Homestay visa for spouse of Russian citizen residing in the U.S.

[sashitaski 3]

Hello! I was wondering if anyone has had the experience of obtaining a homestay (private) spouse visa to visit Russia with their Russian spouse. Tourist visas used to be the way to go, but now it looks like they are requiring hotel reservations and such for the duration of the stay. I would be staying with in-laws, however, and would not require a hotel. Normally private visas can be a pain to obtain because getting an invitation from the inviting Russian party requires them standing in line at Russian government offices and then possibly waiting months for the document. However, I recently found out that if you are the spouse of a Russian citizen who has permanent residency in the U.S., and you plan to travel to Russia together, then the Russian spouse can write a letter of invitation him/herself, without waiting for any documents from Russia. Some information about this can be found here: http://www.ruscon.org/visa_dep_ENG.html

One of the obvious downsides to this seems to be that the visa will be issued for 3 months only, not 3 years, like most other types of visas for U.S. citizens as per the new visa agreement.

Has anyone tried to obtain this type of spousal visa before? The part I don't understand is that you are supposed to specify the dates of your visit to Russia (and possibly even provide a copy of your ticket, though I am not sure). Generally, I think it is a bad idea to purchase tickets before you have received your visa, in case of denial, delayed documents, and other unforeseen problems. For this reason I am a bit hesitant about this type of visa. Does anyone know if it's possible to get this visa and just give them a three-month period of time, and then decide on the exact dates later?

We have been trying to call the consulate as well, but they are quite difficult to reach.

Thank you!

Alexandra

[Enigma11561 336]

You can try calling the folks at www.visahq.com. They may have run across this situation before.

Edited January 19, 2013 by Enigma11561

[Neonred 3,553]

We ran across this issue a few months ago. Thought about doing the spouse visa but it was much easier to just do the tourist visa. Got a tourist visa through visahq.com using their invitation. No hotel stay for us.

[Altair17 9]

travelled 4 times with that requirement, there are plenty of websites that help with visa application that will also issue an invitation and a confirmation of hotel stay for like 30$; out of 4 trips only one time someone asked about it when I was leaving, and I responded with something like: "I did not liked this hotel, so I moved to another one, and already tossed receipt"

The goal of that system is to force tourist to register as soon as he/she plans to stay for certain amount of time in one place, never did this on those trips. Same thing, once was asked about this, and responded: "I never stayed in one city for more that the minimum duration, so I did not had to register"

[sashitaski 3]

Thanks, everyone! It looks like a tourist visa is the way to go. I did not realize they could issue hotel confirmations as well. That is quite a relief.

I do have one more question: For anyone who recently applied for a tourist visa, did you get the visa for a full 3 years, or only for the duration of your stay?

Regards,

Alexandra

[GelendzhikBelle 7]

Thanks, everyone! It looks like a tourist visa is the way to go. I did not realize they could issue hotel confirmations as well. That is quite a relief.

I do have one more question: For anyone who recently applied for a tourist visa, did you get the visa for a full 3 years, or only for the duration of your stay?

Regards,

Alexandra

I recently applied for Business Visa to Russia and used an Invitation Tourist company for the Invitation Letter. Two entry but Visa was only for 3 months valid. I did this because the 3 year or Multi Entry required an HIV blood test result and that takes time and additional costs. This is to be considered at the larger view because unless one travels to Russia a number of times the costs can be greater for no real worth. How many times do you expect to visit Russia within the next three years? For my family it may be 2 times at the most. There is also the possibility that further relaxing of the Visa requirements for family members may totally remove the Visa requirement. My Wife and I made this choice for me to bring her to Immigration here based on the noted information I provide.

[P A U L 14]

i just got a tourist visa. you can just register at an immigration office or wherever they make russian passports, not necessarily a hotel. and even if you do register at a hotel, i'm not 100% sure you have to stay in that hotel.

[St&Sv 33]

I see several of the people on here have used the VisaHQ service, and well I'm using them right now too. My application for a 3 year tourist visa was just submitted last week, and so far the service they offer is great. Before submitting it they contacted me and gave a few options. It seems the dates I was asking for would have been denied if I wanted it submitted now, so they recommend I dialed the valid dates (not the trip date) back a month. They also offer an invitation (for a $20 fee), but will want to know the address you will be staying at. I can recommend them up to this point, but will give better judgement once all is said and done. Personally I wanted to try for the 3 year because my Fiancee and I are in the process of our K1. I thought that if I just did a single entry tourist visa what happens if while she is living here she wants to visit home? Well we would have to wait for me to get a visa again, unless by being married it would allow me to otherwise but I do not know, and making the process longer. By having this 3 year tourist visa at least it would make it easier for us. After all I want to make sure things are as easy as possible for her and I in our new life together. Also with VisaHQ I think it was like an extra $50 to go from single entry to 3 year tourist. best of luck in your choice and journey.

[Alfia & John 10]

travelled 4 times with that requirement, there are plenty of websites that help with visa application that will also issue an invitation and a confirmation of hotel stay for like 30$; out of 4 trips only one time someone asked about it when I was leaving, and I responded with something like: "I did not liked this hotel, so I moved to another one, and already tossed receipt"

The goal of that system is to force tourist to register as soon as he/she plans to stay for certain amount of time in one place, never did this on those trips. Same thing, once was asked about this, and responded: "I never stayed in one city for more that the minimum duration, so I did not had to register"

I have been to Russia over 30 times, 4 times without a problem is not surprising (I lived over in Russia for two years as a wildlife photographer). I would never lie about tossing the receipt or changing hotels on a wim. I have been detained for hours in Sochi because my invitation said Moscow hotel, not a Sochi hotel-it was issued by VisaHQ. It was not a major problem and I was allowed to pass, but they called and checked everything. If I had lied, it would not have gone well.

I would also always register no matter the length of stay. I have seen to many problems with folks that have not registered. It is relatively painless step even for a homestay. You go with your sweetie, stand in line and fill out paperwork, go to the bank and pay a few rubles for registration, go back and fill out more paperwork and then sometimes have a short interview. It can be fun if you keep you sense of humor.

Edited January 31, 2013 by moosescape

[isaak 0]

An incredibly helpful thread.

I'm in the process of deciding the best visa to apply for in order to get to Russia and marry my dear (who's Russian and lives in Petersburg). Any insights on whether going the 3-year tourist visa route for is a good decision? I've read that sometimes folks have had difficulties marrying on tourist visas. We'd like to live in Russia for at least 2 or 3 years, I hope to obtain residency, and of course there's the need to make money (I freelance as a web developer but it would also be nice and perhaps important to be able to legally work jobs in Russia). I've also read that the private (homestay?) visa is the "officially correct" one to apply for in our situation, but we're hoping to marry before the Russian cold returns (and I understand that private visas take a good while longer).

Many thanks for insights.

[eekee 182]

Legally working in Russia is not worth the hassle. If you get married + residency, though, you will be allowed to work legally. That means working in house--freelancing won't be a problem without a permit if you're paid in cash. Unless your Russian is excellent though, I doubt you'd be able to do it AND Russian pay rates are significantly less. No one will pay a premium for a Russian web developer. Foreigners work in business, translate, or teach English.

I would get a business visa, get married asap and work on getting residency. The expat.Ru forums have good info on this.