Soi Close to My Heart!

Nationals from a total of 53 countries (listed below), including the Philippines, can now take advantage of VISA-FREE ENTRY into Russia FOR UP TO 8 DAYS, thanks to the new decree announced by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev last Thursday, September 19, 2019. The free electronic visa (e-visa) entry will take effect on October 1, 2019.

This is good news to travel buffs, especially to those who want to tick Russia off their travel bucket list!

For Filipino travellers, this means saving about 50 Euros or other fees for visa assistance or the hassle of going to the Russian Embassy to apply for a tourist visa in person.

A few things to take note of before taking this free e-visa offer:

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• (1) Only those looking to travel for (a) tourism, (b) business, and (c) humanitarian reasons are eligible for the free e-visa

  (2) The visa is only valid for stays in St. Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad Region

  (3) The free e-visa is only valid for a maximum of 8 travel days

  (4) The application must be made no later than four days and no earlier than 20 days before the expected date of entry

53 Countries receiving visa-free treatment from Russia

Foreign states whose citizens can exercise entry into the Russian Federation and departure from the Russian Federation through checkpoints across the state border of the Russian Federation located in the territories St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, based ordinary one-time business, tourist and humanitarian visas in the form of electronic documents:

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• 1. Austria
  2. Andorra
  3. Bahrain
  4. Belgium
  5. Bulgaria
  6. Vatican
  7. Hungary
  8. Germany
  9. Greece
  10. Denmark
  11. India
  12. Indonesia
  13. Iran
  14. Ireland
  15. Iceland
  16. Spain
  17. Italy
  18. Qatar
  19. Cyprus
  20. China (including Taiwan)
  21. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
  22. Kuwait
  23. Latvia
  24. Lithuania
  25. Liechtenstein
  26. Luxembourg
  27. Malaysia
  28. Malta
  29. Mexico
  30. Monaco
  31. Netherlands
  32. Norway
  33. Oman
  34. Poland
  35. Portugal
  36. Romania
  37. San Marino
  38. Saudi Arabia
  39. Northern Macedonia
  40. Serbia
  41. Singapore
  42. Slovakia
  43. Slovenia
  44. Turkey
  45. Philippines46. ​​Finland
  47. France
  48. Croatia
  49. Czech Republic
  50. Switzerland
  51. Sweden
  52. Estonia
  53. Japan

How to apply for free E-Visa to Russia

Russian Electronic-visas are very simple to obtain. They can be issued within four (4) days and as the name suggests, can be done online rather than through a visit to the Russian Embassy. An online application form will soon be available on their website.

What is Russian Visa

The Russian visa is a machine-readable document which is placed in the holder’s passport to be granted entry into the Russian Federation. All fields are indicated in both Russian and English, but are filled out only in Russian. The holder’s name appears in both the Roman and Cyrillic alphabets.

Types of Russian visa

Depending on the purpose of entry into the Russian Federation and the purposes of stay, visas are categorized as:

Diplomatic

Ordinary

Service

DIPLOMATIC VISA

A diplomatic visa shall be issued to a foreign citizen holding a diplomatic passport. A diplomatic visa is issued:

(1) to foreign heads of state, foreign heads of government, members of the foreign official delegations, family members of such persons traveling with them or accompanying them – for a period of up to one year.

(2) to diplomatic agents of diplomatic missions and consular officials of consular establishments, the staff of representations of the international organizations in the Russian Federation which have the diplomatic status in the Russian Federation, to family members of specified persons for a period of up to one year.

(3) to foreign diplomatic and consular couriers for the term of business trip.

(4) to officials of the foreign states who have the official status in the Russian Federation have the right to a diplomatic visa and who come for a working visit to diplomatic missions or consular establishments of the foreign states in the Russian Federation or to the international organizations or their representations in the Russian Federation, for a period of up to one year.

SERVICE VISA

A service visa is issued to the foreign citizen having service (consular, official, special) passport. A service visa is issued:

(1) to members of foreign official delegations, family members of such persons traveling with them or accompanying them – for a period of up to one year.

(2) to administrative and technical and service personnel of diplomatic missions, consular employees and service personnel of consular establishments of the foreign states in the Russian Federation, representations of the international organizations in the Russian Federation and to family members of such persons for a period of up to one year.

(3) to military personnel of armed forces of the foreign states and family members of such persons for a period of up to one year. Extension of term of stay in the Russian Federation by issuance of the multiple entry visa for a period of validity of the foreign trade contract registered in accordance with the established procedure, but no more than for five years is allowed to the military personnel of armed forces of the foreign states driving to the Russian Federation for implementation of international treaties of the Russian Federation and (or) decisions of public authorities of the Russian Federation in the field of military and technical cooperation, and family members of such persons.

to foreign state officials who have the official status in the Russian Federation have the right to be issued a service visa and those who travel for a working visit to diplomatic missions or consular establishments of the foreign states in the Russian Federation or in the international organizations or their representations in the Russian Federation, for a period of up to one year.

ORDINARY VISA

Depending on the purpose of entry of the foreign citizen into the Russian Federation and the purpose of his stay in the Russian Federation ordinary visas are subdivided on private, business, tourist, educational, working, humanitarian and entry visas to the Russian Federation for temporary residence or citizenship ceremony:

(1) An ordinary private visa is issued for a period of up to three months or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity for a period of up to one year to foreign citizens traveling to Russia for a short visit on the basis of an invitation letter.

(2) An ordinary business visa is issued for a period of up to one year to foreign citizens traveling to Russia for a business trip.

(3) An ordinary tourist visa is issued for a period of up to one month or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity for a period of up to six months to foreign citizens traveling to Russia as tourists, if holding an invitation letter by a Russian tour operator. Invitations can be issued by many hotels on request (sometimes for a fee) or through various online services associated with Russian tour operators.

(4) An ordinary tourist group visa is issued for a period of up to one month to foreign citizens traveling to Russia as a tourist in an organized tourist group (not less than five people), of holding a confirmation by an organization in the unified federal register of tour operators.

(5) An ordinary student visa is issued for a period of up to one year to foreign citizens traveling to Russia for training in the educational institution.

(6) An ordinary work visa is issued to foreign citizens visiting Russia for work purposes for a period of validity of the employment contract or civil contract for performance of work (rendering services), but no more than for one year.

(7) An ordinary humanitarian visa is issued for a period of up to one year or on the basis of the principle of reciprocity for a period of up to five years to foreign citizens visiting Russia for a scientific, cultural, political or a sport visit, religious communication and contacts, pilgrimage, charity, delivery of humanitarian aid.

(8) An ordinary entry visa to Russia for receiving a shelter is issued to foreign citizens for a period of up to three months if holding a decision of the federal executive authority authorized on implementation of functions on control and supervision in the sphere of migration on recognition of this foreign citizen as a refugee on the territory of Russia.

(9) An ordinary entry visa to Russia to obtain citizenship of the Russian Federation is issued to foreign citizens for a period of up to one year if holding a decision on recognition of such foreign citizen as a native speaker of Russian.

(10) An ordinary entry visa to Russia to obtain permission for a temporary resident is issued to foreign citizens for a period of up to four months.

(11) An ordinary transit visa is issued for a period of up to ten days to the foreign citizen for transit through the territory of Russia.

(Source: Wikipedia)

How to apply for Russian Visa

All types of Russian entry visa applications are received through Russian embassies and consulates.

Here in the Philippines, the Russian Embassy information is listed below:

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• Address:Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Philippines, 1245 Acacia Road, Dasmarinas Village, Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines

  Phone: +632 893-0190, 817-5406

  Telex: (75) 63709 SOVPSL PN

  Fax:+632 810-9614

  E-mail:rusemb@i-manila.com.ph

  Website: http://www.philippines.mid.ru/

  Consular department phone: +632 810-9581

  Fax:+632 810-95-81

Provided all the documents are ready, the process usually takes no more than 3-10 workdays for a Russian travel visa.

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• Russian Tourist Visa requirements:
• Original passport

  One photo (colour, passport size photo)

  Tourist invitation

  Russian Consulate Application Form

  The Russian Consulate requires the visa application form to be printed on A4 paper with right and bottom margins of 5mm.

  A failure to meet these requirements invalidates the form.

Parting Words

If you are a Philippine Passport holder, and you want to travel to Russia for about a week or less, you do not need to apply for a tourist visa at the Russian Embassy in Manila. You can just fill an application form online and obtain a free electronic visa to enter into Russia.

What do you think about the free e-visa entry to Russia? Do you want to visit Russia? Which place do you hope to visit? Let us know in the comments section below!