Obtaining Russian Visa

Short summary: All foreigners are required to obtain visas to enter
Russia. If you travel alone, the cheapest option (saves you $30) is to
obtain a "business visa" using invitation from IKI. This takes about 45
days. If you travel with family members or need faster processing,
you should obtain "tourist visa".

Tourist visa

Most people travel to Russia on tourist visas. The application package
shoud have an invitation from a Russian-affiliated travel agency. This
industry is well-developed, and web sites of Russian
consulates have lists of recommended agencies. If you are not inclined
to shop around, here are the results of our quick research:

www.visatorussia.com can fax
you an invitation package next business day for $30. You then use this
package to apply at a consulate. Consulates can be located on Google or on href="http://www.russianembassy.net">www.russianembassy.net. At
least in the US, applications can be sent to the Consulate by mail. Visa
is issued in 10 days or so. The consular fee in the US is $100 plus
postage.

Some hotel reservations services in Moscow send invitations free of extra
charge. Please refer to our hotel page.
If you live in the US, href="http://www.russia-travel.com">www.russia-travel.com can both issue
invitations and obtain visas at the consulate for $150 plus postage (this
includes $100 consular fee).

For other options do a Google search on " href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=russian+visa+service&btnG=Google+Search">russian
visa service".

Note that you need a separate visa for each family member. Exceptions are
children under 16 who are included in your passport (i.e. do not have their
own passports). Passports must be valid for at least 6 months beyond your
departure date. Please make sure that you specify "tourism" as the purpose
of your trip when you cross the border.

 Business visa

If you travel alone, IKI can generate an
invitation for "business visa". This takes about 45 days. To garantee
succesfull preparation of invitation we have to have all information from
you no later then April 20. You then fill out the
application at the nearest consular office. The visa is issued in
approximately 10 days; you have to pay only the consular fee (which is $100
in the US).

Unfortunately, if you travel with the family members, we cannot
generate the business visa invitations for bureaucratic reasons. The
only option in this case is to obtain a tourist visa, see above.

If business visa is your preferred option, please fill out the
following questionnaire and e-mail it to style="font-weight: bold;">integral06 at hea.iki.rssi.ru