Maximum Stay: With a Russian Tourist visa one can stay in Russian no longer than 1 month.

       Number of Entries (number of times you can enter the country with the same visa): 1 or 2.

       Important: A Russian Tourist visa is ONLY for tourists. This type of visa is not good for visiting friends or relatives in Russia. A Russian Tourist visa is only issued by a travel agency when you buy their tour package, or you can get a visa independently but still with an invitation from such an agency or a hotel.

       How to Get a Visa: If you travel to Russia on a tour provided to you by a travel agency, they will most likely take care of your visa and registration. However, you should ask your travel agent how you can get the registration upon arriving to Russia just to be on the safe side.

       If you want to get a visa to Russia by yourself, you need a hotel in which you're going to stay or another facility to send you an invitation. They usually do it for no more than $40. The invitation is an official document. So the hotel employees will need to have a scanned copy of your passport and to know how long you are going to stay. Most hotel managers will give you an invitation only for the period of time during which you are going to stay in their hotel, so if you plan to travel to other cities or visit friends, you should consider getting a Personal visa (read lower). You will have to take the invitation sent to you by the hotel or a travel agency to the nearest Russian Consulate or Russian Embassy and apply for a Russian visa. In some countries you can even send the invitation and application by mail and get a visa also by mail. You will also have to send or bring your passport (6 month before it expires), 2 passport pictures of yourself, and money. The application fee is different in different countries. The time required to receive the visa also differs, however, at some consulates for an additional fee you may get your visa even in one business day.