Directive No. 2741-r dated 23 October 2020
In early 2021, Russia will introduce a single e-visa. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approved the list of checkpoints through which foreign citizens will be able to cross the border with such a visa.
The list includes 29 border checkpoints. In particular, these are international airports in Belgorod, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, Samara and St Petersburg.
The ports of St Petersburg, Vladivostok and Zarubino (Primorye Territory) are listed among the sea checkpoints. Among the automobile ones are six border checkpoints in the Kaliningrad Region: Bagrationovsk, Gusev, Mamonovo (Grzechotki and Gronovo), Morskoye and Sovetsk, one in the Pskov Region (Ubylinka) and one in the Leningrad Region (Ivangorod). The last one is also on the list of pedestrian checkpoints.
New border checkpoints will be added to the list as they are fitted out with the necessary equipment.
The e-visa pilot project started in 2017 and had a number of restrictions. Foreign citizens with an e-visa could cross the border only through certain border checkpoints in the Far Eastern Federal District, St Petersburg, and the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions. However, they could not leave these regions.
Now the e-visa will be valid throughout Russia. Foreigners can cross the border through checkpoints in many regions, and travel throughout the country. In addition, the duration of stay in Russia for foreign citizens will be extended from 8 to 16 days.
The e-visa will be issued via the internet for tourist, business, cultural and guest trips. A person will not need invitations, hotel reservations or any other documents confirming the purpose of a trip to receive an e-visa. The processing time will take no more than four days. The consular fee will be $40. Children under 6 years will receive a visa free of charge.
The introduction of single e-visas in Russia will help promote tourism, enhance the investment attractiveness of the regions, and boost the national economy as a whole.
Previously, Mikhail Mishustin approved the list of states whose citizens will be able to obtain an e-visa.