Travel without a Visa

Visas are required by all visitors to Russia, except for:

Cruise Passengers
• Cruise ship passengers do not need a Russian visa, if the stop in the port of call does not exceed 72 hours and if the tourists stay overnight on board the ship, not on land.
• Passengers also do not need a visa if St. Petersburg is not the only port you stop at during your cruise.
• Cruise passengers may disembark from the ship without a tourist visa only if they participate in tours organised by cruise companies.
• Passengers will not be permitted ashore if they present an invalid passport or if they lack a Russian visa and invitation or voucher issued by a Russian travel company or other authorized organization.
• Passengers who are not participating in organised tours who wish to disembark will need to obtain a Russian tourist visa.
• Cruise passengers cannot obtain a visa once in Russia, since visas are issued only in the country of residence before departure.

Nationals of some CIS countries (former USSR without Baltic States) do not need Russian visas.

Children under the age of 16
• If the names of the children appear in the passports and on the visas of their accompanying parents or guardians, they do not need their own, separate visas.
• If the children’s names do not appear on their parent’s or guardian’s passport, they must apply for and get their own, separate Russian visas and the parent (or both parents in case of a guardian) who do not intend to travel must confirm in an affidavit their consent to the children’s travel.
• If the children’s names differ from those of their parents, a copy of the children’s birth certificates must be attached to the Russian visa application form.

Your on-line
Russian visa consultant

Ekaterina Gulova

Polina Novoselova