Visa invitation for visiting a friend in moscow?

Question

hello, im planning on going back to moscow for a week in October to visit my boyfriend. We are planning to stay in a hotel for the first 4 nights then at his home for the remaining three nights. I know i need to have a invitation from the hotel for the time i am staying there, however what should i do about the remaining three nights/days in which i will still be in moscow? do i need two seperate invitations? and if so, how do i go about organising an invitation for staying at a private address??

thanks!

Answer 1

You only need ONE invitation to get a Russian visa, even if you decide to tour the whole country. Moscow also requires all visitors to register with the Department of VISAs and Registrations (OVIR) within 3 days of arrival. Your hotel will register you automatically at no charge, but likely only for the days of your hotel stay. For the remainder of your stay, I can think of 3 options:

1. Ask the hotel to register you for the whole visit;

2. Go to OVIR and do it yourself; or

3. Do nothing, use up your grace period (3 days) and hope for the best.

Answer 2

Your boyfriend will have to go to his local OVIR (passport office) and apply for an invitation. He'll have to fill out some paperwork, meet income guidelines and wait about a month to get the invitation. He then needs to send the original invitation to you and then you need to send this to the Russian Embassy or Consulate.

   It may just be a lot easier if you pay for all 7 nights at the hotel, even if you don't use it for all 7. If you do this, the hotel takes care of registering your visa, otherwise your boyfriend will need to spend about half a day doing this.

   It may all be a moot point anyhow; it's doubtful that you will be issued two different types of visas to stay in Russia for only 7 days. You would have to pay double the visa fee even if they allow this, because you would have a tourist visa and a home stay visa.