Visa to Russia for Japanese citizens

For those who have decided to explore the wonders of Russia, the first question would be about a visa – Do I need one, and How to get it? In this article we’ll answer these questions for citizens of Japan, planning a business, family visit or leisure trip to Russia.

Do Japanese citizens require a visa to Russia? – Yes, they do!

Before you get scared, know that it’s not such a complicated process – to get a legal Russian visa you’ll just need to follow some simple steps. Read on to learn how to get your Russian visa in a cost-effective and quick manner. You won’t need to hire professional agents to do it for you, find the visa application guide below with expert tips and useful contacts for your visa processing.

Step 1. Decide on the reason for your traveling and choose the appropriate visa type

Before you start the application process, think about the reason for your traveling, the duration of your trip and the party, who will provide you with the required invitation from Russia. 

There are several main visa types corresponding to the different travel purposes:

Visa types	Validity period	Travel purpose
Tourist visa	30 days	tourism and leisure
Private visa	90 days	private guest visits. Not recommendable: see why here
Business visa	30 -90 days (up to 5 years max)	conducting business in Russia, looking for partners, negotiating, investing etc.
Transit visa	3 -10 days	crossing Russian territory on your way to another country
Student visa	90 days and above	studying a course in a Russian school or university
Work visa	90 days and above	working under contract for a Russian employer
Electronic visa	8 days	short tourist, business or humanitarian visits

RUSSIAN TOURIST VISA FOR JAPANESE CITIZENS

Travel plans for tourism include:

• sightseeing
• tours and excursions (including railroad trips, cruise tours* etc.)
• hiking, backpacking, driving to the exotic corners of Russia
• visiting exhibitions, concerts, festivals
• brief business visits or medical consultations (Aim-tourism)

Planned duration of your stay: 

• 30 continuous days or 90 days total. A visa itself can be issued either for 30 days (single/double entry) or for 6 months (multiple entry).

Planned number of entries to Russia:

• single, double, multiple

You should be invited by: 

• A legal Russian tour agency registered at the Uniform Register of the Russian Tour Operators. 

* For passengers traveling by cruise ships or ferry boats entering Russian ports it’s not necessary to get a visa while they stay in Russia no longer than 72 hours, and only enter port cities as part of organized travel groups.

RUSSIAN PRIVATE VISA FOR JAPANESE CITIZENS

Travel plans for private visa include:

• short guest visits to Russian relatives or friends

Planned duration of your stay: 

• 90 continuous days or 90 days total out of 180 days period. A visa itself can be issued 1 year.

Planned number of entries to Russia:

• single, double, multiple

You should be invited by:

• A Russian citizen, who should contact the local Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (MIA) and have an official invitation granted upon his request. 
• A Japanese citizen who has residence permit in Russia. In this case he should get a notarized invitation for you
• A Russian citizen who is your spouse or child and traveling to Russia with you. In this case he/she should write a request of invitation to the Head of the Consulate Division of Russia in Japan

RUSSIAN BUSINESS VISA FOR JAPANESE CITIZENS

Travel plans for business include

• taking part in business meetings and negotiations
• looking for partners and signing business agreements and contracts
• purchasing goods and services for your business
• attending fairs and exhibitions
• providing maintenance works for Russian partnering organizations (Technical Maintenance purpose)
• driving cargo and passenger vehicles (Driver purpose) etc.
• participating in cultural, political, scientific, religious and other events (Humanitarian purpose)

Planned duration of your stay: 

• 90 continuous days or 90 days total out of 180 days period. A visa itself can be issued for 3 months, 1 year or 3 years.

Planned number of entries to Russia:

• single, double, multiple

You should be invited by: 

• A Russian organization who obtains a legal invitation granted by the MIA of Russia or the MFA of Russia.
• In case of Humanitarian purpose the inviting Russian company can write a request to the Consular division of Russia

RUSSIAN STUDY VISA FOR JAPANESE CITIZENS

Travel plans include:

• studying at a Russian school or university
• attending language courses at a private or state Russian school

Planned duration of your stay: 

• from 90 days and beyond. A visa is issued for maximum 90 days (single or double entry) and can be extended by the migration authority in Russia, if your course will last longer

Planned number of entries to Russia:

• single, double, multiple

You should be invited by: 

• The selected Russian school, which obtains a legal invitation from the MIA or MFA of Russia

RUSSIAN WORK VISA FOR JAPANESE CITIZENS

Travel plans include:

• labour activities in Russia according to an official work contract with the Russian legal body
• accompanying a spouse or parent (children under 21 y.o) during his work in Russia

Planned duration of your stay: 

• from 90 days of continuous stay. A visa itself can be issued either for 90 days (single/double entry) or for 1-3 years (HQS multiple entry).

Planned number of entries to Russia:

• single, double, multiple

You should be invited by: 

• The Russian employing company, who obtains a legal invitation at the MIA or MFA of Russia

RUSSIAN TRANSIT VISA FOR JAPANESE CITIZENS

Travel plans include:

• making connecting flight in a Russian airport
• crossing Russia by road or railroad on the way to another country

Planned duration of your stay: 

• up to 3 days for air connections, up to 10 days for road/railroad trips through Russia

Planned number of entries to Russia:

• single, double

No invitation required. Make sure you have the return tickets to show the authorities. 

Important: You won’t need transit visa if you fly directly non-stop over Russia on your way to another country.

You won’t need transit visa if you stay within transit zone when making your connection in a Russian airport.

You will need transit visa if you make a connection in Russia on your way to Belarus or Kazakhstan.

RUSSIAN ELECTRONIC VISA FOR JAPANESE CITIZENS

Travel plans include:

• Tourist and leisure trips to Russia
• Attending business and humanitarian events or medical consultations

Planned duration of your stay: 

• no longer than 8 days of continuous stay. A visa itself is granted for 30 days period.

Planned number of entries to Russia:

• single

You don’t need any invitation, but in 4 days before your trip you should complete a specialized E-form on the Russian MFA site, and have it when crossing the border. To avoid any mistakes when filling the form, request our professional help here: Visando E-visa

Important: You can enter one of the three regions only: Vladivostok and the Far East, Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Region, Kaliningrad and Kaliningrad region. You are required to enter and leave through the same border point. You cannot travel to other regions of Russia on an E-visa.

Step 2. Get all documents for application in order

I hope that by now you have figured out the visa type you need for your trip to Russia. So, the next step will be to collect the necessary set of documents for your application. See below the documents required by the Russian Consulate in Japan:

• Your original passport with minimum 2 blank visa designated pages. It should be valid at least 6 months beyond your Russian visa expiry date

• An invitation corresponding to your travel purposes and issued by the appropriate Russian authority. See the inviting organizations list above in types of visa description. An invitation is accepted both in copies and originals, apart from the work visa where you are demanded to submit only the paper original invitation.

You can get your legal tourist or business invitation from us: get visa support invitation

• A duly filled application form from the website visa.kdmid.ru. After you complete it, print it on both sides of the paper, sign and date. Glue your recent color photo in the marked space on the form. Read more on photo specifications here: Russian visa photo requirements

• For Work/Study visa applicants planning to stay in Russia beyond 90 days it’s also required to present a valid HIV certificate. The test should show negative results and be taken via blood sample in any authorized local clinic not earlier than 90 days before application

Step 3. Apply for Russian visa at a specialized visa center or Russian consulate

You are able to apply for your Russian visa not earlier than 3 months before the planned entry to Russia. After you’ve collected your documents from the above described list, decide on the way of application and act.

Japanese citizens can apply for a Russian visa in one of these ways:

• Directly at the Russian Consular Division in Tokyo, Sapporo, Osaka or Niigata upon prior appointment made on the websites of the consulates

• In person at a licensed visa center Interlink Service at Tokyo upon prior appointment booked on the website of the visa center

• By mail, sending the envelope with documents to the address of the Interlink Service visa center in Tokyo

Visa center has been created to facilitate the work of the Consular division and create more comfortable conditions for the Russian visa applicants. If you choose to apply through the visa center you can select from a wide range of extra services including help with application form filling, photocopies, taking color photos for the form, your application status notifications, and delivery of your passport back to your place. Remember that extra services are all surcharge.

If you wish to apply by mail, without the need to attend visa center in person, prepare the documents, include the cover letter (cover letter), pack everything into an envelope and send to:

Russian Visa Center

INTELINK JAPAN LLC

1 Chome-3-5 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tōkyō-to 107-0052, Japan 

You can find the contact details of Russian embassy, consulates and visa centers here: Russian consulates and embassies

Now, coming to the financial side of the matter. 

Visa fees and Extras

Japanese citizens can get their visas for free if they are ready to wait for  11 working days and beyond. For more urgent cases the following consular fees can be collected:

Visa type	Standard processing fee (6-10 days)	Urgent processing fee (4-5 days)	Extra Urgent (up to 3 days)
Tourist/Transit	4000 JPY	4000 JPY	10000 JPY
Other visa types	free	4000 JPY	10000 JPY

Visa fees are paid at the consulate by credit cards (Visa, Master Card), or by a bank transfer to:

Bank: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation

Branch name: Roppongi Branch

Branch number: 619

Branch address: 6-1-21 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Account number: (Checking account) 1010035

Payee: EMBASSY. OF. THE. RUSSIAN. FED. IN. JPN

Multiple entry visas can be issued within up to 20 days period.

If you apply through the visa center in person you should accompany your application by payment of service fee, which is 4500 JPY

In case you wish to apply by mail, you will need to pay extra fees:

Number of passports in one package	Processing of a postal application (per passport)	Return delivery price (total amount for all passports)
1 passport	4000 JPY	2000 JPY
2-5 passports	3000 JPY	2500 JPY
6-10 passports	2500 JPY	3000 JPY
11-20 passports	2000 JPY	3500 JPY
21-50 passports	1500 JPY	4000 JPY
51-99 passports	1000 JPY	5000 JPY

First, you’ll send the documents to the visa center by mail, then receive the invoice and pay it at the bank.

Step 4. Collect your passport back and check your visa details

After the stipulated time has passed you can collect your passport with visa. If you applied directly at the consulate, you can get it without appointment at window 3 during working hours. If you applied at the visa center, you can also receive it back in person, or if you paid for return delivery, just wait until the courier brings it to your place.

Now, having your passport in hands, find your visa stamp and check all details. It looks like this:

If all corresponds to your data, you can start packing your luggage and preparing for your trip. Carry your passport with visa and invitation to Russia with you.

Step 5. Come to Russia and get the required registration

Now before you leave, you should know about two more documents you’ll need to obtain after you come to Russia: 

• Migration Card
• Registration

You will be handed Migration Card on board the plane by flight attendants, or at border points by the immigration officers. You’ll be requested to fill both parts of this document with identical information in block letters in pen, in Russian or English. Give your passport details, dates of trip and inviting company, nothing hard. Immigration officer will stamp the document and give you one part of it. Carry the migration card always with you and return at immigration control when you leave Russia.

You will require Registration if your stay in Russia will last over  7 working days. It’s normally provided by the hotel where you stay, or by the owner of the apartment. I suggest you contacting the owner and making sure he’ll be able to have you registered at the local post or police office. Airbnb owners normally charge some extras for this service. Carry your registration with you during your visit. Remember that it should be made during the first 7 business days of your stay.

That’s about all I was to tell you on the Russian visa application process. As you can see by yourself it’s not so complicated. I recommend starting visa process at least 1 month prior to your trip. If you still encounter some problems or want to consult on some issues, feel free to write to our email.

Have a splendid trip to Russia!