How to get Visa to russia from USA in 2020

Tourist visas are intended for those Americans who are going to Russia to take a tourist trip. Before applying for a tourist visa, you need to get a tourist invitation. It can be done by contacting any company registered in the Unified Federal Register of Tour Operators.

Those companies print tourist invitations on their own forms, so their online registration doesn’t take much time (about 5 minutes). Invitations consist of two parts:

1. Tourist voucher indicating that you have bought a tourist ticket to Russia.
2. Confirmation of tourist admission — the Consulate is requested to issue a visa to a foreign citizen.

They indicate the reference number and name of the travel agency, the name and surname of the tourist, his passport details, the city he is going to visit, as well as the dates of the planned trip.

Any Russian legal entity can issue a business invitation for a foreigner on this kind of form. For this, he must submit a corresponding application to the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. If the verification does not reveal foreigner’s violating of rules during his last visit to Russia, then an invitation will be issued for him on a letterhead with the signatures of officials and the necessary seals. Registration takes from 7 to 21 business days.

Electronic invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Telex) is an order transmitted from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation to the Russian Embassy abroad. It contains an application for a foreigner’s visa. In case if invitation has the appearance of a Telex, the invited person must be informed of his number and which organization acts as the inviting party. In this case, no forms and documents will need to be sent to the American. Registration takes from 7 to 21 business days.

Receive an invitation

For opportunity to work in Russia, American must apply for a work visa. He will be able to do this only after receiving from the employer, interested in his visit, work permit for Russia and a work invitation. To be able to prepare these papers for a foreigner, the Russian employer must first obtain permission to attract labor from abroad.

After receiving these papers, a US citizen will be able to receive a work visa at the Russian consulate with a validity period of 90 days. After entering Russia and applying for migration registration, he will be able to extend the validity of the visa for the duration of his work permit, which can be 1 or 3 years.

As a result, the foreigner will have a multiple visa, according to which, he will be able to stay in Russia all 365 days a year if he will wish. He will be able to renew visa every year for another year an unlimited number of times without leaving Russia. At the same time, he must strictly observe all the rules of stay, obligatory for foreigners. The responsibility to control this rests with the employer.

An electronic visa is a new format of visa, introduced experimentally. This visa does not need an invitation, you can apply for it directly through the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the moment, the electronic visa is a single entry and cannot be extended. You can stay in Russia up to eight days and for its making you need a digital photo and a completed application form.

It is important that obtaining of electronic visa is available only to citizens of some countries. US citizens cannot get an electronic visa to Russia. A complete list of countries with which Russia has an agreement on electronic visas is available on the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.