Family reunions across borders come with their own kind of paperwork, though this particular route keeps things noticeably lighter than expected. Anyone traveling to Russia purely to visit relatives or close friends, without any commercial purpose attached, typically applies through the Russia Guest Visit eVisa, a category built specifically for private, personal stays.

Just two documents move the application forward: a passport bio page scan and a recent photograph, nothing beyond that. No invitation letter or hotel confirmation gets requested at any stage, which surprises a lot of first-time applicants used to more traditional visa routes.

Once approved, coverage includes a single entry, validity spanning 120 days from the date of issue, and permitted stays reaching up to 30 days. Anyone planning to mix in business activities during the same trip should look toward a different category instead, since this route stays strictly tied to private, non-commercial visits.