Visa to St Petersburg Russia

E-visa to Enter Saint Petersburg - vist Russia with Electronic Visa

Discover St. Petersburg and nearby Leningrad Region with free electronic visas

  • Regular single-entry business, tourist and humanitarian visas
  • Online application 4 days before entry date
  • Valid for 30 days
  • Period of stay up to 8 days
  • No consular fee

Please be very careful! Even one incorrect letter or digit in your passport details is a reason for denying entry into the Russian Federation and cancelling your visa at a checkpoint.

1. Your surname, given name(s), and patronymic name (if any) must be indicated in the application form precisely as they are indicated in the first machine-readable line of your passport, irrespective of how they are indicated in the visual zone of the passport.

2. In the machine-readable line of the passport, the surname always starts with the 6th character of the first line. The surname in the machine-readable line is separated from the given name(s) by the << symbols. The < symbol serves to separate parts of the surname (if there are more than one) and given names (if there are more than one). The patronymic name (if any) is considered one of the given names.

Kindly note that any website collecting a fee for the visa form is fake. Please use the genuine e-visa website.

Click for the list of foreign countries, whose nationals can enter the Russian Federation and depart from the Russian Federation via St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region on the basis of electronic visas.

How does it work?

You can apply online for a single-entry visa on the website of the Russian ministry for foreign affairs. It can be used for business, tourism or humanitarian (sports, cultural, scientific and technological ties) purposes. Your visa is valid within 30 days after an approval online. It lets a foreigner stay in Russia up to 8 days starting from the date of entry. The length of the permitted stay cannot be extended. It’s required to have a printed visa approval and a medical insurance valid in Russia for the entire period of your stay to show at the border checkpoints.

How to apply?

An applicant should fill in the application form on the website not earlier than 20 days and no later than 4 days before the intended date of entry. The online form requires an applicant's passport, personal information and a recent digital photo. A passport must be valid for at least 6 months from the date of applying an e-visa. Invitations, hotel booking confirmations or any other documents to confirm the purpose of a trip to Russia are not required. It is not necessary to submit specific travel dates or vehicle information neither. Applicants receive a confirmation email within four days.

Why an application can be rejected?

Any incorrect information, including passport data and photo, wrong letters (for instance the diacritical signs are not accepted) could cause a visa rejection or a revocation of an issued visa at the Russian border. Read the information carefully before filling in an e-visa application form.

What means of transport can I use entering St Petersburg / Leningrad region with e-visa?

A foreigner can entry St. Petersburg or Leningrad region by e-visa through Pulkovo airport, the checkpoints on the Russian-Finnish border Torfyanovka, Svetogorsk, Brusnichnoe for cars, buses and bikes, as well as trough Ivangorod on the Russian-Estonian border, which is also possible to use for pedestrians. The list of maritime border checkpoints for e-visa holders includes a port of St. Petersburg and a port of Vysotsk.

It’s not possible to use the train Allegro (Helsinki – St. Petersburg) to travel to Russia with an e-visa. According to the e-visa will be accepted in Allegro not earlier than in 2020. A railway border checkpoint can be included to the list later.

Foreign citizens should leave the territory of the Russian Federation only through the checkpoints which they used for entry. To put it bluntly, if you come to St. Petersburg by plane you are not allowed to leave by bus.

What if I stay more than 8 days or go to Moscow?

In case of the violation of the regime of stay a foreign citizen will be fined and deported out of the country. The amount of administrative fine is 2000 – 5000 rubles. It is also can be a reason of rejecting the visa application in future. If you want to stay in St. Petersburg longer than for 8 days or travel around the country you need to apply for an ordinary visa.

When can I go to Moscow and other regions with an e-visa?

It is assumed that the e-visa will be imposed throughout Russia from 2021.

Get your e-visa online

E-VISA regime is introduced in St. Petersburg and Leningrad region as from 1st October 2019.

E-visa characteristics of and conditions for issuing an e-visa

  1. An e-visa to enter the Far Eastern Federal District can only be obtained by nationals of the following , listed by the Government of the Russian Federation.
  2. An e-visa to enter Kaliningrad Oblast can only be obtained by nationals of the  listed by the Government of the Russian Federation.
  3. An e-visa to enter Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast can only be obtained by nationals of the  listed by the Government of the Russian Federation.
  4. An e-visa is free. Invitations, hotel booking confirmations or any other documents that confirm the purpose of your journey to the Russian Federation are not required for an e-visa. The time period for issuing an e-visa is no longer than 4 calendar days from the date of submission of the complete application.
  5. E-visa can be used for entering and leaving the Russian Federation at the following checkpoints at the national border of the Russian Federation in the Far Eastern Federal District, Kaliningrad Oblast, Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast:
    • air checkpoints «Vladivostok (Knevichy Airport)», «Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Khomutovo Airport)», «Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (Yelizovo Airport)», «Blagoveschensk», «Khabarovsk (Novy Airport)», «Anadyr (Ugolny Airport)», «Kaliningrad (Khrabrovo)», «Ulan-Ude (Muhino)», «Chita (Kadala)», «Pulkovo»;
    • naval checkpoints «Vladivostok», «Zarubino», «Posiet», «Korsakov», «Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky», «Kaliningrad (checkpoints in the cities of Kaliningrad, Baltiysk and Svetly)», «Vysotsk», «Big port Saint Petersburg (Marine Station)», «Passenger port Saint Petersburg»;
    • railroad checkpoints «Pogranichny», «Khasan», «Makhalino», «Mamonovo», «Sovetsk»;
    • automobile checkpoints «Poltavka», «Turiy Rog», «Bagrationovsk», «Gusev», «Mamonovo (Grzechotki)», «Mamonovo (Gronowo)», «Morskoje», «Pogranichny», «Sovetsk», «Chernyshevskoye», «Ivangorod», «Torfjanovka», «Brusnitchnoe», «Svetogorsk»;
    • pedestrian checkpoint «Ivangorod».
  6. E-visa is a single-entry visa and issued for 30 calendar days from the date of its issuance. The permitted stay in the Russian Federation with an e-visa is up to 8 days starting from the date of entry, within its validity period. E-visa validity and/or the permitted stay under it cannot be extended.
    ATTENTION! The allowed period of stay in the Russian Federation of up to 8 days under an e-visa does not imply that one can stay for the entire 192 hours (24 hours multiplied by 8). The period of stay in the Russian Federation always starts at midnight of the day of passage through passport control upon entry regardless of the actual time of passage through passport control. For example, you have an e-visa valid from July 15 to August 13 and you pass through passport control upon entry at 8:00 pm on August 1, Monday. In that case, you need to pass through passport control upon exit until 11:59 pm on August 8, Monday (rather than until 8:00 pm on August 9, Tuesday). You should also note that if you passed through passport control upon entry, for instance, on August 10 with the e-visa mentioned in the example above, you need to pass through passport control upon exit until 11:59 pm on August 13, i.e. until the e-visa expires.
  7. E-visas can be of the following categories only: ordinary business visa (purpose of journey is business), ordinary tourist visa (purpose of journey is tourism), and ordinary humanitarian visa (purposes of journey are sports, cultural, scientific and technological ties). If the purpose of your journey to the Russian Federation does not correspond to any of the above, you should apply for a traditional (non electronic) visa at a diplomatic mission or consular office of the Russian Federation.
  8. Foreign citizens who have arrived to the Russian Federation with e-visas have the right to freedom of movement within the territory of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation which they entered, with the exception of territories, organizations and facilities, to enter which a special permission is required in accordance with federal laws of the Russian Federation.
    Foreign citizens should leave the territory of the Russian Federation only through checkpoints of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation which they entered.
  9. You can fill in an application form for an e-visa on this website not earlier than 20 days and no later than 4 days before the intended date of entry into the Russian Federation.
  10. Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months from the date you applied for an e-visa. Your passport must have free space for border crossing stamps.
  11. Foreign citizens who have arrived to the Russian Federation with e-visas are required to have a medical insurance valid in the Russian Federation's territory for the entire period of stay.
  12. There is no need to apply for an e-visa to enter the Far Eastern Federal District, Kaliningrad Oblast, Saint-Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast if you already have a valid Russian visa in your passport. You are allowed to enter the said regions using a regular visa within its validity period with no limitations provided for by an e-visa. An e-visa does not extend the validity period of a regular visa.
  13. Before you apply for an e-visa you are required to agree to the automatic processing, transfer and storage of data provided in your application for the purpose of the e-visa issuance.
  14. Your application must contain full and valid data. Any incorrect information, including passport data and photo, could cause visa rejection or revocation of an already issued visa at the national border checkpoint of the Russian Federation.

E-visa application procedure

  1. Surname and given name(s) of the applicant are required. If the applicant does not have a surname or a first name(s) the e-visa application cannot be accepted for processing. In this case it is necessary to apply for a traditional (non-electronic) visa at a diplomatic mission or consular office of the Russian Federation.
  2. Day, month and year of the applicant's date of birth must be all known. If the date of birth of the applicant is unknown or partially unknown, the e-visa application cannot be accepted for processing. In this case it is necessary to apply for a traditional (non-electronic) visa at a diplomatic mission or consular office of the Russian Federation.
  3. If the applicant is assumed to be accompanied by minors who are included in his/her passport, an individual e-visa application form must be submitted for each child. All the minors who accompany their parents must have an individual e-visa.
  4. Before you fill in your application form, make sure you have the following:
    • A web browser with JavaScript. Our website currently supports the following browsers: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge. We cannot guarantee that the site would function correctly with other browsers.
    • Software for PDF files viewing and printing. Adobe Acrobat Reader is recommended.
    • Your valid national passport.
  5. Choose the tips language from the relevant drop-down list. Tips will clarify the meaning of the questions you need to answer. If you have chosen Russian as the tips language all answers to the questions in the application must be entered only in Russian, with the exception of surnames, given names, addresses and names of institutions that are required to be entered in English. If you have chosen English all your answers must be only in English with the use of the Latin alphabet characters. If characters of the national alphabets (such as Ñ, É, Ü or Ç) are used in the names it is necessary to indicate the transliterated meanings that are presented in the first machine-readable line of your passport when filling in the relevant fields of the application form. For example, if the names in the visual area of the passport are "Séo Türre" then you are required to use names from the machine-readable line "Seo Tuerre" when filling in the application form.PL898902C<3UTO6908061F9406236ZE184226B<<<<<14
  6. Confirm that you agree to the automatic processing, transfer and storage of data provided in your application for e-visa purposes.
  7. To start a new application, click the "Proceed to Fill in the Application" button.
  8. To continue filling in, edit, review or print the completed application choose the "Retrieve application" menu item.
  9. Enter your personal e-mail address and confirm it, then enter your password for this site and confirm it.
  10. Write down or print the Application ID displayed in the top right corner of the page. It will be required to continue your application if the session has been disconnected. To save your draft application, click the "Save the Draft" button. Your e-visa application form will be available within 30 days since its last save.
  11. Proceed to fill in the fields of the application. Follow the tips on each page of the application. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required. If you have made any errors while filling in the form or have not filled in the required fields, they will be highlighted and a message will appear under them indicating the error you need to fix.
  12. Upload your digital color photo in the JPEG format. The photo must meet the following .
  13. Click the button sending the application and wait for the confirmation of its acceptance for processing.

After sending your application:

You can use this site to follow up on the status of your application. Once a relevant decision is taken, the status of your application will be changed to “Visa issued” or “Visa denied”. You will be able to download a PDF file with the information concerning the decision on the application thereafter. Automatic messages concerning the status of your application and the decision thereon as well as detailed instructions for further steps will be sent to your personal e-mail.

Download and print the notification with your e-visa. Otherwise, save the information set out in the notification, so that you could visually present it to representatives of a transport company when getting on a vehicle and passport control officers at a national border checkpoint when entering the Russian Federation.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not save the PDF file with the result of your application examination on the computer that can be accessed by those who have no permission to view or record your personal data. If you save the file to the hard drive of a public computer, for instance, in an Internet café or a library, other users may find and open it.

If you have not received a notification of e-visa grant or e-visa refusal within four days, you can apply for a visa as per standard procedure at a diplomatic mission or consular office of the Russian Federation.

ATTENTION! Notification of e-visa grant does not guarantee your entry into the Russian Federation. You can be denied entry at a border crossing point should the circumstances referred to in Federal Law No. 114 FZ "On the Procedure of Exit from the Russian Federation and Entry into the Russian Federation" of August 15, 1996 arise.