Information on Visa Support from GBT to Foreign Volunteers (Invitations and Visa Registration

Information on visa support from GBT to foreign volunteers (invitations and visa registration in Russia)

1. Tourist Visa for one or two projects (31 days)

2. Humanitarian Visa for two or projects or internship (up to 90 days)

3. Registration of visa (once in Russia)

Invitation for a tourist visa

To travel to Russia, you will need a visa. Thanks to our partners you can obtain an official letter of invitation for a tourist visa (31 days) within 1-3 days. The Tourist invitation for a visa, can be made 15 days before the start of the project (if you do not need the original document). The cost of processing and officially registering this invitation is included in the projects fee.

In order to issue you an invitation we will need the following information:

A copy of your passport page (send us a scan of your passport information page and e-mail it to us), and send us the following information:

1. Family name;

2. First name;

3. Date and place of birth;

4. Gender;

5. Citizenship;

6. Passport series number;

7. Date of issue of the passport;

8. Validity of the passport;

9. Place where you will be applying for the visa: Country, city;

10. Intended date of entry and departure to and from Russia;

11. City, country you will arrive in Russia from – city in Russia you will arrive in;

12. City, country you will leave Russia for;

13. Are you planning to stay in Moscow?

Once we receive this information, we will start the process of preparing and getting approval for your invitation. We will then send you a copy of this invitation in e-mail attachment. If your Russian Consulate does not accept copies of invitations (which can be the case in a few countries), then we can easily send you the invitation via regular mail (at no cost to you--- but please note, this might take up to a month to be delivered through our Russian post). Or we can send it by express mail (which will take no more than 5-10 days). You would have to pay for express mail costs yourself. Please note that information found on embassy websites is often outdated. Please call your nearby embassy to find accurate information.

Our organization can register a tourist visa officially (see below).

Please, send all applications for visa invitations, with the information requested above, to: [email protected]

PLEASE NOTE: ALL DATA IS REQUIRED TO GET AN INVITATION FROM RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES. PLEASE, FILL IN THE FORM CAREFULLY TO ENSURE TIMELY INVITATION COMPLETION. OTHERWISE, WE WILL HAVE TO ASK YOU FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION – THIS WILL PROLONG THE VISA PROCESS.

For more information, please contact GBT Volunteers Coordinator: [email protected]

If you would like to take part in more than 2 summer trail-building camps or you would like to volunteer in the office, GBT can provide you with a Invitation for a humanitarian visa

The Great Baikal Trail is able to provide all volunteers with official visa support. You can use GBT to get a humanitarian visa with the goal of cultural connections to Russia (which lasts for 30 or 90 days). Please note that the visa invitation application process usually takes from 4-6 weeks to complete at the Federal Migration Service. Therefore, if you are planning to come for a July projects, please send us your information no later than April 1. The cost of processing and officially registering this invitation is included in the projects fee.

In order to issue you an invitation---which you can use to apply for a travel visa at your local Russian consulate----we will need the following information:

A copy of your passport page (send us a scan of your passport information page and e-mail it to us), and send us the following information:

1. Family name;

2. First name;

3. Date and place of birth;

4. Gender;

5. Citizenship; 6. Country of permanent residency;

7. City of permanent residency;

8. Type of passport;

9. Passport series number;

10. Date of issue of the passport;

11. To send us this copy, you can scan your passport information page and e-mail it to us. Additionally, we will need the following data from you:

12. Intended date of entry and departure to and from Russia;

13. Place where you will be applying for the visa: Country, city;

14. Work place (full name of organization;

15. Address of work place;

16. Vocation;

Once we receive this information, we will start the process of preparing and getting approval for your invitation. We will then send you a copy of this invitation in e-mail attachment. If your Russian Consulate does not accept copies of invitations (which can be the case in a few countries), then we can easily send you the invitation via regular mail (at no cost to you--- but please note, this might take up to a month to be delivered through our Russian post). Or we can send it by express mail (which will take no more than 5-10 days). You would have to pay for express mail costs yourself. Please note that information found on embassy websites is often outdated. Please call your nearby embassy to find accurate information.

Please, send all applications for visa invitations, with the information requested above, to: [email protected]

PLEASE NOTE: ALL DATA IS REQUIRED TO GET AN INVITATION FROM RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES. PLEASE, FILL IN THE FORM CAREFULLY TO ENSURE TIMELY INVITATION COMPLETION. OTHERWISE, WE WILL HAVE TO ASK YOU FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION – THIS WILL PROLONG THE VISA PROCESS.

For more information, please contact: [email protected] - GBT Volunteers Coordinator.

New information for those applying outside of their country of citizenship! As of October, 2007, a foreign citizen can obtain a visa to Russia ONLY in the country of his/her citizenship. Exceptions include those who have a residence permit for a foreign country for the period of more than 90 days. You will need to be able to show this permit to the Russian embassy in that country. A foreign citizen will also be able to receive a Russian visa in a country other than his own if his own country allows Russian citizens to receive visas at its embassies and consulates outside of Russia. There are currently about 40 countries that allow Russian citizens to receive visas in countries other than Russia, but this list changes often. It is important to call the Russian embassy you are planning to use to verify if it will issue a visa before you order a visa invitation sent to that country.

IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR FOREIGN CITIZENS

If you are traveling to Russia, Please read the advice below, which will help you avoid many complications and problems during your visit.

1. Obtaining a Migration Card

1.1. Upon your arrival to the Russian Federation, it is necessary for you to get and complete a Migration Card. The Migration Card shows that you are allowed to temporarily reside in the country.

You can obtain a blank Migration Card (for free) from a Russian Border Control Officer, aboard a plane, or from a representative of an organization that provides transportation services for foreign citizens arriving to the Russian Federation.

1.2. You should complete the Migration Card in Russian, in BLOCK LETTERS. If you don’t speak Russian, you can fill in requested information about yourself in Roman (Latin) alphabet, in accordance with the information in your identity papers. The text of the Migration Card is in Russian and English.

DO NOT LOSE YOUR MIGRATION CARD – IT IS A VERY IMPORTANT DOCUMENT.

2. Registration Requirement

2.1. Foreign citizens visiting the Russian Federation must be registered at the place of their stay.

Registration

2.2. Please remember that all foreign citizens visiting or temporarily residing in the Russian Federation must register with a local office of the Russian Ministry of the Interior within three working days of arrival at the hotel or other organization rendering hotel services.

If you travel by train and can not register within 3 days please keep tickets so we can prove it in a Migration center. If you travel in Russia before the projects starts without any registration and tickets proving that you didn’t stay in one place for more that 3 days, GBT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO REGISTER YOU, THE FINE IS QUITE BIG. If you arrive some days earlier to Irkutsk or Ulan-Ude please, make sure to contact GBT staff and provide us with all necessary papers for registration.

2.4. The host (inviting) party (here, the GBT) is responsible for all necessary registration and de- registration procedures. To register, a foreign citizen must present the host party with his/hers identity papers, the Migration Card, and visa (we will make copies of these documents and return the originals to you right away).

Any individual or legal entity (a Russian citizen or a Russian organization) can be a host party. 2.5. The foreign citizen receives a copy of the notice with a dated stamp.

Upon the foreign citizen’s departure, the host party must deliver a detachable part of the notice to the local office of the Russian Ministry of the Interior, whether in person or by mail.