US Citizens: Get your Russia Journalist/Media visa with the TDS Washington DC Office

The first step with any Russian business visa is to obtain your Letter of Invitation from your host organization/company issued by the Federal Migration Service or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Russia, 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.

Once you receive your Letter of Invitation depending on the type (see examples in the invitation section below) it can be emailed to you or the original must be sent to you by mail for submission to the Russian Embassy or Consulate for visa processing. Whichever format of invitation is obtained by your host on your behalf you cannot apply for a visa without this document.

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 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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An Original Official Letter of Invitation from Russia, issued by the Federal Migration Service or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Russia is required to apply for a Russian Journalist/Media visa, a 3 Year Multiple Entry visa invitation can also be issued by your host company or organization. A letter of invitation is considered to be the first step in applying for a business visa to Russia.

Effective August 17th, 2015: The Russian Government has begun a Pilot E-Invitation Program, this program is designed to replace the requirement to submit an original hard copy invite. Using the new E-Invitation Program means the original invitation will not be required and your invitation will be sent to you via email. TDS recommends requesting your invitation using the E-Invitation method. Below is a sample of the old original invitation (Sample One) and the new E-Invitation (Sample Two).

Original Invitation: Sample One

E-Invitation: Sample Two

Original Official letter of invitation issued by the Federal Migration Service or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Russia arranged for by your host organization in Russia. If your invitation was issued using method One you must send Traveldocs the original invitation (effective Jan 2017 a high-quality color copy will now be acceptable for a Single entry invitation only, however it is still recommended to send the original if you are able too) as part of your visa application documents. If method Two you can send a copy of the emailed invitation to Traveldocs as part of your visa application documents. 

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

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.

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

A 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.

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

In accordance with Russian law, visas cannot 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.

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.