Who needs a visa to Russia?

It’s great that you’ve decided to travel to Russia! There’s so much to see and do in this fascinating country. However, before you buy your plane tickets and book your hotels, there’s the matter of your visa to take care of. Do you need a visa? Why are citizens of some countries able to enter Russia visa-free, while others face an uphill battle to obtain theirs? We’ll get to the bottom of these questions here.

Firstly, the question of whether you need a visa to enter Russia or not will depend on the type of agreements between Russia and your home country. If you’re lucky and there is a visa-free arrangement for holders of your country’s passport, you can enter Russia without all of the time-consuming paperwork. However, if there’s no special agreement in place between your country and Russia, you must present a valid visa at migration control when crossing the Russian border. 

For citizens of most English speaking countries, such as the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, as well as citizens of EU countries, a visa to enter Russia is required.

 (image taken from wikipedia)

Russia visa-free countries

Below is the list of the countries that have visa-free entry to Russia as of December 2019:

• Unlimited stay in Russia, no visa required

Belarus

South Ossetia

• 90 days of visa-free stay 

Abkhazia	Tajikistan
Armenia	Moldova
Azerbaijan	Ukraine
Kazakhstan	Uzbekistan
Kyrgyzstan

• 90 days visa-free stay for non-commercial trips

Antigua and Barbuda	Honduras
Argentina	Israel
Bolivia	Jamaica
Brazil	Maldives
Chile	Nicaragua
Colombia	Panama
Costa Rica	Paraguay
Cuba	Peru
Dominica	Saint Kitts and Nevis
Ecuador	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
El Salvador	South Africa
Fiji	Suriname
Grenada	United Arab Emirates
Guatemala	Uruguay
Guyana	Venezuela

• 60 days visa-free stay for non-commercial trips

Mauritius

Samoa

South Korea

• 30 days visa-free stay for non-commercial trips

Bosnia and Herzegovina	Montenegro
Botswana	Palau
Laos	Serbia
Macao	Seychelles
Mongolia	Thailand

• 30 days visa-free entry on condition of having a letter of invitation and a tourist voucher when crossing the border

North Macedonia

• 14 days visa-free for non-commercial trips

Brunei

Hong Kong

Nauru

Who needs a visa to Russia

If you don’t fall into the above categories and hold a passport from the list of countries below, you’ll need a visa to enter Russia:

Australia	Bangladesh	Bhutan
Austria	Barbados	UK
Azores Islands	Bahrain	Hungary
Albania	Belize	Vietnam
Algeria	Belgium	Gabon
Virgin Islands (US)	Benin	Haiti
Angola	Ivory Coast	Gambia
Andorra	Bermuda	Ghana
Antigua and Barbuda	Bulgaria	Guinea Bissau
Afghanistan	Burkina Faso	Germany
Bahamas	Burundi	Gibraltar
Greece	Indonesia	Cambodia
Georgia	Jordan	Canary Islands
Denmark	Iraq	The Caribbean: Curacao, Bonaire, Saba, Sint Eustatius, the Dutch part of the island of St. Maarten and Aruba
Democratic Republic of Congo	Iran	Qatar
Djibouti	Ireland	Kenia
Dominican Republic	Iceland	Cyprus
Egypt	Spain	Kuwait
Zambia	Italy	Lavia
Zimbabwe	Yemen	Lesotho
India	Cape Verde	Liberia
Lebanon	Madagascar	Marshall Islands
Libya	Madera	Mexico
Lithuania	Malaysia	Mozambique
Liechtenstein	Mali	Monaco
Luxembourg	Malta	Montserrat
Mauritania	Morocco	Myanmar
Namibia	Norway	Portugal
Nepal	Oman	Puerto Rico
Niger	Pakistan	The Republic of Guinea
Nigeria	Palau	The Republic of Korea
Netherlands	Palestine	The Republic of Congo
Nicaragua	Papua New Guinea	The Republic of Cote d’Ivoire
New Zealand	Poland	Rwanda
Romania	Syria	Sierra Leone
San Marino	Slovakia	Tanzania
Saudi Arabia	Solomon Islands	Togo
Swaziland	Somalia	Trinidad and Tobago
Senegal	Sudan	Turkmenistan
Saint Lucia	Suriname	Turkey
Singapore	USA	Uganda
Philippines	Sri Lanka	Equatorial Guinea
Finland	Central African Republic	Eritrea
France	Chad	Estonia
Croatia	Czech Republic	Ethiopia
Sweden	Switzerland	Japan

If you’re living in a foreign country and plan to apply from this country instead of your country of citizenship, you have to make sure that your citizenship allows you visa-free entry to Russia. Even if you are a permanent resident of a country with visa-free entry to Russia, your residency doesn’t give you the same rights as citizenship.

Special categories of travellers with visa-free entry to Russia

• Children under the age of 16 indicated in their parent’s passport and travelling in their company. If a child is not indicated in his/her parent’s passport or travels on his/her own or with another guardian he/she requires a visa to enter Russia. Additional documents for children’s visas include a birth certificate and a notarized consent of parents or guardians;
  
• Holders of diplomatic and other categories of service passports;
  
• Passengers of cruise ships spending less than 72 hours in the port of stay (Saint Petersburg) without leaving the vessel. Passengers who came ashore in an organized group don’t require a visa either, provided they have valid passports and a voucher from the travel company. If travelling by yourself and not as part of a group you must get a visa prior to your trip, as it’s impossible to obtain a visa in the port itself.

Transit passengers

If you’re travelling through Russia on the way to another country, and your connecting flight is in less than 24 hours, you can stay in the international airport in-transit zone without a Russian visa.  Please contact your airlines to make sure you won’t need to clear passport control or leave the transit zone when changing flights in Russia. 

There are some Russian airports that do not have a transit zone, so you’ll need to obtain a transit visa to make your connection there. Here is the list:

• Irkutsk Airport (IKT)
• Khabarovsk Airport (KHV)
• Krasnodar Airport (KRR)
• Mineralnye Vody Airport (MRV)
• Rostov Airport (ROV)
• Sochi Airport (AER)
• Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Airport (UUS)
• Zhukovsky Airport (ZIA)

Please note, that for travellers going to Kazakhstan and Belarus through Russia it is mandatory to obtain a Russian transit visa.

E-Visa to Russia

Russian authorities implemented a new E-visa program in 2017. Information below is effective as of January 2020.

Nationals of these 53 states can enter Russia on an E-visa:

Austria	Malta
Andorra	Mexico
Bahrain	Monaco
Belgium	Netherlands
Bulgaria	Norway
Vatican	Oman
Hungary	Poland
Germany	Portugal
Greece	Romania
Denmark	San Marino
India	Saudi Arabia
Indonesia	North Macedonia
Iran	Serbia
Ireland	Singapore
Iceland	Slovakia
Spain	Slovenia
Italy	Turkey
Qatar	Philippines
Cyprus	Finland
China (including Taiwan)	France
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea	Croatia
Kuwait	Czech Republic
Latvia	Switzerland
Lithuania	Sweden
Liechtenstein	Estonia
Luxembourg	Japan
Malaysia

The following border points allow entry with e-visa:

• The Far East
• Kaliningrad Region
• St. Petersburg and The Leningrad region

The main things you need to know about E-visas:

• This visa is issued for 30 days and gives you the right to a single entry into Russia for a stay of up to 8 calendar days within its validity period;
• It is suitable for tourist, business, and humanitarian purposes only;
• Your e-visa cannot be extended;
• You do not require hotel bookings or tour confirmations to apply for an E-visa;
• You do not need to pay any visa fee;
• Foreign nationals who entered Russia with an E-visa are free to move within the region, near the point of entry. They should leave only through the border point in which they entered;
• You can apply for an E-visa no earlier than 20 days and no later than 4 days prior to your visit;
• You should have medical insurance to cover your trip;
• Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months from the date of your application

If you decide to travel on an E-visa and need professional assistance in submitting your application, our staff are ready to help you: [email protected]