Russian e-visa

Travel to Russia
1

I read Irena’s article about obtaining the Russian e-visa and have some questions. I’m considering traveling from New York to Moscow in June 2025 but fear that there is too much uncertainty in the e-visa. It can only be applied for 40 days prior to travel. A month prior is too late to get flights and hotels in my opinion. I wonder if it’s possible to buy flights before getting the visa, or whether that is too risky. ??

  1. I read online about many people not being able to pay the visa fee because the Mastercard payment doesn’t go through. Aside from American Express, I only have one Mastercard credit card. If it doesn’t work, is it possible to pay in cash at the New York consulate?
    By the way, I do not want to get a consulate visa because I did that 3 times in the past and it is an excruciating process, even when using a travel agent. (In the past I only had US citizenship but now I also acquired EU citizenship). For me it is even more difficult than for other people because I was born in the Soviet Union (Vilnius) and they demand to see evidence of me NOT having Russian citizenship. The way I have shown evidence was by giving the Exit Visa of my parents from 1986, my birth certificate, and numerous name change documents of both my mother and myself, that all together link up with the Exit Visa saying my mother left the Soviet Union with a son (me). They also had a question about listing all countries I’ve been in the last 10 years and the year but that is a list of 70+ countries so I only named a few.
  2. There is a lot of mention of obtaining an insurance policy that is valid in Russia and showing a printed policy document at the border. Is this actually necessary? In the past 3 times when getting a consulate visa, I simply wrote in the visa application whatever company-provided USA health insurance I had (United Healthcare or similar) and brought the card with me when traveling. Nobody ever asked to see proof of insurance. Is it different now? I don’t want to have to risk another shady online payment not working.

Nick

2

@nickmendoza If you’re applying for a visa with a US passport, insurance isn’t necessary. However, if you are using an EU passport, it’s often required. Nevertheless, I would rather use one of my EU passports than my US passport due to the current situation.

See Irena’s article

3

@nickmendoza There is a lot of mention of obtaining an insurance policy that is valid in Russia and showing a printed policy document at the border. Is this actually necessary?

For EU citizenship, medical insurance is required when applying. Insurance policy number to provide in the online form if evisa or to bring at the consulate if paper visa.
At border not asked.

Insurance company must be russian, because all NATO countries removed Russian Feferation of their coverage list in 2022. Means you have to pay to a Russian bank account or use a reseller that is on both bank systems and have you pay him by Paypal for instance (goingrus does that).
A Russian bank dif set a site , mentionned by Irena, for foreigners to pay with their cards by using a Belarusian bank, but then many banks cut off Belarus also.

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@NomadicHedgie Totally agree, I have Irish and British passports, much easier to use EU Irish.

5

Since the thread has been brought back from the dead… currently US citizens cannot get an E-visa to Russia. [With the current trend of questions regarding the RUID app - none of this applies to US citizens]