Russia still considered an exotic place to visit, may be because of its numerous visa regulations. For starters, one needs an invitation from an inviting party, either a person or a company. This now is made easy, particularly for independent travellers visiting the country as tourists. Guest invitation to Russia also known as the tourist visa support may be purchased from any reliable tour company, such as Ost-West Kontaktservice. Their websites also offer an invitation on line option. This means that an Internet transaction takes place, resulting in Russian invitation voucher being faxed or e-mailed to a prospective visitor. So far so good. A long and complex process of organising Russian visa in many countries is also has been made easier by introducing the assistance of postal services. Visa application forms can be downloaded from web-sites of Russian embassies. These need to be filled in and sent to the embassy. Inclusion of a prepaid self-addressed envelope and visa processing fee is customary.

Of course there are many problems that may pop up during the delicate procedure of application. But, unless something dubious has been discovered about an applicant, the visa will be granted in about ten days. Important bit is to make sure that all the names and other details appear on the invitation in exactly same form as they appear on applicant's passport. In this case a new invitation must be obtained. This isn't a beg deal, if it was purchased from a tour company, they just send a new improved invitation gratis. In fact, many other small but annoying problems a dealt with efficiently by experienced tourist agencies, so it makes sense to pay that extra bit on commissions and save on stress and whatever pain a visa to Russia might bring.