Question: 3 Year Russian Visa has no Invitation

[randye80 24]

Every financial institution is different, but it is a good idea to notify your bank (card issuing company) in advance as to which countries you will be visiting and approximate timeframes. I would specifically ask them to notify their fraud prevention service too.

My wife just returned from a 2 month visit and she had no problem using her debit card in ATM's.

On her previous trip (2009) even though we had given the bank her itinerary, I received a call (in US) every time she used an ATM -- demanding to speak with her and threatening to cut off her card. I then had to text or email her so she could call (collect) to the fraud service and verify the transactions.

[Dave&Roza 748]

It must be nice to get a 3 year visa and be able to visa for 6 months at a time. I have to apply for a 30 day visa. The best I can do is a multi-entry visa, but each stay is a max of 30 days. For Kazakhstan if you arrive via the airport, there is no need to register with the Migration Police (formerly OVIR). You are supposed to carry that white card and your passport with you at all times. If Russia is a cash based economy like Kazakhstan you will need to carry clean crisp bills and if the US has recently changed the design of any bills, you will need the old version otherwise they may not be accepted. I use my credit card and the ATM machine near my wife's apartment to get local currency--best exchange rate and lower fees than most money changers or banks. The invitaton letter is becoming a thing of the past thankfully. Kazakhstan removed that requirement in 2004, maybe Russia will follow here in the near future or maybe they both will follow Kyrgyzstan and eliminate the visa altogether--one can hope.

Have a good trip,

Dave

[Hollyday 122]

It must be nice to get a 3 year visa and be able to visa for 6 months at a time. I have to apply for a 30 day visa.

We had the same in Russia up till last September or so. This 3 year long visa is a very recent development.

[St&Sv 33]

We had the same in Russia up till last September or so. This 3 year long visa is a very recent development.

A very attractive development that maybe kazakhstan will adopt some day too. It would be nice if they removed the invitation requirement as well, and maybe even one day go on to remove visa's or even a pay as you enter the country. This part is a little off topic, but my first trip out of the United States was to Turkey to vacation with Sveta. I remember waiting in line to get my $20 visa stamp and at the counter was a British couple. The husband was very calm while he was trying to talk down his wife, who was yelling at the girl behind the glass. Apparently she wasn't happy to have had to pay a fee to enter.

[Hollyday 122]

Apparently she wasn't happy to have had to pay a fee to enter.

Westerners. I suppose, they get used to being so lucky with visas and almost never having to get one to go anywhere. We have it here all the time, and the fees are always there. (Finishing with offtopic.)

[jft 12]

When I travelled to Russia in December (my third trip in 2012) I left by the train to Helsinki rather than by air. The customs officials on the train had never seen a three-year tourist visa before and this caused some consternation. Actually that's not quite correct, I think it was more wonderment that such a document could exist. After discussion between the three officials and some phone calls everything was good and I think they were happy in a break in their day-to-day everything the same routine.

[Snipe 21]

Hey everyone,

I just thought I'd update this thread with my experience since it may be helpful for others.

I am now in Russia and all went well, but I still had a bit of a scary moment.

when I arrived to passport control at Domodedovo they hit passport on table trying to indicate flight ticket but I had no idea but he was like whatever (I don't speak russian) anyway he asked "Los Angeles?" and I nodded yes and said "Los Angeles" (My flight was through Los Angeles). There was no migration card to be filled it was all automatic in the system which was good since I read on the inflight magazine that they new migration cards require to put invitation numbers, but for a moment the man looked at my visa, scanned it and was confused and had to call someone, argued for a minute and then gave me the migration card, hesitated, then stamped it. It has nothing for invitation organization or invitation number. I think it was the first time he had seen the 3 year visa without invitation. I was worried for a minute.

Other than that all went perfect and now am Registered for 3 months in the town I am in. the office refused to register me for longer even though visa is for 6 months but I can go somewhere else re-register and come back probably or I can go visit Ukraine or something.

As for the wedding, ZAGS women refuses to skip 32 day waiting period unless fiancee is pregnant even when we said we had tickets. I have no idea if I should try to bribe or do anything of the sort since I don't want trouble. One thing I wasn't planning on was ZAGS requiring a translator being present to submit papers and for ceremony, but we found one for 700 rubles so I guess it's okay. Anyway that's a whole other story, again I look forward to taking part in community once I start the journey of my future wife's visa. By the way she is awesome!

All in all, everyone in thread was right. You just stay cool and wait for them to do their thing and voila you are in

Hope my experience helps future people too!

Edited June 26, 2013 by Snipe

[paws057 9]

Hi,

I am US citizen and I received my 3 year Tourist Russian Visa a while ago and am finally preparing to go to Russia in a month or so, I was looking at it and under the Invitation by section it list nothing just a simple: -

There is also no Invitation Number, that area is blank. under additional information it just lists that it is valid for a max stay of 6 months.

I filled the visa through an agency who dealed with invitation and hotel and what not so I had no contact with Russian Consulate at all. That said I know nothing about what they said or did.

I am worried that with my lack of russian I will have problems when I am passing immigration at the airport to enter Russia. I booked my hotel in moscow for 4 days already but that is about it in terms of plans. I am sort of going to wing my whole trip since I really don't know much I will spend in each place other than at least my first part in moscow. Any tips for stuff that the immigration officer might ask or if this lack of invitation will pose a problem? I could go to one of those websiste and get an invitation just for safety but I'd rather not throw away money.

So anyway any tips on that and what kind of stuff immigration may ask me I would appreciate.

Parallel to this I am meeting up with my girlfriend in Russia and am getting married, I will go to her home for 1-2 weeks, should I not mention this at the border to not have issues of them asking why I didn't get a homestay visa?

Thanks and great forums, I've been reading them for a while, got lot's of useful info from here that led to me getting my visa

Snipe

PS: I look forward to being an active member of this forums once I return to USA and start the process for my girlfriend's visa

The invitation is only to get the visa and is not needed after you get the visa. Of course you can keep it if you wish but you don't have to. At passport control they will not ask you anything, nothing. They just look at your passport and at you, print out your migration card, tear off one half of it, stamp your passport and you are free to go. Your visa is good for 6 months so don't worry.

. Just be sure you register your visa within 7 days. If you have a shorter stay don't worry about it but since it looks like you are staying longer make sure that gets done. Go to any post office (that's an experience in itself!) and have your girlfriend fill out the information (two forms) and pay the 235 rubles. Also don't lose that migration paper they give you as they want it when you leave the country.

What I usually do is send some money to my girl ahead of time. MoneyGram or Western Union are the best and they have offices all over the place. The big cities you can use the plastic money but in the smaller towns a lot of them are still cash only. Some banks here will not allow a credit card to be used there because of the fraud. So contact your bank before you leave to be sure they will accept the charges.

Other than that enjoy yourself it's a great country to visit!

[Tanya and Barry 59]

i always notify my credit union ahead of time. They will allow use in Ukraine but not Russia.... (shrugs)

[BastillaShan 30]

Don't worry, the Russian passport control guys and girls will just glower at you and not say a single word, either on the way in our out. At least that has been my experience when flying to Russia and Ukraine, in both countries they never say a single word and never smile, just look at you, look at your passport, look at their computer, put a stamp, give you back your passport, and press the button that opens the gate to exit.

I wonder how many of us know that same girl in the St. Petersburg immigration booth...

Yes you all know the one. The angry angry one.

[Snipe 21]

So I am back from Russia and sucessfully got married in Russia and also had no issues leaving Russia. The immigration guy just took papers and looked over did stuff and stamped it all and kept the Migration Card. Perhaps it was beacuse I was crying very hard ( leaving my girl was really hard after being together nonstop for 2.5 months)

So all in all 3 year russian visa rocks!

There was one small issue with it though, when registering at a small town where she lives, she wanted to register me for 6 months (since when I arrived I wasnt so sure when I'd leave) and they told her she could only register me for 90 days max then I'd need to leave and re enter country or be registered elsewhere probably.

I still think it was because it was a small town. Eitherway worst case scenario for people staying 90+ days is to register in 2 places or leave and re enter russia.

Anyways now comes the fun stuff. Time to get that CR-1 package done! I hope my experience helps people with the 3 year visa

[Derek & Rita 6]

Other than that all went perfect and now am Registered for 3 months in the town I am in. the office refused to register me for longer even though visa is for 6 months but I can go somewhere else re-register and come back probably or I can go visit Ukraine or something.

As for the wedding, ZAGS women refuses to skip 32 day waiting period unless fiancee is pregnant even when we said we had tickets. I have no idea if I should try to bribe or do anything of the sort since I don't want trouble. One thing I wasn't planning on was ZAGS requiring a translator being present to submit papers and for ceremony, but we found one for 700 rubles so I guess it's okay. Anyway that's a whole other story, again I look forward to taking part in community once I start the journey of my future wife's visa. By the way she is awesome!

All in all, everyone in thread was right. You just stay cool and wait for them to do their thing and voila you are in

Hope my experience helps future people too!

If you are concerned about the 3 month limit, you can go visit a different region for a week and register there (which will automatically cancel the other registration) and then go back and register again.

For the wedding, I was able to bypass the 32 day wait, and you usually can if you write the reason why you can't wait. It's not usually a big deal. I just wrote 'my boss won't let me take any more vacation days' and that was enough (my wife was about 6 mos pregnant at the time though, that probably helped!) I was lucky in that we were the absolute last people to get married at that particular zags that day, and we were late about an hour, but we did get in in time. I knew enough russian that I didn't need a translator. If someone said something, my wife could say it in a different way in russian so i could understand.

Now you are going to worry about the CR-1. That one takes a while, and if it does take over 90 days, write your congressman, open an investigation, do not do like i did and wait 6 months (the estimates on this site are from start to finish, not for a single step!). Get your documents in order well in advance. Police certificates are good for 6 months after they are issued, and they need to be valid at the interview. So, you should be able to start on that now. Also, I don't advise forging your wife's signature on documents rather than sending them to her... that would be against the law. Oh, and changing her name can be a pain. She has to change her name in Russia on her passport and all her documents, it may be better to file in her maiden name just to avoid the hassle, but if she tries to get a DL in the usa under the married name, well, that's going to be more difficult. And if she changes her name on the social security card and not on the green card, she'll fail the e-Verify, so she won't be able to get a job (she certainly could and would have legal status, but everify doesn't handle special situations well), or file taxes (everify is also used when you file taxes). And changing a name is going to be whatever the original cost of the green card was ($495 i think?). To file taxes you have to go to the social security office and get that form which says 'this social security number is for this person' which you can only get in person. Oh, and you won't be able to electronically file...

Speaking of taxes, you should file your taxes with your wife's name on it as well (jointly or joint as single) and to do that, you'll need a Tax ID number (ITIN). You need to contact the IRS and fill out form W-7. Do it well ahead of time.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Derek & Rita