Visa Support

Do I need a visa?

Nationals of nearly every country need to apply for a Russian visa. However, recently Russia established a visa free regime with several European, Asian and South American countries. To check whether the visa free regime is applicable in your case, please contact the Russian consulate in your country or check this web-site. 

What type of visa do I need?
You can equally apply both for tourist and bussiness type of visa. However, for each type of visa you need to get a visa support document. In case of tourist visa you need either a tourist voucher or a reservation confirmation from the hotel or hostel. Business visa implies an official invitation from the authorized company, which HSE University stands for in this case. 

How to apply?

Step 1. Get the invitation
Please contact rhec@hse.ru to get the invitation for business visa. Send an e-mail noting "Visa invitation" in the subject with your request in a free form. After completing all the procedures, you will be sent a scanned copy of an invitation to your e-mail. 

Step 2. Prepare all the documents required
- Travel Passport. Should be valid at least 6 months after your Russian visa will expire and contain at least two clear pages - for the visa and the migration card.
- Two Passport-size Photos. Should be recent and good quality.
- Russian Visa Application Form. Fill it out online and print it out from Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID) website http://visa.kdmid.ru/ - only after you have obtained your visa support documents, which contain the information you'll need to provide in the visa application form. 
- Other Specific Documents: health insurance, letters of employer, etc.

Step 3. Apply for a Russian Visa
Check the Internet for the web-site and the address of a Russian Consulate or Russian Visa Processing Center in your country. Apply in person or by post. You will need to pay the consular fee and present/send the documents and the visa support documents.

Step 4. Visa registration
Please note, that if you plan to stay in Russia for more than 7 business days (excluding weekends and holidays), you have to register your visa immediately after arriving in Russia. You can register your visa in a hotel or if you stay in an apartment or with friends/colleagues ask the owner of the apartment to submit a special registration form to any post office or immigration authorities office.

Visa support: