussia.net/Travel/VisaSupport.html

Generally, you can do the trip on a 30-day tourist visa, but you can also get a business visa, which is basically the same thing but extended (you can get it for 3 months and double-entry also). Both business and tourist visa take about 2 weeks to get once at the consulate but the business visa may be slightly more expensive. Also, the invitation for a tourist visa is issued in only 1 day while the invitation for a business visa might take about 2 weeks. I'd go with the business visa if I were you as it's more flexible, although a bit more expensive and longer to wait for.  You don't need to book any hotels for any of those visas, the visa support themselves is like a preliminary booking, but you don't need to stay at the hotels listed there.

And yes, you can apply from Australia, especially if it's a business visa that you try to get.

Finally, regarding the stopover in Mongolia, definitely go for it! You might be able to get a cheaper train from Ulan-Bataar to Irkutsk or Ulan-Ude (a nice city to stop by in as well!) and if not you can always take a bus!

Sure, you can get your visa in Tallin too. They will probably make the invitation for you and then take your documents to submit them directly to the Russian embassy, so it works exactly the same way as if you did it on your own, you just pay a premium.

By the way, I would really appreciate if you post the name of the agency you used if you are satisfied with your experience, so that other travelers could use your advice too. Thanks!

You have an option to ask your wife's parents to make a private invitation, but that takes a long time to process and you'll probably need the original posted to you. So if you want to save time, they can simply get the tourist invitation. Then they can also stay at your wife's parents apartment. Your wife's parents will need to register their visas (at any post office with the passports of the guests) if they are in Russia for more than 7 working days. That's it.

You need to get tourist visas for your children. As US citizens they may be able to get a 3-year visa, so just get the invitation on http://waytorussia.net/Travel/VisaSupport.html for 30 days and then apply for a 3-year visa. This should work.

This is not a problem at all. Just list the first 5 cities and you're done!

Yes, sure you can! The food is about €5 per meal, €1 per beer. You can also buy food outside at the stations from the people who sell their home-made stuff — especially good if you travel the Trans-Siberian!

Hey guys, I am coming to Novosibirski on April and I need a tour guide or a local tour company to settle a 3-day trip to Altai. Can you help me?

Hi!
I'm looking for a bus timetable from Sergiev Posad to Pereslavl-Zalessky.
Do I need to buy those tickets in advance?
Cheers