Russia - Tourist Confirmation Letter

[Karen329]

Hi there. I am an Australian planning to travel to Russia in May and I understand that I need to provide a tourist confirmation letter as part of the visa application process. My questions are...

1. How did you obtain this document when booking with AirBnb?
2. Is this something that the AirBnb team can provide?
3. If you booked an apartment via AirBnb, were you able to use the tourist confirmation letter from an airline, train, or day trip tour company instead?

Thanks, Karen

[Marcus96]

Hi Alain, 
You can contact me at [Personal information hidden as per the community guidelines] 

. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have about your trip to Russia. Posting a question here, if it's a general question, might be helpful for others planning a trip to Russia too. Either way, I'm happy to help!

[Marcus96]

Hi Alain,

I'm just a host in Moscow. As a foreigner in Russia, I know how the visa process works and started LetsRussia. With the trend of renting private spaces on AirBnb, people coming to Russia get lost during the visa process and we help foreigners apply for visas to Russia. I'm happy to share my experience here as well. 

[Noah43]

@Elena87
Hello Elena!

I read trough quite a lot of posts in here and you helped me understand the russian visa procedure.
There are two questions I would like to ask you: Which site do you recommend for ordering invitation letter?
We are visiting St Petersburg in July for less than 7 weekdays. Did the registration regulation change for the time period of the FIFA World Cup?

With kind regards,
Noah

[Elena87]

Hi Izabella

It doesn't matter which hotel you include on your visa application, five star or one star.

In fact, it's treated as a provisional decision - when you receive your visa sticker, the visa doesn't list anything about where you will stay, so you can feel free to choose whatever you wish. You are not obliged to stay at the hotel listed in the invitation letter.

At customs you receive an 'immigration card' - again it doesn't tie you to any hotels or accomodation.

[Izabella4]

Hi Elena Thank you for your advice.  You really  made us feel ease about the visa process. Thank you again. Really appreciate!

[Jamie262]

Dear Elena,

Thank you for all your helpful responses thus far. If it is ok I would like to ask our query:

My girlfriend and I plan to travel through Russia only using Air BnB. 
We realise we need to apply for a tourist visa but we do not understand what we should write in the itinerary section. Because if we write a private address instead of a hotel, won´t the visa authorities think that we should have a private guest visa instead?

Also do we need to tell them all of the airbnb hosts we plan on using?

Thank you!

Jamie

[Elena87]

@Jamie262

It should certainly be a 'tourist visa' you apply for. A 'private visa' is for Russians who invite friends or family to visit them. A private visa needs to be supported by a special type of invitation letter - a more complex matter.

Your itinerary is only provisional, so not very crucial; you can even apply for a visa without making any concrete plans or any booking.

You need an invitation letter of course before filling out a Russian visa application form.

The part of the visa application 'Do you plan to stay anywhere (hotel, individual) during your stay in Russia?'- this should match what is stated in the invitation letter.

If you use a company such as https://visatoruss.com they offer an inexpensive way of obtaining an invitation letter and it is suitable for use with airbnb addresses.

[Tanveer1]

Hi Elena,

I have a few questions about my trip to Russia. I am from India. My wife and I are planning to visit in November. We wil stay in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan and Sochi. Our total trip would be around 9 working days, total 13 days hopefully 🙂

Will we need to get registered in each of the cities we stay? Also, we are planning on staying with both hotels and Airbnb. Will we need to get registered in all the different properties we stay? Thanks in advance for your help.

[Elena87]

@Tanveer1

You should  get some to register you within the first seven working days of your arrival in Russia.

Hotels will automatically register you on arrival.

Because you are moving from city to city, you only probably need to register the one time - only if you are planning in staying in one city for more than seven working days would you need to register a second time.

So for example you have five days in Moscow, five in SpB, three in Sochi - you should complete registration once in Moscow and this will be sufficient for your full trip.

[Tanveer1]

Thanks a lot, Elena. This clears my doubt.

[Thomas979]

Hi Elena,

I've read through this thread and your input has been extremely helpful. I have a quick question. I was planning on applying for a tourist visa but staying with a friend (the private visa seems to be a bit too complicated). My current plan is to visit for 10 days in April in Novosibirsk. My question has to do with the registration once I enter the country. If I booked a hotel room for one night and then checked out of that hotel would the registration papers that the hotel complete cover me for the 10 days in that city (I plan to stay in the same city all ten days) or only the one night that I am staying in the hotel? If it's one the night, is the next best way for the host to register me? Thank you!

[Elena87]

@Thomas979

The hotel would register you for the dates you stay in the hotel.

Probably your friend can arrange to register you or some flat owner they know can assist.

However If your trip duration in Russia is 10 days in total, you would not need registration. You only register if you are staying more than seven working days.

As you don't include your arrival day and weekends, you need to stay at least 11 nights before registration is required.

[Thomas979]

Thank you so much! That was extremely helpful!

[Kayla89]

Hello! 

Did anybody use this website(saint-petersburg.com)to get the invitation letter for applying Russia Visa?

It this safe and relialbe website to use?

[Elena63]

@Kayla89

It's funded by the city administration and reliable to use.

I've used myself from time to time and can recommend.