First you need to figure out what is a visa-free regime. These are relations between countries when citizens of these states do not need to obtain permission to visit their territory. They are established by multilateral agreement (an example is Schengen Area), by bilateral agreement, as well as unilaterally. An example of the latter option is Ukraine, which has canceled visas for citizens of a number of developed countries. There is also a restriction on passports, their type.
Which countries can I travel with an internal passport?
To begin with, there is still a list of states to which a Russian is easy to get into. To do this, you do not need a foreign passport, it is enough to present a civil passport. Not to mention the fact that visa-free regime is fully supported. These countries include: South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Belarus. Until March 1, 2015, this rule also applied to Ukraine, but now unilaterally, our neighbors changed the order of crossing the state border.
Now you can get to them only by presenting a foreign passport. Although the visa-free regime for the Russians remained. And now we will list for you all the states where one passport is enough. No other documents or evidence of trustworthiness need be shown. Unless (very rarely) return tickets or a tourist voucher.
Visa-free countries for Russians
The list is as follows: stay up to 30 days - Antigua and Barbuda; Azerbaijan, Armenia; up to 90 days within 180 - Argentina, Bahamas, Botswana, Brazil, Venezuela; up to 28 days - Barbados; up to 30 - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vanuatu; Bermuda. In Vietnam, for the purpose of tourism, you can arrive for up to 15 days, while the passport must be valid for at least six months, and you can re-enter no earlier than a month after departure. Further: up to 90 days - Guyana, Guatemala, Honduras and Grenada. In the latter case, the exact, specific period of maximum stay is determined by the immigration officer.
In the Dominican Republic, tourists who have a return ticket can stay no more than 21 days. In the Dominican Republic, you with a tourist card on hand have the opportunity to relax for 30 days. A card is sold for $ 10 in Santo Domingo, the airport, or obtained at the consulates or embassies of the republic. We dwell separately on visa-free travel with Israel.
Russia and Israel - visa relations
These relations between our states are regulated by an agreement between governments on the refusal of the need for visas for mutual movements of citizens of the two countries, which has been effective since 10/20/2008. Basic requirement: a passport with a validity period of at least six months at the time of entry. Having such a document, you can safely go to Israel. A visa-free regime allows you to enter this country many times or once, leave it, follow transit and stay there 90 days in any period of 180 days without issuing permits. But the tourist should remember that the decision is made by the border guard at the border crossing.
It is final. Therefore, it is better to prepare for the procedure in advance and have some documents with you that can help in a controversial situation: a return ticket, documents confirming the hotel reservation, medical insurance operating abroad, evidence of the necessary amount of money. In the case when you are going for treatment - a letter from the hospital, a visit - an invitation.According to travelers' reviews, they most likely will not be needed, but this is precisely the case when it is better to play it safe. A visa-free regime is one thing, a border guard at a post is a little different.
We continue the list of visa-free (for Russians) states
In Hong Kong, without a visa, you can stay for a maximum of 14 days, for 30 days in Macau. Only tourist groups are allowed to enter China without permits - for 30 days. In addition, such groups should be formed by tourism organizations. You can stay in Cuba and Costa Rica for up to 30 days. In the latter case, for transit, tourism, a business trip or visiting relatives. Colombia - standard 90 days. Laos - only up to 15 days. We continue the list of countries without visa requirements. Up to 60 days - Mauritius. Until 30 - Macedonia, but this applies only to those who enter the country on the basis of a voucher - the original contract for tourist services.
Malaysia and Micronesia - up to 30 days, Maldives - one month. Up to 90 days - Morocco, Namibia and Nicaragua. On the Cook Islands, you can relax for 31 days, in Niue - 30 days. The same number goes to Palau, but in this state the period of stay can be extended on the spot without departure. The maximum stay in Panama is longer than in many other countries - up to 180 days. But at the same time, a number of conditions must be met: the validity of the passport is at least three months; have at least 500 US dollars per person for the period of stay; present tickets to or from a third country.
The third part of the list, ending
Visa-free countries such as Paraguay, Peru and El Salvador are allowed to stay on their territory for up to 90 days in each 180-day period. Samoa, Swaziland and Seychelles - a maximum of 30 days, but on the islands the length of stay is easily extended on the spot to three months. Up to 20 days - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, up to 30 days - Serbia, up to 20 - Saint Lucia. Up to 45 days - Northern Mariana Islands and Taum. In both cases, you will be allowed if there are return tickets. Visa-free regime for cruise ship passengers is possible for one day to Caicos and Turks, a prerequisite is departure in the same way. In Turkey, Russians can stay up to 60 days, and only 90 - for 180 days. From this year, 2015, the passport must be valid for four months.
Up to 90 days - Uruguay, Ecuador and Chile. Until 21 days - Philippines. If you have a tourist voucher, guests of Sri Lanka can stay in this country for up to 30 days. In South Korea, the requirements are slightly stricter. In it, Russians can be 60 days with tickets to a third country or vice versa, hotel or voucher reservation, confirmation of financial viability. When traveling to individual visa-free countries, you need to know some nuances. Now consider a couple of such options.
Russian tourists in Thailand
Not so long ago, the new immigration rules of this state changed the entry rules for tourists from many countries, but this did not affect ours. The visa-free regime for the Russians remained. In addition, they can come here an unlimited number of times and no visa is required for this. However, not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance.
There is a restriction: a one-time stay in Thailand cannot exceed 30 days, and it is impossible to extend this period while inside, that is, you must travel outside the state. Also, each time you enter you will have to prove the tourist purpose of the visit, that is, present the route of the planned trip, tickets and hotel reservations along the route.
Visa relations between Russia and Montenegro
This magnificent country, despite its close proximity to us, is still abroad. Therefore, the question of whether she has a visa-free regime with Russia, each year is very important for vacationers. Fortunately, so far everything remains as before, and you do not need to get a visa to visit Montenegro. Citizens of Russia, as before, can enter the territory of this country for up to 30 days without a visa.And with the passport there are significant exemptions, compared with many other states. So, its validity should not expire earlier than one month after you return to your homeland.
Upon crossing the border of this country, you will immediately feel what a real visa-free regime with Russia is. No questions, no additional documents, the border guard will put the appropriate stamp in the passport - and you can relax. For this reason, Montenegro is in high demand and popular among Russian tourists. The same applies to citizens of Belarus (up to 30 days - visa-free entry).
Visa relations between Russia and the CIS countries
Considering the countries of a visa-free regime with Russia, we completely missed the relationship of our country with our closest neighbors, with whom we used to enter the USSR. We are, of course, not talking about Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which have long been included in the European Union and to visit them it is necessary to apply for a Schengen visa. So with whom do we now have a visa-free regime?
Kazakhstan, along with Belarus, is part of a single customs union, therefore, there is no discussion at all about any restrictions on mutual trips. Enough internal passport. There are also no time limits. Of the eight southern republics of the former Soviet Union, a visa-free regime is valid for five, not counting the already specified Kazakhstan: these are Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. For mutual travel, only internal passports are needed.
Turkmenistan in 1999 introduced visas for the entire CIS, Georgia in 2008, after the so-called “five-day” war, did the same for Russia. The relationship between Russia and Ukraine in this article has already been said, we will expect the early completion of the conflict in the east of our western neighbor and the establishment of all, including visa, affairs. It is necessary to tell in a few words about the rapprochement between our country and Tajikistan. Citizens of this country now have the right to apply for a work permit for up to three years in the Russian Migration Service, and this is the basis for increasing / extending the term of an employee in Russia. It is no longer necessary to travel beyond its borders.
Visa-free entry between Russia and Mongolia
There is one more our closest neighbor, relations with which are gradually getting closer and closer. This is Mongolia. On November 14, 2014, the Agreement between the governments of Mongolia and the Russian Federation entered into force on the conditions of mutual movements of citizens of both states. This Agreement was signed during a visit to Mongolia by V.V. Putin, President of Russia, 09/03/2014. In accordance with this document, owners of foreign, official and diplomatic passports have the ability to enter, leave, be in transit and stay in the country without visas for up to 30 days. The total number of days in a 180-day period from the date of first entry must not exceed 90.
If you need to live, do business or work in Mongolia for more than 30 days, contact its consulates / embassies for a visa.
We have acquainted readers in detail with which countries Russia has a visa-free regime. But the fact remains that this information is constantly changing, updated, so before buying tickets anywhere, take an interest in the latest news. In order not to succeed, as with Ukraine: some people did not manage to get foreign passports, which violated their plans.
What is the situation with visa-free entry between Russia and the EU countries?
No one knows the answer to this question and it is very difficult to suggest anything, most likely that is impossible. Visa-free regime with the EU where it was before Honestly, the Ukrainian crisis in this case does not play a special role.Even before him, a small group of countries had formed in the European Union, which categorically opposed this. Despite the fact that checking the work of Russian border guards and customs officers, protecting biometric passports, and the functionality of other structures did not reveal significant deviations from the requirements, the signing of an agreement on a visa-free regime was blocked. The states that did this justified their decision by the fact that it was politically wrong to do this before resolving a similar issue with Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova.
After all, these countries are included in the so-called “Eastern Partnership”. As we know, the issue has already been resolved with Moldova, and the citizens of this state can quite safely, without visas, travel to Europe, more precisely, to Schengen. In May, a meeting of the European Commission will take place, on whose agenda there is so far no issue of granting Georgia and Ukraine a visa-free regime. So, Russia, given the political situation, has not shone anything in this regard yet. And if we take into account the fact that this issue is somehow connected with the situation in the east of our neighbor, then we can forget about it. At least for a while.
Does he need a visa-free regime with European countries?
Let's consider, is it so easy to enter, for example, Germany, having received the coveted visa-free regime with the European Union. Let's do it on the Moldavian example. Firstly, our idea of this is most often based on how residents of the former republics of the Soviet Union travel to each other. Or on what we see on television: how freely citizens of developed countries move around the world. This is all deceptive, everything will be completely different with us and not the fact that it is better. For a visit to the European Union, desire and a biometric passport will not be enough.
No country needs to be flooded with people who are unable to either rent a house or feed themselves. Therefore, traveling without worrying about stamps and all kinds of pieces of paper will not work. Previously, you collected a whole set of various documents and carried them to the embassy / visa center. An employee of the consulate studied all these papers and made a decision whether to issue a visa or not. Although the final decision on whether or not to enter the country is made by the border guard, the probability of failure is minimal.
In the case of a visa-free regime, it is still recommended that you bring these documents with you. This is, at a minimum, an invitation, a return ticket, a hotel reservation and evidence of cash. And the border guard does not have time to carefully study them, because it’s a big turn for you. Therefore, with minimal doubts about anything, he denies entry. And - the loss of money, time and nerves, the failure of all plans. As a result, as the visa-free regime with Moldova has already shown, everything can turn out to be much more complicated than with a regular visa. Therefore, such a regime is beneficial, for the most part, to money-conscious travelers. So there is no particular reason to rush.
