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How to Read Russian Visa

Credit : Much of the information below was adapted from Real Russia, a U.K. provider of travel and visa information to Russia. If you are located in the U.K., you might consider using them as your Russian visa supplier.

There are two main formats of visa being issued by Russian consulates at the moment (in addition to the rare separate paper version) and they will appear as a sticker placed into one of the blank pages in your passport. Please note, the page must be absolutely clean with no other visas, stamps or marks for the consulate to be able to use it.

In the UK, Europe, North America and Australia as well as many Asian counties you will find the new style visa pale pink visa with a hologram impress. Click here for details on how to read this type of visa.

In more "remote" consulates you will find the older brown version without the hologram impress. Click here for details on how to read this type of visa.

All of the headings on the visa are both in Russian and English, so reading the validity period, section 4, should present no problem. However, information such as the type of visa and number of entries is in Russian only. This brief guide will help you confirm the details are correct.

A typical russian visa

Section 1 - ENTRIES

The number of times that you can enter and exit the Russian Federation using this visa within its validity period.

	Single entry / exit
	Double entry / exit
	Multiple entry / exit

Section 2 - DATE OF ISSUE

The date on which the visa was issued by the consulate, this is in dd.mm.yy format.

Section 3 - NATIONALITY

Your nationality, if you are British it will read:

Section 4 - VALIDITY PERIOD

Shows the dates that the visa is valid from and until in dd.mm.yy format.

Section 5 - TYPE

The consulate type code of the visa.

Section 6 - SURNAME, GIVEN NAMES

Your name, first in Russian and then in English. If you wonder at the surprising way that Russians who check your visa may pronounce your name, look in the bottom left corner of the visa and you will see your name translated back from Cyrillic to Latin characters!

Section 7 - DATE OF BIRTH

Your date of birth in dd.mm.yyyy format.

Section 8 - SEX

Your gender which will be either:

	Male
	Female

Section 9 - PASSPORT NUMBER

The passport number that this visa applies to, that is, your passport number.

Section 10 - VISA ID

Consulate coding showing who and where the visa was issued.

Section 11 - INVITATION No

If you have a business visa then this will relate to the invitation that was generated in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, otherwise it will be empty.

Section 12 - PURPOSE OF ENTRY

Depending on the type of visa, this will read either:

	Tourism
	Business
	Commercial
	Private

Section 13 - INVITED BY, REFERENCE AND GROUP No

The name of the accredited organisation that sponsor your visa, in most cases Real Russia visas will read:

and be followed by a series of numbers.

Section 14 - ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Any additional information that you may have provided to the consulate or that they wish to place on your visa. This will be specific to you.

All of the headings on the visa are both in Russian and English, so reading the validity period should present no problem. However, information such as the type of visa and number of entries is in Russian only. This brief guide will help you confirm the details are correct.

ENTRIES

The number of times that you can enter and exit the Russian Federation using this visa within its validity period.

	Single entry / exit - a "1" will be shown in the line
	Double entry / exit - a "2" will be shown in the line
	Multiple entry / exit - a "M" will be shown in the line

DATE OF ISSUE

The date on which the visa was issued by the consulate, this is in dd.mm.yy format.

VALIDITY PERIOD

Shows the dates that the visa is valid from and until in dd.mm.yy format.

VALIDITY DAYS

The number of days that the visa is valid for within the validity period.

NATIONALITY

Your nationality, if you are British it will read:

VISA ID

Consulate coding showing who and where the visa was issued.

FAMILY NAME (SURNAME), GIVEN NAME(S)

PASSPORT NUMBER

The passport number that this visa applies to, that is, your passport number.

BIRTHDAY

Your date of birth in dd.mm.yyyy format.

SEX

Your gender which will be either:

	Male
	Female

INVITATION NUMBER

If you have a business visa then this will relate to the invitation that was generated in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, otherwise it will be empty.

PURPOSE OF ENTRY

Depending on the type of visa, this will read either:

	Tourism
	Business
	Commercial
	Private

INVITED BY

The name of the accredited organisation that sponsor your visa, in most cases Real Russia visas will read:

and be followed by a series of numbers.

Section 14 - ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Any additional information that you may have provided to the consulate or that they wish to place on your visa. This will be specific to you. For multiple entry visas as of 04.10.2007 this section will include the following inscription which means that you are restricted to only stay in Russia for a maximum of 90 days during a 180 day period.