Nowadays, many citizens of the Russian Federation have relatives and friends in the countries of the former Soviet Union, but not all post-Soviet space provides a soft visa regime to the main successor to a disintegrated socialist state. It is in this situation that Russia is in relation to the Baltic countries. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are currently member states of the European Union and are included in the list of states that have signed the Schengen Agreement.
It follows that for crossing their borders, Russians need to apply for either a national visa or a Schengen visa. You can submit a request using verified specialists in the visa center or by yourself without intermediaries - directly to diplomatic missions located in the Russian Federation.
What types of visas can I apply for?
Requests for a visa to the Baltic States for Russians are carried out with different goals - this is a visit to relatives, a vacation at famous resorts, and doing business on the Baltic territory. Accordingly, a person can apply for a tourist Schengen, guest or business visa.
In addition, there is a special type of visa for Russians in the Baltic states - a multi-visa Schengen, according to which a person has the right to visit all three countries up to thirty times in twelve months. This option is considered the most optimal, since when planning a visit to the territory of all the Baltic states, the traveler will not need to collect and submit a pile of relevant documentation again. Therefore, before collecting all the papers, the applicant must determine for himself the purpose of the trip in order to decide which visa to the Baltics will need to be issued.
Documents for a Latvian visa
If a person, planning his tour to the Baltic states, is limited to only one of the three countries, then you should analyze in more detail what papers each embassy requires.
The Latvian government is requesting an impressive list. To get to the sunny shores of the Baltic Sea in Jurmala, the applicant must present:
- Foreign passport, the validity of which is more than three months from the date of the start of the planned trip. The passport must have at least two blank pages for gluing a visa and affixing a stamp on the border.
- Russian passport and copies of its pages.
- One fresh color photo.
- Application form, the columns of which must be filled in English.
- Certificate of employment. It indicates the position held, monthly salary and total length of service.
- Certificate of financial security. Usually an extract from a personal bank account is taken.
- An insurance policy covering at least thirty thousand euros.
- If the applicant plans his tour to the Baltic States using personal vehicles, he will have to provide the Embassy with all the documents for the car (plus an insurance policy and registration certificate).
- Booking or a copy of the purchased round-trip tickets.
- A visa to the Baltic states for Russians under the age of majority is opened on the basis of all the above documents, but in addition a child’s birth certificate, a certificate from the school (if the child is a school-age child), a notarized permission to export (in case the child travels with one of the parents or with an accompanying third party).
Getting an Estonian visa
Getting a visa to Estonia is much easier, if only because of the small list of required documents:
- International passport.
- Passport.
- Visa application form (for a child is filled out separately). Boxes must be completed in English.
- One photo in color.
- Certificate of employment indicating the monthly salary and position held.
- Medical insurance with standard coverage - at least 30 thousand euros.
Obtaining a visa to Estonia will not be difficult if all the documents are submitted in proper form.
Visa to Lithuania
Lithuania is the third Baltic country, a visa for which is necessary for the Russians. To get the coveted entry document and take a walk along the old streets of Vilnius, the traveler should collect the following package of documents:
- International passport.
- Russian passport.
- Photo in color.
- Insurance covering an amount of thirty thousand euros (minimum).
- An application form completed in English.
- Certificate of employment. It should be spelled out monthly income.
- A copy of the round-trip ticket reservation.
- For a Russian, a visa to the Baltic states is also available without confirmation of personal income - he can use sponsorship, as pensioners sometimes do, for example. The sponsor must provide the Lithuanian Embassy with a letter in which he undertakes to cover all expenses of the applicant, as well as all necessary documents proving his income (bank statement and certificate of employment).
Some nuances of Baltic visas
Given the existence in our recent past of a country such as the USSR, many citizens in these three countries have relatives or are themselves of origin, for example, Lithuanians. In such cases, visa processing is a bit easier.
Of course, the answer to the question of whether a visa is needed for Russians to the Baltic states if they have a “Baltic” nationality by birth remains the same - it is necessary. However, for citizens of Lithuanian descent, for example, you do not need to pre-register for an interview in order to submit documents. The same right exists for people with EU citizenship, those who have not lost their right to obtain Lithuanian citizenship, or for people involved in humanitarian assistance.
As you know, the consular fee is a common procedure for obtaining a visa, but for Lithuanians with a Russian passport, people with disabilities and their accompanying children, children under 12 years of age, and applicants planning to visit their seriously ill relatives in Lithuania, this fee has been canceled.
Schengen Additions
For several years now, in addition to the standard package of documents for Schengen registration, it is required to leave your consent to the processing of personal data by the embassy of the country where the request is submitted. When applying for a visa to the Baltic States on their own, all applicants must go through this procedure, with the exception of certain categories of citizens.
In addition to signing an official paper, a person is fingerprinted. A huge plus is that all these data are valid for five years and are transferred to the general archive. That is, when making the next Schengen, fingerprinting does not need to be repeated.
Features of applying for a Baltic visa
In order not to get into trouble, you should do all your steps consciously and correctly. However, this applies not only to the issuance of Baltic visas. How to avoid mistakes and mistakes:
- First of all, it is worth deciding on the place of residence, make a reservation.
- It is necessary to collect the required documents indicated above (depending on what kind of visa a person plans to request).
- Then follows the purchase of tickets in both directions. That is, a person must convince an officer of the diplomatic mission of one of the three Baltic countries for his non-immigration purposes (unless, of course, he is traveling on a program of reunification with relatives).
- The next step is to fill out a visa application form. Given the fact that modern technology allows you to do this online, everything is much simpler, since saving time is worth a lot.
- After printing the questionnaire, copies of all necessary documents are taken, but it should be borne in mind that it is a qualitative option that will not cause additional questions.
- And finally, the consular fee is paid.
Most often, the visa is ready on the seventh day after the successful delivery of all papers and the passage of fingerprinting.
Visa Prices
How much does a visa to the Baltic states cost for self-processing? Prices, of course, vary, depending on which of the three states is a priority for the traveler, how many days he plans to spend in foreign territories.
So, a Latvian Type C tourist visa costs 35 euros (2500 rubles), and an urgent option costs 70 euros or about 5000 in rubles (it takes three days to produce it). A single-entry and double-entry national visa of type D will cost a person 61.18 euros (4500 rubles), and a multiple national visa costs 85.37 euros (6300 rubles).
Estonian visas have the same story: an ordinary Schengen visa costs 35 euros, it is also short-term, but if a person submitted documents from the region where delivery is required (for example, through the Pony Express agency), then an additional 30 euros will have to be paid.
A tourist visa to Lithuania of type D will cost the applicant 60 euros, categories A and C cost 35 euros, urgent - 70 euros.
Naturally, when applying to various visa centers, you will have to pay another private fee for assistance in processing.
Other entry options
Throughout the entire Russian space, information about the 100% “throughput” of the Finnish Schengen visa has been walking for a long time. And this option is used by many citizens of the Russian Federation, because sometimes you can get a refusal from scratch, and the Finns are more loyal to their older brother.
Plus, you can save a lot on applying for a Finnish visa , and the Baltic border guards let people with this type of entry document into their countries.