Russian Student Visas
- The ins and outs of Russia - 

Obtaining a Russian student visa is a slow process, which is why students should apply three months in advance for our study abroad programs. Rush processing does not exist for student visas.

All SRAS students must read and understand this information before departure to Russia. Your responsibilities surrounding your visa continue even after you have received it! Contact us if anything related to your visa is unclear.

Table of contents:  

1. Knowing Your Visa
2. Starting The Application Process
3. Processing And Receiving Your Visa
4. Migration Card - At The Border
5. Registering Your Student Visa
6. Extending/Converting Your Visa
7. Traveling With Your Student Visa
8. Document Checks
9. Traveling With Dependent Family Members

1.  Knowing Your Visa         Back to Top

• As an SRAS Student, you will be issued a student visa on the basis of an invitation from a Russian educational institution, valid for a period of study. By Russian law, you must be studying at that university the entire time to keep the visa. Except for internships, one may not legally work in Russia with a student visa.
• Student visas are usually issued as single entry and are valid for 3 months. After you arrive, your visa can be extended for up to one year and may be eligible to be converted to multi-entry after you arrive. Please note that once your visa is extended, it will be re-issued in a completely different form (please see "Extending/Converting Your Visa," below. If you are studying for less than three months, it is unlikely that your visa can be converted to multiple-entry. Generally, one may live in student dormitories only if one has a student visa.
• An example of a student visa is below:

The Russian Student Visa
Note that the actual visa will contain additional information - this one lists only the fields you will absolutely need to know and understand.

Update! According to new regulations, foreigners on student and work visas may not enter Russia before the fifth business day after the date of issue. In the top left corner of the visa (just to the left of field two) is the "date of issue" (when it was actually printed at and released from the consulate). SRAS will work with you and the consulate closely on this matter, but cannot be held responsible for delays in visas that begin their processing late (see section two below).  

What other types of visas are there in the Russian Federation?

2. Starting The Application Process          Back to Top

• The visa application process is not simple or fast and is becoming increasingly difficult to "rush process." Our application deadlines (three months in advance) are largely calculated to assure that students can receive a visa in time. Usually, the process is faster, but one shouldn't count on it and SRAS can make no guarantees.
  
• If you do not have a passport, apply immediately. How?
• If your passport expires sooner than eighteen months after your intended departure date from Russia, you must renew immediately. How?
• To begin the process of applying for a student visa through SRAS, login and apply for one of our programs. 
• After you have been accepted to your program, we will ask you to send us a preliminary scan of the page in your passport with your picture and signature. Photocopies and faxes will not be accepted as they are not of high enough resolution. 
• Russia is constantly changing its requirements and thus we may contact you for more information if needed. In general, it is a good idea to check your log-in page on the SRAS site every few days to make sure everything is in order. 
• To apply for any other type of Russian visa, click here. 

3. Processing And Receiving Your Visa          Back to Top

• If you are on a SRAS program and in the US, SRAS will handle this process for you. Nonetheless, it is good for you to be aware of the components. Those students not in the US may have to contact the consulate themselves or contact a local visa processing agency. SRAS can often help you in this process.
• Processing with the consulate is fairly straightforward but they can be sticklers about detail. Make sure you have all the required materials:
  • Passport (original) with at least two free pages (opposing).
  • One passport-sized photo
  • Visa application form (version for Americans available from us, others should contact a consulate in their country)
  • Negative HIV test*
  • Processing fee - this depends on the consulate, your citizenship, and on the processing time. Consulates in the US will only take money orders.
  • Return prepaid airbill (Non-USPS for Americans, FedEx recommended)
  • Cover letter (mainly in US-based consulates when sending by post)
• You will likely receive your visa only a few days before you leave (no matter when it is "scheduled" to arrive). This is due to regulations set by Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. SRAS will carefully monitor the status of your visa and do its best to assure that it arrives before your departure date. On very rare occasions, there can be inexplicable delays on the part of the Russian authorities that can result in having to shift an arrival date to a few days later. Luckily this is rare.

* Most consulates are now demanding the HIV test for all student visas, regardless of duration. Keep a copy of this test as it may be needed for registration in Russia as well. Note that some universities, as required by their district, may require an additional local HIV test to be taken as they will not accept them from overseas.

4. Migration Card - At The Airport In Russia         Back to Top

1. If you will be arriving at Domodedovo, skip to point 5 on this list. With any other airport, either the flight crew will walk through the cabin asking if there are any foreigners on-board at some point during your flight and they will hand you a migration card, or there will be tables before you enter passport control that have the migration cards. If in doubt, ask your flight attendant.
2. Each foreigner will receive a migration card to fill out in duplicate. The cards are available in English.
3. Make sure you fill in the migration card with the exact information on your visa as we have carefully specified in the first section of this page ("Knowing your Visa").
4. Your migration card will be torn in half by passport control at the airport (or at the border if you are entering by train) and stamped. One half will be given to you and the other half will be kept by passport control.
5. If you will be arriving at Domodedovo (one of Moscow's three major airports), you will not need to fill out the migration card on your own. Passport control at the airport will scan your visa and the migration card will be automatically generated with the appropriate data. Note that they will not explain what they are doing and can often stuff the migration card quickly and silently into your passport. Make sure you watch where it goes so that you don't lose it!
6. You must keep the migration card safe for the entire length of your stay in Russia. It is essential to registering your visa - and passport control will ask you for the other half when you leave Russia.
7. Should you arrive via Domodedovo Airport in Moscow, note that the migration card process is automated there now. The border control agent will scan your passport, a migration card will be printed out based on the information the migration authorities have on you in their centralized database, and it will be handed to you to sign. The agent will tear the card in two, place one half directly in your passport, and give the passport back to you. This can make you even more likely to note even notice where it is or that you have it. However, watch for it and guard it with your life once you have it.

5. Registering Your Student Visa         Back to Top

All visas must be registered within 72 hours after entering Russia. Failure to do so may result in fines and even deportation. The 72 hours include only business days. So, for example, if you arrive on Friday night, you should be registered by the end of the business day the Wednesday following your arrival.

Russian Registration Card
If you don't have this - you're not registered!

• To receive this registration card, you must submit to your university upon arrival: 
  • your original passport, with the visa inside, 
  • your migration card (received at the airport)
  • a very small fee (often the process is free - when a fee is taken, it is usually only about about five dollars) 
• The university will give you a special paper known as a "spravka" - carry this with you until you get your passport back. It acts as a sort of "passport substitute" while you are waiting. If you do not get a spravka automatically - ask for one. If you experience any problems with this, contact your SRAS representative. 
• The original card must be sent back to the Russian authorities to "de-register" you (see below) when you leave Russia. Because of this, you will be given a copy of the card and the university will keep the original on file. If you do not receive your copy - ask for one.  If you experience any problems with this, contact your SRAS representative. You may be asked to show this copy upon leaving Russia and may experience problems if you do not have it.
• If you are staying off-campus, the registered landlord for the apartment or house you are staying in may need to submit an authorized statement to the local police department, along with your visa and passport. If you are staying in a hotel, the hotel will take care of this process at check-in.
• You must also de-register and re-register if 1) you leave the city your university is based in for more than three days or 2) you leave Russia for any amount of time. Be sure to tell SRAS and your host university about your travel plans so that we can prepare for this. 

If you plan to leave Russia and re-enter, contact SRAS as soon as you know your travel plans, so that we can brief you on any visa and registration concerns your plans might entail.

6. Extending/Converting Your Visa          Back to Top

If your program is longer than three (3) months, your visa will be extended after you arrive. Depending on your program type and length, you might be able to additionally convert your visa to multiple entry after you arrive. Once the visa is extended and/or converted, you will be issued a new, three-page green visa. The most important page is shown here:  

The Russian Student Visa, II
Once extended/converted, the visa will be re-issued in a new form. Note that the actual visa will contain additional information - this one lists only the fields you will absolutely need to know and understand.

• Note that this is a three-page visa and is quite large. The other pages will repeat the information shown above. One page will be without the picture section. The other page will also feature a picture and will be marked "ВЫЕЗД" where the page above is marked "ВЪЕЗД" (in the lower left corner).
• The first time you leave Russia on the visa, the border guard will tear off the page marked "ВЫЕЗД." The guard will stamp the remaining two pages when you re-enter Russia. This is normal.
• Please note that this is now your official visa. You must carry it with you always when inside Russia. The first visa, pasted into you passport, is now void. We highly recommend purchasing a passport cover (available at kiosks throughout Russia which sell office supplies) in order to keep all these bulky documents in one place.

7. Traveling With Your Student Visa          Back to Top

NOTE: Most departments will allow up to a couple of weeks for student travel, etc. but pushing it beyond this, especially on a short program, can be difficult if possible at all. Inform SRAS and the university of your travel plans well in advance.

If you are traveling within Russia and will be outside of the city your university is located in for less than 72 hours, you do not need to do anything. If you will be outside the city for more than 72 hours, you will need to contact your SRAS representative and inform the university officials that you are leaving so that your registration can be "de-registered" and reprocessed when you come back.

If you are traveling within Russia and will be in a particular city for less than 72 hours, you do not need to do anything. However, you must show a hotel registration card less than 72 hours old (issued at the hotel) or train/plane/bus tickets showing that you will arrived in the city less than 72 hours ago.

If you are traveling outside of Russia for any amount of time, you must contact your SRAS representative and inform the university so that your registration can be "de-registered" and reprocessed when you come back (if needed).

8. Document Checks - Know Your Rights In Russia!          Back to Top

• Russian police can stop anyone in Russia at any time for any reason and ask to check documents.
• Your must carry your documentation with you at all times. This includes your original passport, visa, a copy of your registration card, and your student id (issued by your university after you register). If your visa is being registered or extended, you will be issued a spravka which takes the place of the first three documents.  
• You may be told at some point by some very knowledgeable person that you don't need to carry your documentation, or that you can carry copies of your documentation instead. DO NOT BELIEVE THIS PERSON! A policeman in a bad mood will actually take you to jail if you can only show him a photocopy. 
• Always carry your documentation in safe place - never in your back pocket or in a jacket pocket - always in a front pants pocket (preferable) or your purse. 
• Document checks are, unfortunately, wide open for bribery. However, if you can confidently produce each required document and understand them as we have described them above (ie, you can point out the expiration date on each), you should have no problems even from police who might be "trolling" for bribes.
• If the police hassle you even after you have shown them all your documentation, ask for the policeman's documentation. If a policeman asks for your documentation, it is your legal right to ask for his. Usually, if the policeman knows that you know this, and if you appear ready to write down his name and identification number, he will leave you alone for fear that you might call your embassy and report him for hassling foreigners.
• If you look "ethnic" (i.e. Asian, Hispanic, or Indian) you could get stopped more often. This is unfortunate, but ethnic profiling is legal and accepted in Russia.          
• Always carry a cell phone so that you can call the embassy and/or SRAS at any time in case of emergency. SRAS issues cell phones to most students in major cities.  
• Russia is safe for travel - but you should make sure that you are travelling legally and that you are fully aware of your rights as a foreigner in Russia!  

9. Traveling With Dependent Family Members         Back to Top

Although SRAS officially advises against the practice, it is possible to travel to Russia with dependent family members such as young children. Russia's visa regime allows for what is called a "dependent family member visa." Under this process, your child or dependent will be issued the same type of visa as your visa and with the same invitation number. However, this process must be performed by the university at the same time as they are processing your visa. The procedure is not a simple one and, especially if you are not going to study with the university for a long period (such as a year or more), the university may elect to deny you this service. Those hoping to travel with spouses should plan on having their spouse sign up for lessons at the university so as to be issued their own, independent student visa.

SRAS recommends against bringing dependent family members on study abroad trips for several reasons. First, Russian universities will not allow you to bring your child to class and Russia does not have many commercial daycare centers. Those daycare centers it does have are usually outside most student budgets. In short, the logistics involved in attempting to care for your dependent while observing all the safety issues that come with international travel, to fulfill your studies, and to acclimate to an entirely new country and culture are likely to be overwhelming to say the least. Those who already have specific arrangements (such as a close family member living in Russia) to provide care for the dependent, however, are welcome to contact us and enquire about our programs. SRAS reserves the right to deny program placement to any applicant with dependents if we feel the dependent may be placed in danger by travel.