Study visa
Students holding a university admission and official invitation
Issued initially as a single-entry visa for around 90 days, converted to a multi-year residence permit after arrival and registration.
All destinations Russia —
Moscow · Saint Petersburg · Kazan · Volgograd
Russia —
The invitation decides everything.
Russia is an invitation-led system. Nothing moves until the official invitation is issued, and everything after it is fast if the paperwork was built correctly in the first place. Our largest Russian cohorts are medical students heading to Kazan, Volgograd and Moscow for the September intake.
The shape of the year
For Indian study-abroad centres, Russia is a volume destination with a hard annual rhythm: invitations through spring, filings through summer, a single departure cluster in late August and September. It rewards planning and punishes improvisation.
Categories we file
What we file for Russia.
Category selection is the first decision and the one most often got wrong. We fix it at strategy stage, before a single form is opened.
Business visa
Delegations, supplier visits, negotiations, trade events
Requires an invitation from the host entity. Single, double or multiple entry depending on the invitation and the applicant’s travel history.
Work visa
Employees on assignment with a Russian entity
Employer-sponsored and permit-led. Longest lead time of the three; start at least four months out.
Tourist visa
Incentive groups and short corporate visits
Backed by a tourist confirmation and voucher from an accredited operator. Short validity, limited flexibility.
The document set
What every applicant needs.
Indicative and confirmed per file. We build this once and clone it per applicant, with an owner and a deadline against each line.
- Original official invitation (university or authorised host)
- Passport valid at least 18 months beyond entry, two blank pages
- Completed electronic visa application form, printed and signed
- Medical certificate including HIV/AIDS test, in the prescribed format
- Academic documents, apostilled and translated into Russian by a certified translator
- Notarised birth certificate where the applicant is under eighteen
- Travel medical insurance covering the full period of stay
- Photographs to specification — the sizing is enforced strictly
Working backwards from the date
The Russia timeline.
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Admission & invitation request
10–14 weeks outUniversity applies for the official invitation. This is the long pole; nothing downstream can start early.
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Document build
8–12 weeks outApostille, certified Russian translation, medicals. We run these in parallel with the invitation rather than after it.
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Invitation issued & filing
4–6 weeks outApplications batched by invitation date and submitted through the visa application centre.
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Visa issued
2–4 weeks outTypical processing is four to twenty working days depending on the service level chosen.
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Ticketing & departure
Final 2 weeksNames issued against the held block; arrival registration briefing delivered to the cohort.
Where files fail
Four ways a Russia cohort loses a season.
Every one of these has cost someone a semester. They are cheap to avoid and expensive to fix.
Apostille before translation, never after
Academic documents must be apostilled by the Ministry of External Affairs and only then translated and notarised. Reversing the order means redoing both, and that is three weeks you do not get back.
The medical certificate has a shelf life
HIV test certificates carry a validity window. Testing the whole cohort too early is as expensive a mistake as testing it too late.
Registration within seven days of arrival
Every traveller must be registered at their address shortly after arrival. Universities usually handle this for students; corporate travellers frequently miss it, and it surfaces at exit.
Transliteration must match exactly
The name on the invitation, the passport and the ticket must agree character for character. Invitation reissues cost weeks.
Getting there
Air routes we hold contracts on.
Routes
Delhi and Mumbai to Moscow, with domestic connections onward to Kazan, Volgograd, Saint Petersburg and Ufa.
Carriers
Direct services on Aeroflot, plus one-stop routings via Dubai, Tashkent, Almaty and Sharjah for larger blocks.
Planning note
September student traffic is the tightest week of the Russian year on the India routes. We take blocks in March for it.
Primary pairings
- DEL → SVO
- BOM → SVO
- SVO → KZN
- SVO → VOG
Also on the desk
Start a file
Planning a Russia cohort?
Send the group size, the intake or meeting date and the profile mix. You will have a written Russia feasibility note — filing window, slot risk and an indicative fare — within one working day.