For a Sri-Lankan it is required to obtain a Russian visa prior to visiting Russia. A visa is a stamp which is put in your passport by the officer of the Russian consular service in Sri Lanka. You cannot get a visa on border control so you should take care of everything in advance. One can apply for a visa as early as 3 months before the arrival to Russia and as late as a week (it’s recommendable though to apply in at least a month).

Let’s have a look at the visa procedure and get answers to the main questions on the matter: What visa should I get? Which documents I will need? Where can I apply for a visa? How long will it take to get it and how much will the visa cost? What other things do I need to know before coming to Russia?

Russian visa types for

Sri Lankan citizens

Corresponding to your travel purpose you can apply for one of several visa types. The main ones are listed in the table below:

Visa type you need	How long you can stay in Russia	The purpose of your trip
Ordinary tourist visa	30 days	Individual traveling as a tourist, or a member of a tour group of no less than 5 people
Guest/ Private visa	90 days	visiting your friends and relatives who are Russian citizens/ attending funerals, tending the sick relatives etc.
Business visa	30 -90 days (a visa can be issued for up to 1 year with stay no longer than 90 days in each 180)	attending business negotiations in Russia, looking for partners, investing etc.; accompanying a family member on a business trip; undergoing a medical treatment; driving a road or air vehicle; as an accredited reporter to conduct journalist activities in Russia; to carry out technical maintenance work for a Russian inviting company
Humanitarian visa	30 -90 days (a visa can be issued for up to 1 year with stay no longer than 90 days in each 180)	For trips with political, religious, sport, charitable, scientific, cultural visits, as well as members of youth exchange programs
Transit visa	3 -10 days	crossing Russian territory on your way to another country
Student visa	90 days and above	studying a course in a Russian school or university
Work visa	90 days and above	working under a contract for a Russian employer; working as a domestic employee; accompanying member of family of an employee; installation and maintenance workers

After you have decided on the visa type, collect the necessary documents and apply for it.

Documents for Russian visa

Main documents for all visa types include:

• A valid passport for international trips. Its validity should be not less than 6 months from the date of your exit from Russia. The passport must contain at least 2 empty visa pages
• Duly filled application form. Complete it online at visa.kdmid.ru in English or Russian, print on both sides, sign and date.
• Color photo on the light background sized 3.5×4.5 Glue the photo in the form in the indicated field

Additional documents depending on your visa type:

Russian tourist visa documents set for Sri Lankan

• A tourist voucher issued by the registered Russian travel agency (original or good copy)
• Hotel/hostel paid booking. Please note, you need to have your hotel prepaid for the entire period of your trip. If you plan to stay in different hotels you’ll need to show the confirmation of payment for each of them
• Detailed flight itinerary
• Purchased return tickets

Russian business visa documents set for Sri Lankan

• Invitation issued by the MIA or MFA of Russia upon request of the inviting Russian organization in original or as an electronic encoded telex document. If you need an invitation for a business visa, please contact our manager for help here: info@myvisatorussia.com
• Supporting documents – a letter of invitation from the company (a letter of guarantee) may be requested

Russian guest visa documents set for Sri Lankan

• Invitation issued by the MIA of Russia upon request of the Russian host in original

Russian student visa documents set for Sri Lankan

• Original invitation issued by the MIA of Russia upon request of the Russian educational institution
• valid HIV-negative test result

Russian work visa documents set for Sri Lankan

• Original invitation issued by the MIA of Russia upon request of the Russian employing company or legal  individual
• valid HIV-negative test result
• signed work contract with the Russian employer
• certificate on training corresponding to the future working duties

Russian transit visa documents set for Sri Lankan

• purchased tickets and confirmed itinerary
• valid visa to the final state of destination

Where and how to apply for a visa in Sri Lanka

A citizen of Sri Lanka can apply for a visa with all collected documents at the Russian consulate in Colombo by making prior appointment in the online system by the link: colombo.kdmid.ru/

When you apply for a visa you are subject to the payment of state visa fees. Standard processing of a visa application within 5 working days costs 80 USD. Urgent processing which takes 1-3 business days costs 160 USD.

Note, that all visa applications are submitted in person and an applicant might be asked to take an interview with a consular officer explaining his/her travel purposes etc.

After the visa is ready you will be notified and able to collect your passport back at the consulate. Carefully examine the visa details. If you spot any mistake immediately apply for correction at the same consulate. See a visa sample below:

Procedures upon arrival to Russia

Attention – Covid regulations

In the current situation of pandemic it is required for all foreign citizens to take the PCR test not earlier than 3 days before your trip and present the confirmation of a negative result at migration control, and the repeated PCR test within 72 hours after your arrival to Russia. Find the list of official clinics where to take the test in Russia here: Covid-19 test labs in Russia 

When in public places, you are required to wear a mask and gloves. 

Good news is that in Moscow you can take a vaccine against COVID-19 in a private clinic. It costs around 100-200 euro. The whole procedure takes about 15 minutes.

Migration card

When you pass border control, don’t forget to fill in the migration card which is normally given out by flight attendants on board the plane, or can be found at the crossing points. Fill it in block letters in English, state your passport details, indicate the inviting body, underline the purpose of your trip (corresponding to the type of your visa), enter the intended place of stay. See a sample below

Registration

Another thing to do upon arrival is to get registered at the place of your stay in 7 business days after your arrival. If you are planning to stay in a hotel, the hotel will register you. If you are going to rent an apartment or stay at your friends’ place, ask the owner of the place to have you registered at the local department of MIA (МВД). Registration is not necessary if you stay less than 7 working days. If you stay in several cities, you have to get reregistered in each city where your stay is over 7 working days. Your registration should look like the sample below (please note there has been introduced a new form since 2021 consisting of 2 pages filled on both sides instead of 1 page with two sides filled as in previous version):

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Travel tips in Russia

• Always carry your passport with valid visa, registration and migration card with you. If you lose one document contact the local police office and follow their guidance on how to obtain a copy
• Don’t be afraid to use public transportation in Russia. It’s pretty well-developed and rather inexpensive. Moscow underground will impress you by its architectural beauty along with the fastness of transportation. In Moscow you can get to the city from the airport using Aeroexpress (aeroexpress.ru/en/). It’s recommendable to buy the Troika transportation card to use Moscow transport at the best rates (read more here: Troika card)
• Taxis are better to be ordered through online applications which you can install in advance (yandex taxi, Uber, Citymobil)
• Not to be dependent on public wi-fi (which is free in most public places including the underground), you can buy the local sim card of a mobile operator (choose from the tariff of MTS, Megafon, Tele2, or Beeline)
• It’s recommendable to plan your travel itinerary in advance and book tickets for any events you are planning to visit (please follow the updates on the websites of the events – due to the pandemic situation there may be some changes in schedules)

Enjoy your stay in Russia!

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