Russia e-Visa: Official Site, 64 Eligible States and the 30-Day Rule (2026)

Check the passport list first

The unified e-visa is not a general Russia entry document. The ministry lists 64 foreign states whose nationals may be granted one. If your passport is not on that list, the e-visa route is closed to you and the application is a regular visa at a Russian diplomatic mission or consular post.

Two more conditions cut the list down further:

• You already hold a valid Russian visa in that passport. The ministry says you do not need an e-visa, and a regular visa cannot be extended by getting one.
• Your trip is transit, work, study or another purpose the e-visa does not cover. The application has no transit option to select, so those trips need a regular visa.

What it costs

The ministry charges a fee for processing the application and states that no refund is available regardless of the outcome. The amount is shown only at the payment step, so the honest price here is: open the application, reach the payment step, and read the number the system shows you.

Three payment rules from the FAQ are worth knowing before you get there:

• Invoices are issued in dirhams or yuan; a card in another currency is converted automatically by your bank.
• Cards issued by Russian banks cannot be used.
• Payment confirmation takes 20 to 45 minutes. The application status stays at “Payment required” until it clears.

Applicants under 6 years of age on the date of submission pay no consular fee.

Dates, stay and the day-count trap

• Application window: no earlier than 86 days and no later than 4 days before the expected entry date.
• Processing: no more than 4 calendar days, and the day of submission does not count.
• Validity: 120 days from the date of issue.
• Stay: no more than 30 days from the date of entry.

The ministry adds a warning most travellers miss: the day of arrival and the day of departure both count, so a 30-day stay is not 720 hours of net time. Its own visa calculator does the arithmetic if your dates sit close to the edge.

Where you can enter and leave

Entry and exit must both use crossing points on the government-approved list, grouped into air, road, rail, sea and pedestrian cards. The air list alone includes Moscow (Vnukovo), Moscow (Domodedovo), Moscow (Sheremetyevo), Moscow (Zhukovsky), Saint Petersburg (Pulkovo), Vladivostok (Knevichi), Kaliningrad (Khrabrovo), Sochi, Kazan, Novosibirsk (Tolmachevo) and Irkutsk.

The FAQ is explicit that an e-visa cannot be used to exit through a point outside the list. Check both directions, not just the arrival airport. At least one listed road point, Ivangorod, is marked temporarily closed for reconstruction.

After approval

When the status changes to “Processing completed”, download the PDF and print it, or keep it on your phone. You show it to the transport company when boarding and again to the Border Service officer at the crossing point, together with the passport used in the application.

Inside Russia you can move freely, and migration registration is a separate obligation: it must be done within 7 working days of arrival. Hotels do it automatically; staying in a private flat means the host has to arrange it.

→ Prepare the 13 checks