Russia is one of the largest countries in the world. However, it is not one of the popular travel destinations for Malaysians other than for students furthering their studies. We believe this might be mainly due to the visa application hassle and language barrier.
Since the FIFA World Cup will be held in Russia this year, we guess some of the die-hard football fans may travel there. So, we decided to share our experience of applying the Russian Visa by ourselves.
Getting a Russian Visa in Malaysia is not that difficult if you are willing to spend some time to fill up the online application form, pay a visit to the Consular Section of the Embassy of the Russian Federation (the consular section is just beside the embassy’s main entrance) to submit the visa application and collect your passport when it is done.
Steps for Russian Visa Application in Malaysia
1. Make a booking of your accommodation in Russia. According to some forums, bookings made via booking.com are the safest for Russian Visa application. Hence, we followed the advice and made our 5D4N accommodation booking via booking.com. Of course, you can also have a look at other hotel booking systems accepted by Russia such as Agoda.com, Airbnb.com, Booking.com, Hotels.ru, Oktogo.ru or Ostrovok.ru. You can refer to the Russian tourism website here.
2. Contact the hostel/hotel to purchase the invitation letter. It usually cost approximately RUB1000-1500 per letter per person.
3. Prepare the necessary documents and fill up the online visa application form. The visa application form can be found at http://malaysia.mid.ru/web/malaysia-en/visa-information1 (look for the specific link under the “Electronic visa application form” section and it will direct you to the online visa application form)
- Passport (and a copy of it)
- A standard tourist confirmation and a tourist voucher issued by the authorized host Russian travel agency or hotel only
- Booking voucher of the accommodation
- A copy of travel/health insurance policy (For EU citizens only)
5. Print out the visa application form (hardcopy) after submitting the form at the website.
6. Paste one (1) passport-sized photo on the visa application form and sign on the form.
7. Submit the hard copy of the visa application form together with your invitation letter and other necessary documents to the Consular Section. Other necessary documents include the flight tickets, accommodation receipts, train vouchers, etc.
8. After the consular officers have gone through your visa application form, he/she will pass the documents back to you if everything is sufficient. The officer will also give you two additional slips. The first slip is the bank details (for you to make the payment to their RHB bank account) while the second slip is the payment amount together with some details in Russian language.
9. Proceed to the nearest bank for payment. The nearest bank is Maybank at Wisma Perkeso which is just 4 minutes walking distance away.
10. Submit the payment slip to the consular officer.
11. The consular officer will then pass you another slip which states your visa application details and your passport’s collection date.
12. Collect your passport on the date written in the slip.
If you feel the above steps are too troublesome, you can always engage a travel agency to do it for you. From what we heard, most travel agencies will charge about RM100 per passport.
As the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Malaysia is situated at Jalan Ampang, you might think it is challenging to find a parking nearby. Fortunately, we found a parking area next to Villa Ampang Condominium (the road just beside Wisma Perkeso). The parking rates were quite reasonable too.
Please take note that visa application can only be done on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9.30am to 1.00pm.
We arrived at the consular section around 9.00am and noticed most travel agents also arrive at this timing. Once the consular section’s door opens at 9.30am, the security guard will ask you to register your details in a logbook. You will then queue in front of the counter to proceed with your visa application.
The whole process took us less than 1.5 hours from queueing in front of the counter to obtaining the passport collection slip.
We believe you might have other questions regarding the visa application documents. We hope these clarifications will help out.
8 Clarifications on Russian Tourism Visa Application
1. Is the original copy of the invitation letter required for the tourism visa application?
Answer: If you have done some homework about the Russian tourism visa application, you may notice some forums stating that the original copy of the invitation letter is required during visa application. However, we believe this might only applies to Taiwanese and perhaps some other countries. Malaysians are not required to submit the original copy of the invitation letter. As long as you can provide a clear and quality copy of the invitation letter, it is fine (we printed the letter in color instead of black and white). Hence, you can actually save the cost of requesting the hotel/hostel to send the original copy to you (might probably cost a few hundred ringgits to do so).
2. How do you know whether the invitation letter that you obtained is approved / registered with The Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation?
Answer: To ensure the panel which provides the invitation letter is approved, you can check this website (https://www.russiatourism.ru/operators/) by keying the host reference number. We obtained our invitation letters from BLP and Hotel Pro (one of the common agencies). Both of them are registered.
3. Can the visa application be submitted at the Russian Visa Centre?
Answer: Please be aware that the Russian Visa Centre is not the official place for visa application and it is not authorized by the Embassy of the Russian Federation. It is just a travel agency which helps you to submit the application. The Consular Section of the Embassy of the Russian Federation is the only place that you can submit your visa application.
4. Can I submit the visa application on behalf of my family?
Answer: Yes. If you are travelling with your family, it is not necessary for everyone to submit the visa application by themselves. You can submit on behalf of them but make sure that everyone signed on the hardcopy of their visa application form.
5. Can I use only one invitation letter if I am travelling to more than one city in Russia?
Answer: It is advisable to get the invitation letter from each stay. If you are staying at more than one place, it would be better to get separate invitation letters from each hotel/hostel.
6. When can I collect my passport?
Answer: The visa application usually takes 7-10 working days. However, it could also take up to 20 working days if there is high volume of visa applications. It is important to plan your time well. For us, we received our passport within a week.
7. Can I make my visa application payment via online transfer?
Answer: Highly not recommended. The consular officers will only accept the hardcopy of the payment slip. If you made the payment online, they will request you to print out the online payment slip.
8. How many counters are there at the Consular Section?
Answer: There is actually just one counter. However, there are usually two queues. The left queue is for visa application while the right queue is for payment slip submission and passport collection.
Please note that the above guidelines are purely for tourist visa application. You can also get more information about the tourist visa or other visa from their website.
Embassy of the Russian Federation (Consular Section)
Address: No. 263, Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur
Contact No.: +603 4256 3949
Operating hours: 9.30am – 1.00pm (Monday, Wednesday and Friday)
Closed on Russian National Holidays.
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