September 17-22, 2012          Saint-Petersburg, Russia

Citizens of most countries are required visas in order to travel to Russia. You can obtain an Ordinary humanitarian/Business visa as well as a tourist visa at the Russian Embassy/Consulate in your country of residence. Visa requirements and fees vary from country to country; please check it with the Russian Embassy/Consulate in your country of residence.

Tourist visa (see below) can also be obtained on a commercial basis at many tourist agencies in your country. Please note that the Russian Consulates (or tourist agencies) can refuse to issue a visa for you if the expiration date of your passport is less than 6 months before your planned trip.

Please do not postpone the visa application till the last moment!

The EIMI stuff can assist you in obtaining the Russian ordinary humanitarian (business) visa as well as a tourist visa by making and sending you a visa support document of a particular type - which is to be prepared in accordance with your Registration/Visa Forms. So make sure you filled them in correctly.

Ordinary humanitarian/Business visa for citizens of the EU countries (except Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland) A visa-support document for this type of visa is an official invitation from the Euler Institute. Preparing it usually takes up to one week after receiving your Forms. However, you will need the original of this invitation in order to apply for a visa, which implies mailing (time expenditures may be up to one month) or postage (additional costs for express mail can be added at registration upon your arrival).
Ordinary humanitarian/business visa can be single, double or multiple entry.

Ordinary humanitarian/Business visa for non-EU citizens (and Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland) A visa-support document for this type of visa is an official invitation from the Russian Ministry of Interior. For this kind of invitation it is also necessary to send us a scan copy of your passport together with Registration/Visa Forms. Obtaining such an invitation from the Ministry of Interior takes at least 4-6 weeks. A copy of this invitation as a scanned pdf file will be sent you as soon as EIMI stuff receives an invitation from the Ministry of Interior. In many cases, this copy is sufficient to obtain a visa at the Russian Consulate (please check it with the Russian embassy in advance). If the original is required, this adds the time of mailing and postage, depending on your country of residence.

1. Tourist visa can be obtained on a commercial basis. In many countries AGENCIES ASSISTING IN VISA APPLICATION FORMALITIES offer their help with visa support documents (for an extra charge of the order of 25 Euro). Some of them are listed below: GERMANY: http://visum-centrale.de/ (and numerous other)
USA: http://www.russianconsulate.com/e/home.htm
http://www.russiavisa.com/
UK: http://gotorussia.co.uk/
http://www.visitrussia.org.uk/
NETHERLANDS: http://www.visum.nl
http://www.rnvb.nl/index.phtml
FRANCE: http://www.alsvisa.com/
http://www.homevisas.com/
In this case you will not need any help from us. You may find this to be the easiest option.

2. You can also obtain a tourist visa at the Russian Embassy/Consulate in your country of residence. In this case you will need a special kind of invitation - a tourist voucher, which EIMI stuff will produce within a few days after receiving your Registration/Visa Form. Normally it suffices to have a copy (not necessarily the original) of the tourist voucher in order to get a tourist visa. Such a copy can be sent to you as a scanned pdf file. If the original is required (please check it with the Russian embassy in advance), this adds the time of mailing and postage costs, depending on your country of residence.

Accompanying person An accompanying person has to fill in the separate Registration/Visa form (see http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/EIMI/accvisa.html)

We can include an "accompanying person" in your business visa support document only if she /he is your close relative, e.g. wife, husband, mother, father, son, daughter, brother, and sister. In case your family names differ it may be necessary to send us a scan copy of your marriage or birth certificate (as well as to produce it at the Russian Consulate).

If an accompanying person is not your relative we provide a tourist voucher for he/she can apply for a tourist visa. Please note that producing a tourist voucher for an accompanying person can involve a fee of approx. 300 RUBL.

Once in Russia, all foreign nationals need to register within 7 days of the visit. This is usually done at your hotel and costs about 1000 RUB.