Baikal Irkutsk Trans Siberian

Russian visa

Most of foreign passport holders are required to have Russian visa granted before entering Russia. There are various types of visas including private invitation, tourist, student, business visas, etc. Being a tour operator we mostly deal with Russian tourist visas suited for general tourist purposes. This could be a single or double entry visa with a period of stay not exceeding 30 days.

Visa Support

To apply for Russian tourist visa one needs to obtain a package of documents from Russian tour operator that is officially listed in the Federal Registry of Russian Tour Operators. This package also known as Visa Support includes three documents:

- Letter of invitation
- Tourist voucher
- Confirmation coupon

Most of Russian Consulates accept copies of these documents. So, we normally send initiations to our guest by fax or email scanned copies of it. If required we can ship the original package of documents via express or regular mail.

Visa support is provided for all of our guests gratis after the program is settled and deposit paid. All the hotels and tour services booked are listed in the tourist voucher; we never issue blank or fake tourist vouchers in the invitation package.

Read more about How to Get Russian Visa Support Letters from us. 

Visa Processing

Once you have Russian visa invitation you need to submit it along with original of the passport, two passport-size photos and filled-out application form to the closest Russian Consulate. Locate one which is close to you: List of Russian embassies

Please, check, if you can mail your application or need to submit in person. Consular fee is also charged by the consulate. It may vary from country to country, but normally is about USD100. There may be some travel agencies in your country that do visa processing for some fee, but most likely travel agencies are not willing to do this unless purchasing a tour from them.

Visa Registration

Tourists are supposed to register with Russin immigration authorities within 3 business days after arrival to Russia. When crossing Russian boarder you fill out immigration card which is then stapled to your passport at the visa page. It is important to keep it throughout your stay in Russia. The registration stamp will be put on immigration card after checking in to a hotel. Most hotels will ask you to leave your passport for 1 or 2 hours after you checked in. This is for registration purposes. For this reason, it may always be reasonable to stay at least one night at a hotel in the city before leaving for backpacking or camping at Russia’s wilderness.