Andrews Travel House,
23 Pembridge Square,
London.
W2 4DR
Tel: +44(0)207 727 2838
Fax: +44(0)207 727 2848

Invitations to Russia

Tourist Invitations and Business Visa Authorisation

Andrews Travel House is able to assist you obtaining letters of invitation for both Business and Tourist trips (unfortunately we are unable to help obtaining any other kind of invitation).

For obtaining the visa as well as the invitation, please refer to our order form or our information on our Russian visas page.

Processing your application commences the day after information and payment have both been received.

This service is available worldwide; please inform us if you would like to apply for visa at a consulate not in the London. Please check with your nearest Russian consulate for any additional documents they may require.

The consulate requires original copies for (paper) Multiple Entry invitations; therefore a DHL fee of £45+VAT will apply to all multiple entry invitation options.

For Tourist invitations we will only require a copy of our order form completed and sent to us, these can usually be issued within half an hour, for some nationals this can take longer and will cost more than advertised on our order forms or website, this is outlined in more detail below.

For Business invitations we will require copy of our order form completed, signed and sent to us along with a clearcopy of the traveler’s passport, again some nationals will find it takes longer and costs more than is advertised on our order forms or website, this is outlined below.

Please send the form and passport copies to london@andrews-consulting.co.uk or fax it to 0207 727 2848, alternatively send a hard copy directly to our offices.  An email containing clear scanned documents is preferable.

Download forms and information

ATH Order Form (PDF) - can be completed by hand

Questionnaire for the consulate - this opens a new window on the visa centre website.

All information regarding Russian visas (PDF)

Invitation Specifications:

Tourist Invitations

A tourist invitation is often referred to as “a tourist voucher and confirmation”, this is issued by a Russian travel agent and they must have an official tourist license and be registered with the Russian Ministry of foreign affairs to assist with visa support; a list of authorised travel agents is available from the Russian Consulate.  

There are two parts to this, both will be stamped by the travel agent and they will have a four digit reference number. E.g. 0123.

When hotels issue these they quiet often have a travel agent they use or their own travel agency for this purpose so it is not unusual to find the invitation from a hotel is from a company that doesn’t seem relevant to the hotel.

Here is an example of what one should look like; they will vary quite a lot from each supplier so please use the below as a rough guide to how one should look:

Click here for a sample Tourist invitation

Business and other invitations issued by the Russian Migration Authorities.

All business visas require authorisation from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs or Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Foreign affairs issues these as a special form and passes them to the Russian company inviting the individual, who in turn pass it on to the applicant so they can apply for their visa.

There are two types of invitation available in the UK – Paper invitations (we can provide these) and telexes, telexes are sent directly to the consulate and the client will receive a telex number to confirm that this has been sent. It is important that we have this number in order to apply to the consulate. 

If you are issued with a paper invitation it will look like the example below, if you do not have one that resembles this or you do not have a telex number then it is very unlikely that it is the correct documentation.

Business invitations are the most common, but in fact invitations issued for any purpose other than tourism will either resemble the invitation to the right or be telexes, e.g. employment, private, cultural visits etc.

Click here for a sample Business invitation

Invitation prices and processing speeds

Validity

Speed (working Days)

  5
Urgent		 7
Sup exp 		10
Express		 12
Fast		 14
Normal
Single 1 month £179 £159 £139 £109 £79
Single 3 months £189 £169 £149 £119 £99
Double 1 month £199 £179 £159 £129 £109
Double 3 months £209 £189 £169 £139 £119
  14 - Urgent 21 - Normal
Multiple 6 months £309 £239
Multiple 12 months £389 £309
  Tourist invitations are issued same day
Tourist (Single) £45
   

This service is available worldwide, please inform us if you would like to apply for visa not in the London. Please check with your nearest Russian consulate for any additional documents they may require.

Nationals who may have difficulty with obtaining invitations

Nationals of EU countries (excluding Ireland, the UK and Denmark) will not be able to order the 5 working day processing speed, the fastest available is the 7 working day service.

Nationals of the below countries will find that the cost of an invitation (if we are able to help) will cost more and may take longer, please contact us for more information.

Nationals of the Countries below will also be required to send a copy of their UK residence permit (only residence permits are accepted no other kind of UK visa) in order for us to apply for an invitation:

Algeria Ethiopia Rwanda
Angola Georgia Somalia
Afghanistan India Sri Lanka
Bangladesh Iran Syria
Chad Iraq Turkey
China Lebanon Vietnam
Cote D'Ivorie Nepal  
Nationals of Countries that we will not be able assist with obtaining an invitation:
Pakistan North Korea Nigeria

Download forms and information

ATH Order Form (PDF) - can be completed by hand

Questionnaire for the consulate - this opens a new window on the visa centre website.

All information regarding Russian visas (PDF)