dukkar

Hello!

I am planing on visiting Russia in August with my family and was looking into applying for a visa on my own. So if I understand currently, one of the documents I need is the "Tourist Confirmation Letter and Travel Voucher". I plan to spend first 4 days in Moscow and another 4 days in St. Petersburg, before flying into Sweden.

1. Do I need this "Tourist Confirmation Letter and Travel Voucher" from every hotel (in Moscow and St. Petersburg) that I am staying?
2. Do you know if hotels charge for providing this documentation?
3. And if I book them through a site like expedia.com or hotels.com, would they have my reservation?
4. I am planning my visit in August. When should I ask the hotel(s) to send me this documentation?
5. Should this documentation have the names of all the traveling family members or just my name on it?

Thanks!

nytraveler

You should get in touch with the hotels now - since this can be atie-consuming process. they will expect you to pay for the hotel in advance. You need info for each night you are in Russia and for every family member - since each needs a visa. the last time I was there the hotels provided confirmtion of your stay which was needed at the airport to get out of the country (it was matched against your visa). Don't know if they still do this - but I wouldn;t take a chance.

Odin

1. The rules change so check with the consulate you are submitting your application to for the latest rules; it did use to be that the letter of invitation had to cover the complete stay in Russia, so you would have 1 invitation from the Moscow hotel and another from the St Petersburg hotel. Alternatively if you use a visa agency, they can provide 1 invitation to cover the complete duration of your time in Russia (visa agency will charge for this)
2. Some hotels charge and others do not. Sometimes a hotel will charge if you subsequently cancel your hotel reservation after receivng the letter of invitation. Check with your hotels.
3. If you book through expedia or similar, of course the hotel will have details of your reservation.
4. You can only usually apply for a visa max six months before you travel, so you have time. If you have your reservations you can start getting the letters of invitation and submit application couple months before travel.
5. The documentation from the hotel should have all names of all travelling and will also have passport nos (hotels usually ask you to complete a form with various personal info eg passport no/nationality etc).

You definitely do not have to pay for the hotel in advance unless you have a prepay rate or if you are going on an organised vacation.

The hotels take care of registering the visa once you arrive in Russia, which is necessary if you are staying more than 7 days.

dukkar

Thanks for the replies.

live42day

I am not sure where you are from, but we just did ours and we are in Canada. I was told not to apply before 6 months prior as the rules can change. I sent it through an agency, in our case Embassy Link. It cost more money but they do all the leg work for us. I gave them the names of all the hotels we are staying at, all booked though Booking.com and paid upon arrival.
I filled out the visa application form, a couple of pages, and sent it off to Embassy Link with our passports, picture, forms, hotel info and cheque. They forward it all to Ottawa and then fedex it back to me. I dont have it yet but it has ony been a couple of weeks and we arent leaving till next month.

Both my husband and I needed all the same information about hotels etc.