US Citizens: Get your Russia Humanitarian visa with the TDS Washington DC Office

The Humanitarian visa type which is a subcategory of a Russian business visa is issued to U.S citizens, traveling to Russia with the purpose of religious missions or missionary programs, church visits, humanitarian relief, charity events and organizations, cultural or political exchange, sports events, and scientific or technical purposes.

The Humanitarian visa is issued on the basis of the applicant having received an Original Official invitation issued by the Russian Federal Migration Service (FMS) or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) that has been applied for by the inviting host or organization.

The first step with any Russian humanitarian visa is to obtain your Letter of Invitation, this document must be in hand before you start your visa application form as information from your Letter of Invitation is needed to answer several questions on the Russian visa application form.

Please send TDS your current valid and SIGNED passport. Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months beyond the expiration of the visa you are applying for and MUST have at least TWO blank pages that are listed as VISA pages. Foreign Embassies cannot issue a visa on a page not labeled as a Visa page. Amendment and Endorsement pages in the back of the passport cannot be used for issuance of a visa.
A visa cannot be stamped on a page even if only one Small Stamp is on the visa page. If you do not have Two blank visa pages in your passport, TDS can assist you in applying for additional pages. If your passport is NOT valid for at least 6 months beyond of the expiration date of your visa, you must renew your passport and then we will secure your visa with the new passport. 

If Travel Document Systems assists you in applying for a New/First Time, Renewal or Second Limited passport as part of this order, the passport will need to be returned to you for a signature before your visa application can be processed. Extra FedEx fees will apply in this case.

If you are applying for a 3-year multiple entry visa your passport MUST be valid 6 months beyond the expiration of the visa.

Please send 1 recent professional passport-type photograph.
The photograph must have been taken within the last six months.
Digital and non-passport photographs are not acceptable.
Passport Photo Guide - Click Here

Please do not attach the Photo to the visa application, TDS will do this for you.

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Effective Dec 20th, 2019, the Russian Embassy no longer offers any type of Rush or Emergency visa processing, only regular 7-9 business day processing is available to US citizens.

Update: December 24th, 2019, Russian Visa Processing in New York. At this time, the Russian consulate in New York is still offering rush 4-5 business day visa processing, the consulate has not provided any information as to when this may stop. 
If you need rush visa processing, please apply using TDS office in New York.


Additional Helpful Information: Over the past 8 months, the Russian Embassy has made several changes to their visa issuing policies. Prior to April 2019, US citizens could request rush or emergency visa processing 2-5 business days without any additional documentation requests and except to receive a fast processing turnaround. 

In mid-April, the Embassy announced Rush and or Emergency visa processing would be considered strictly on a case by case bases.

An Original Official Letter of Invitation issued by the Federal Migration Service (FMS) or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Russia is required to apply for a Russian Humanitarian visa, you must request your host to secure an invitation on your behalf in order to apply for a visa. A letter of invitation is considered to be the first step in applying for a humanitarian visa to Russia.

If the official Russian visa invitation was submitted directly to the Embassy of Russia or Russian Consulate by "Telex", provide a record of the visa telex invitation number and details.

Information from the invitation is needed to complete the Russian Visa Application Form. You must have the invitation, or have the information from your host before you can complete the Russia visa application form.


A 3 Year Multiple Entry visa invitation can also be issued directly by your host company or organization.
  

 3 Year Multiple Entry Visa Invitation Option

**If you select this option as your Letter of invitation, ONLY Regular processing (7-9 Days) will be available. Rush or Emergency processing is not available to you.

**This option is only for 3 Year Multiple entry visa. If you wish to apply for a Single, Double, 6 or 1-year Multiple entry visa cannot use this option of invitation.

A written Letter of Invitation on company letterhead from the host organization in Russia which should indicate the following information:
*Full name of the host organization.
*Official address and contact information of the host organization.
*Surname, First Name, patronymic, and position of the person who signed the statement, this person must hold a position of General Manager or higher to be eligible to sign the Invitation Letter. The individual's taxpayers number is required.

Basic information about the visa applicant is also required in the statement, information included should be:
*Surname, First name, and any other given names.
*Date of birth.
*Citizenship.
*Gender.
*Passport Number, date of issue, date of expiration and place of issue.
*Letter must state applicant wishes to apply for a 3-year Multiple Entry Visa and the period of stay from dd/mm/yyyy to dd/mm/yyyy (e.g. 23 June 2013 to 22 June 2016)
*Purpose of travel.
*Location of the intended residence of the visa applicant.
*Cities to be visited.

This Letter of Invitation must be written in Russian, the letter cannot be in English.

For religious visa requests, the letter of invitation can only be issued by the Federal Migration Service in Russia by request of your inviting organization or host in Russia.

Three-year Multiple Entry Visas cannot be issued to those traveling to Russia for religious purposes, groups or organizations at this time.

Only a Single, Double or 6 - 12 month multiple entry visas are offered for religious travel purposes by the Russian Federal Migration Service at this time.

When applying for a visa it is necessary to provide documentation that you no longer possess Russian Citizenship, such as:

Copy of USSR passport with a stamp stating you left for permanent residence abroad, dated prior to February 6th 1992.

Copy of a Visa to Israel issued prior to February 6th 1992.

Copy of a Certificate of Naturalization issued prior to 1996

Document confirming the renunciation of your Russian citizenship.

Copy of the main pages of a passport of a former USSR state, issued after February 1992.

Written statement of explanation in the case that you have no documentation.

In accordance with Russian law, visas can not be issued to Russian citizens with expired passports. We remind you that in accordance to Article 12 of Russian law "On citizenship of the Russian Federation", children born to two parents who are Russian citizens automatically gain Russian citizenship regardless of the place of birth. In this case visas are not issued and they must apply for Russian citizenship or have their information written into the passport of one of their parents or obtain a Russian passport.

If you were born in a state of the former Soviet Republic or Ukraine you must supply a copy of your Soviet or Ukrainian passport along with a letter stating when you immigrated to the US.

Visa Application Preparation

Traveldocs offers an optional Russian visa application completion service to assist our clients.
The fee for this service is $55 in addition to the service fees and government fees when applying for the visa. 

1. Complete the simple to use Traveldocs online questionnaire.
2. Scan and upload a copy of your valid passport and hotel confirmation and voucher.
3. Submit the completed questionnaire.
4. We will complete and return your visa application within 24 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and Holidays.
5. We will contact you if any information provided is missing or incomplete.
6. We will email you your completed Russian visa application; please proof, sign, and date the application before sending it to Traveldocs along with all other required documents for visa processing. 

If you have any questions, please contact 800-874-5100 for assistance.
This is an optional application service. 

The Russian Embassy has the right to request, if needed, additional documents/evidence which shows the purpose and length of the applicant's planned trip, the applicant's financial means sufficient for a stay in Russia and the applicant's intent to depart the Russian Federation after the trip, documents/evidence may include:
*A Bank Statement from the applicant.
*A statement from the employer regarding the applicant's wages for the preceding year, half year or month.
*Medical insurance valid in the country to be visited and fully covering the period of the first trip.
*Documents regarding the applicant's ownership of property in the country of his/her citizenship.
*A certificate on the makeup of the applicant's family.
The Russian Embassy also have the right to request additional information and/or documents from applicants as may be needed in particular cases.