As of August 25, 2021, you can easily have your tourist visa to Russia for six months. You just have to have your tour properly ordered or have your stay properly booked. That’s all.
How it was before. Russia adhered to the reciprocity principle in visa matters. That meant that it applied the same entry rules to citizens of a country which this country applied to the citizens of Russia.
What’s new: Russia has abandoned this principle of reciprocity and relaxed its visa regime. The relaxation concerns all the people living on Earth no matter what their nationality is. Amendments to the legislation have been enacted on August 25 this year when a law was signed and came into force.
The good news is that:
— you can now obtain a visa for an up-to-six-month-stay in Russia;
— you just need one document, besides your passport and application: a confirmation that you have booked a tour with a Russian tour company or a confirmation that you have booked a room at a hotel.
You can have a one or two-entry visa valid for three months; or a multi-entry visa valid for six months. In case of a multi-entry visa, you are eligible to stay for up to 90 days in Russia within a 180-day period.
What’s important is that you must deal with a tour company that’s in the official registry of Russian tour companies or with a hotel that’s in the official registry of hotels.
The tour companies registry is called in Russian as Единый федеральный реестр туроператоров and can be found here.
The hotel registry is called Федеральный перечень туристских объектов and can be found here.
So, before booking just check if your supplier is in a registry. Ask its registry number or use its name and see if it is there.
Six months is a good thing as it makes it possible to easily get a visa necessary for travel along the Trans-Siberian Railway, for example, that takes nearly two weeks. Or come regularly to Russia, for instance, for weekends, which becomes easier and cheaper with a growing network of low-cost flights here.
So, what about the electronic visa to Russia introduced a few years ago? This tool will stay too, so you just have more options, choose the one you need depending on the duration of your stay.