Way to Russia Talk Lounge

Collins · Just Starting Joined: 24 Sep 2004 Posts: 2

Before I order my business invitation, I have a couple of questions that I don’t see answered here:

1. Type of visa
From http://waytorussia.net/RussianVisa/Info.html
> However, many people come for a short business trip with tourist visas, or to visit their friends with business visas. So, when choosing the type of visa, the only consideration should be — price / speed of processing / period of stay / the number of entries, and not the formal name of the visa.

I like this, it makes everything so much easier. But is there legal support for this statement? I mean, if a militsia man/bureaucrat decides you need to be punished for not having the right kind of visa, are you protected by the law from this kind of trouble?

2. Migration card
I would like to visit several cities, but the migration card I got on my last trip was too small for more than 2 stamps. Does this mean that you can only register your visa twice?

Thanks for you help!

WayToRussia · Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2004 2:56 pm Post subject:

Hi,

1) When you obtain a Russian visa, starting from the process of getting an invitation, finishing with receiving the actual visa at the consulate, the whole process is completely legal. First, you apply at a Russian travel agency for a confirmation of your tour, itinerary, and accommodation -- you get the invitation letter (visa support) and pay money for these arrangements ($30). Then, you submit all the documents to the Russian consulate. Their task is to check if everything is OK and legal. Finally, they give you the visa, and once you have it, you can visit the Russian Federation.

When you get a tourist visa, you are supposed to be on a tour in Russia. So, if anybody has any questions about the purpose of your stay here, you say, you're a tourist and the company that organizes the tour is the one that issued the invitation. Its name will be both in your visa and invitation, and if there are any questions from authorities, you can give them the name of the company and they must address all further questions to this company, because it is them who is responsible for your stay in Russia. Never ever had anybody troubles because of this.

Same with the business visa. The purpose of business visa is for you to attend conferences / business events / business meetings / consulting in Russia. The company that organizes your trip is the one that's written in your visa (and invitation) and all further questions must be addressed to them.

Problem may arise ONLY if you work in Russia on your standard business visa. In case you want to work in Russia, you need to first get a work permit, and then get a visa (a very detailed information about it is provided at http://waytorussia.net/RussianVisa/Status.html and http://waytorussia.net/business/employees.html ).
So, if the officials find you officially employed in a company without having a work permit and on the wrong type of visa, then you will face fines and problems. Despite this fact many foreigners in Russia work on standard business visa, I think they use some schemes when they are not officially employed, so nobody can prove the fact they are doing more in Russia than just conducting business meetings, consulting, etc.

2) No, they will just stamp it all over, it doesn't mean you can only register twice. Actually, for passport control officials at the border it's usually enough if you have one registration (better for the whole period of your stay in Russia), the only problem in not having a registration in a city where you are already for longer than 3 days is that the police might want you to pay a fine. However, if you already have a registration stamp from somewhere else that is valid for the whole period of your visa, then basically it could be that you arrived just yesteday and didn't have time to register your visa.

Collins · Just Starting Joined: 24 Sep 2004 Posts: 2

That was very comforting. Thank you so much for your quick and exact reply!