How a Foreign Citizen
Can Enter Russia
Many foreigners who want to travel to the Russian Federation have to face the question:
what is needed to enter the country during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Today, we will give you the definitive answer.
Main rules
The rules of coming into Russia are regulated by the 16.03.2020 Government Resolution N635-R as well as the Rospotrebnadzor (Russian Federal State Agency for Health and Consumer Rights) requirements.
According to them, a foreign national must provide a medical certificate that proves they are not suffering from the coronavirus.
There are several further points to be aware of:
- Such a certificate must prove that the testing took place no earlier than two days prior to one’s arrival to Russia.
- At the same time, it has to be provided upon boarding the plane.
- The certificate needs to be either in Russian or English. If that is impossible to ensure, one can bring a document in the official language of the country where the medical facility issuing it is registered, but it needs to be translated into Russian and notarized by the Russian consular official there.
The whitelist
It is necessary to mention that the regulations above provided, essentially, a whitelist of categories of people who can enter Russia.
They include:
- Albania
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahrein
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- China
- Croatia
- Cuba
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Dominican Republic
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
- Finland
- France
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Lebanon
- Liechtenstein
- Luxemburg
- Maldives
- Malta
- Mauritius
- Mexico
- Moldova
- Morocco
- North Macedonia
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Sri-Lanka
- Switzerland
- Tajikistan
- Turkey
- UAE
- UK
- USA
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
However, one has to prove that he or she is a citizen, so you must carry a passport to make sure.
Russian visa
To freely stay in Russia on legal grounds, one has to first obtain a Russian visa. It can be done in the Russian consular agency. Going to Russia without a visa can result in deportation and fines and even be considered a crime under certain circumstances.
Citizens of several countries are allowed to stay in Russia without a visa for more than 90 days:
- Belarus
- Kazakhstan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Moldova
- South Ossetia
- Tajikistan
- Uzbekistan
To obtain a Russian visa, one has to provide the consulate with:
- A valid passport with at least two free pages that can be used for visas.
- A paid visa fee.
- A visa application form you complete on the kmid.ru website, print out, and sign.
- A 3.5 by 4.5 centimetre picture of you.
- A confirmation note from a Russian tour agency that it is going to provide its services to you.
- An insurance agreement valid for the Russian Federation.
This is the comprehensive list of things you need to know and do to come to Russia as a foreign native.
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