Russian Visa

[Sailor291]

Has anybody heard that Russia is going to go visa free for a few days for US and western Europe?  If anybody knows the details please reply.

[Faux Pas]

Has anybody heard that Russia is going to go visa free for a few days for US and western Europe?  If anybody knows the details please reply.

I've heard rumblings of visa free if arrival is by Port. Supposedly it is aimed at allowing cruise passengers entry to spend money

[mendeleyev]

Sailor, just got some clarification and here is what I understand at the moment: There is a proposal, not yet law, for a 72 hour visa free for tourists who are in-transit from one location to another with 3 Russian cities as stop over points. This is not designed to fly to Russia for 72 hours and then return home.

The 3 cities are Moscow, St Petersburg, and Kazan. Your flight must transit there and you must stay in that city during the 72 hours. For example you cannot fly from the USA to Moscow and back to the USA nor can you fly to St Petersburg and then travel on to Volgograd or Novosibirsk, etc. It applies to in-transit flights only and only to those 3 cities. Cruise ships will have the same privileges for St Petersburg and Moscow. Moscow is considered a port city via the river lock system and a lot of European river cruises have Moscow as an itinerary.

Exceptions: athletes, coaches, referees and foreign delegations taking part in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi get a 3 month entry pass without a visa. In May President Putin signed a decree (executive order) that athletes in any international sports venue can enter visa free for organized events. They are expected to stay in the general area of where the event takes place.

[mendeleyev]

Getting a Russian visa still isn't that difficult and registration isn't that bad either. Some of the online sources make it seem worse than it really is.

[Faux Pas]

Getting a Russian visa still isn't that difficult and registration isn't that bad either. Some of the online sources make it seem worse than it really is.

Agreed. Nothing more than a formality and added expense. The aggravation factor relies on the company you use

[Manny]

Cruise ships will have the same privileges for St Petersburg and Moscow.

They have had this already for several years at those ports:

http://www.stpeterline.com/en/Goodtoknow/Visafreerule.aspx

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2177240/Russia-visa-A-cruise-St-Petersburg.html

[mendeleyev]

Somewhat to a degree as those were part of tour groups or what the cruise lines call excursions. The rule was that the cruise company organized a tour and individuals who were a part of that paid excursion to Red Square or the Hermitage, etc, could disembark as part of that group. However individuals who didn't want to go on the organized excursions couldn't just get off the ship and wander around Moscow or Peter for 3 days unattended. Both articles reference the fact that an official tour is a condition of the old 72 hour rule--this jives with my experience via the MJ's relationship with Viking River Cruises.

This new 72 hour rule allows individuals the same freedom and as far as cruise passengers they don't have to be a part of the organized excursion in the same way that in-transit flight passengers can now leave the airport for 72 hours as long as they return and continue on to their ticketed destination.