Suppose you want to visit a friend in Russia. Without an invitation you cannot get a visa. But who issues it: the Russian consulate in your country, your friend by an ordinary letter, or the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs at your friend’s request? The correct answer: the MVD.
The consulate does not issue the invitation. It receives it electronically, checks it in a special database and accepts it as a ground for the visa. The invitation remains the most common ground for getting a visa, and today we will go through it using the private visa as an example.
1. Who issues the invitation
- The MVD of Russia: at the request of Russian citizens, of foreigners permanently residing in Russia (that is, holding a residence permit), of legal entities and of local government bodies. Your host goes to the MVD (or applies through the Gosuslugi government services portal) and asks for an invitation for a friend or an acquaintance. Processing takes up to 20 working days, or 5 days at the urgent rate. The country where you will apply for the visa must be specified correctly: if the host writes Cairo and you apply in Dubai, you will be refused.
- The MFA of Russia: at the request of federal authorities, of foreign embassies in Russia, of international organizations and of the authorities of Russian regions. This is not a case for private persons: it covers situations where organizations need to invite a foreigner to take part in events or to study on a quota.
2. What the invitation looks like
Today all invitations are electronic: the details go straight to the consulate. The host receives a copy by email (but not always).
Letters, statements and “I invite you as a guest” notes from acquaintances, companies and deputies are not a ground for a visa. There are only two exceptions:
- it is directly provided for by an international treaty between Russia and the foreigner’s country. Such cases have their own rules, but they are very rare;
- a letter addressed to the ambassador from legal entities or Russian organizations. This also has its own procedure, but in the end it all comes down to whether the ambassador wants to issue the foreigner a visa. More often not than yes.
3. Purposes of travel for a private visa
- “Private”: urgent medical treatment, serious illness or death of close people and other personal matters.
- “Guest”: when the foreigner travels to a Russian citizen, to a foreigner holding a residence permit in Russia, or to an employee of a foreign embassy.
A single or double entry visa is issued for up to 3 months. A multiple entry visa, for up to 1 year, is issued to close relatives of a Russian citizen, on the basis of reciprocity or under an international treaty. We will cover it in a separate article.
4. Processing time of a private visa
As a rule, no more than 20 working days from the day all documents have been submitted. But if you have an MVD or MFA invitation and the visa is single or double entry, then on payment of the urgent consular fee the visa may be issued within 3 working days. The amount of the fee depends on the country, so check with the consulate where you are applying.
An important nuance: applying outside your own country
If a foreigner applies for a visa not in the country of his or her nationality (for example, a Lebanese citizen in Egypt), he or she must have a document confirming lawful stay in the country of application for more than 180 days. Assume that the 180 days must have passed by the time you apply to the consulate: everybody interprets this rule differently.
Close relatives
If your host is a Russian citizen and a close relative of yours, the procedure is different, and you can do without an MVD invitation. We have described this type of private visa in a separate article: Visa to Russia for a Close Relative of a Russian Citizen: a Statement Instead of an Invitation.