Business visa to Russia for foreign citizens

Contents:

• When is it necessary to get business visa to Russia
• How to obtain business visa to Russia
• Consular fee
• Peculiarities of documents preparation for treatment

Visa is a document which entitles a foreign citizen to cross the state borders. Generally, it not only allows you to stay in the country, but also sets certain restrictions up to the purpose of the trip. Therefore, a tourist stamp does not allow a visitor to enter university as well as private visa does not give the right to work.

Business visa to Russia will be necessary for cases when a foreigner is planning a commercial visit or to apply to certain institutions. It gives the right to stay in the Russian Federation from 1 month to 5 years, depending on the decision of the Consulate. Mostly, the ground for obtaining this type of visa is an invitation to enter from the Russian side.

The necessity to obtain business visa to Russia for foreigners is directly dependent on the existence of an international agreement between the Russian Federation and another country. This is due to the fact that the Russian Federation has a visa-free regime with some countries. Accordingly, citizens of these countries do not need any documents other than a foreign passport to visit Russia for a business trip. Moreover, it is sometimes enough just to have a civil passport of your country.

When is it necessary to get business visa to Russia

This type of visa is to be issued in the following cases:

• participation in negotiations, presentations, auctions, exhibitions;
• implementation of commercial activities and resolution of related issues;
• treatment or examination in local hospitals, sanatoriums and other medical institutions;
• applying to Russian scientific institutions, professional development.

Depending on the term and validity conditions, business visa to Russia can be single-entry, double-entry or multiple-entry. A single-entry or double-entry visa is issued for no more than three months. It allows you to cross the Russian border once or twice, respectively. That is, even if your single-entry visa is valid for three months, and you entered the country using it, stayed in the Russian Federation for a couple of weeks, and left Russia to return in future, you will have to re-issue the documents.

Multiple-entry visa can be issued for up to a year. It does not impose restrictions described above: a foreign citizen can enter Russia an unlimited number of times as long as the permit remains valid.

The maximum validity term of business visa to Russia is 5 years. This is why this type of visa is very popular among foreigners. If you need to constantly carry out business activity in the Russian Federation, it is much more convenient to get a multiple-entry permit for several years than to constantly apply for a single-entry visa. Moreover, this requires preparation of a set of documents and payment of state fee.

How to obtain business visa to Russia 

In order to apply for this type of document, you need to confirm that you have grounds for a business visit to the country. Therefore, most foreign citizens receive an invitation to enter from their partners first of all. A legal entity registered in the Russian Federation is usually operates in this capacity. The invitation serves as a proof that the foreigner is actually traveling for negotiations, commercial activities, or medical treatment.

After the Russian company issues an invitation, the foreigner must apply to the Russian Consulate in the country of his citizenship or where he permanently resides in order to submit all the necessary documents:

• filled in visa application form with a photo;
• medical certificate of absence of serious diseases;
• invitation from a Russian organization;
• health insurance policy;
• passport.

The period for obtaining a business visa at the Russian Consulate abroad does not exceed 20 days. It should be noted that the visa application fee must be paid at the time of submission, and it is not refundable if the visa is refused. However, there are not so many reasons for refusal: among them, for example, indication of deliberately false information or submission of false documents.

Consular fee

The fee for obtaining a business visa to Russia for foreigners varies depending on their citizenship. For residents of EU countries, it is 2,600 rubles. Meanwhile, the type of visa does not matter, it can be either single-entry or multiple-entry. For citizens of the United States, the consular fee is 10,200 rubles, regardless of the type of visa.

Residents of all other countries will have to pay from 5 to 16 thousand rubles depending on the type of visa stamp.

Peculiarities of documents preparation for treatment

Recently, more and more foreigners are applying for business visa to Russia for the purpose of treatment, diagnostics, and medical consultations. In this case, it is also necessary to get an invitation to enter from a Russian medical institution. After that, you can apply to the Consulate or visa center to get an entry permit for up to 3 months.

Thus, if the purpose of the trip is solely medical treatment, then neither a private nor a tourist visa will work. In this case it is necessary to obtain only a business visa to Russia for foreigners.

When crossing the border, a foreign citizen must have documents from the medical organization where he will be treated or examined. These documents must confirm the fact of treatment with the time of medical services’ provision.

Since cases of documents’ falsification have become more frequent when applying for business visas with the purpose of treatment, such applications are considered quite scrupulously. Civil servants check the information specified in the documents, and this takes time. Therefore, you should not expect that the visa will be issued in a short time.

We would like to remind that falsification of documents provided to a state agency by a foreign citizen, is legally punishable. Moreover, liability is also established for illegal crossing of the Russian state borders.To sum up, obtaining of business visa to Russia is a priority task before visiting the country for business, commercial, or medical purposes. In addition, in the current situation, when most borders with foreign countries are closed due to the pandemic, it is necessary to comply with strict legal requirements in order to avoid negative consequences from regulatory authorities.