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Tourist Visa and transit?

Way to Russia Talk Lounge Forum Index -> Russian Visa Forum

Author	Message
rbvaughan Frequent Guest Joined: 18 Sep 2008 Posts: 14 Location: San Jose, CA	Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 2:57 am    Post subject: Tourist Visa and transit? Hello All, I'll be taking a trip to Paris this July and my flight will be connecting in Moscow from New York. What I would like to do is arrive in Moscow and stay for 2 days, then continue on to Paris. My only concern is when I'm traveling back to New York, I'll be connecting through Moscow again. I know I can easily obtain a transit visa if I was just connecting. My question is this: Can I transit on a tourist visa, or would I need both a tourist and transit visa? I've been to Russia 2 times before, so I am familiar with the visa process just not this specific situation. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Russ
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romdur Lounge Lizard Joined: 17 Mar 2010 Posts: 197	Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 10:42 pm    Post subject: Russ, I think you already know, that Russia only allows one valid (neither expired nor canceled) visa at one time in any passport. For this reason, it's not feasible to have both a tourist and a transit visa to cover a travel situation. But fortunately, that should be no problem. If your return flight, with its connection in Moscow, is a typical connection (not more than a few hours, arriving to and departing from the same airport), then you won't need a visa. This situation is covered by "transit without visa," sometimes abbreviated TWOV. So a visa would only be necessary for the first time in Moscow, when you will be leaving the airport. And a tourist visa would work fine for that visit. To make sure about TWOV on your return flight, contact the airline. Airlines take visa issues very seriously: they must foot the bill if a passenger is turned away because they lack a required visa. So the airline can give you an authoritative answer on this. Just as a matter of interest, if someone DID need a visa for such a return flight, and the two visits to Moscow fell within a 30-day period, then a double-entry tourist visa could cover both visits. There is no problem using a tourist visa for transit.
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rbvaughan Frequent Guest Joined: 18 Sep 2008 Posts: 14 Location: San Jose, CA	Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 11:05 pm    Post subject: Thanks Romdur. I'll be flying on Aeroflot the entire trip, so it looks like the TWOV would work for me. If so, then I only need the tourist visa for my short stay in Moscow before continuing onto Paris. I've also contacted the Russian Consulate in my region asking the same question here. Thanks for the information. Russ
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