On the Russian embassy website it says Do not buy plane ticket until you have visa. But you have to give your travel dates. What if you can't get a ticket on the date you gave them.

Cam

Sorry Russian Consulate website.

Cam

Maybe they are just asking for tentative dates. You do have six months to execute the visa.

I was having trouble locating this information on any of the Russian Consulate / Embassy websites located in the United States. [J]asman0717, could you help direct me to this language?
In my opinion this information is false. A Russian visa if executed at all, must be executed between the dates that it is valid for. That means you don't have to enter and leave the country the exact specified dates in your visa. But you should enter somewhere in between them and leave before it expires as well. One should not mistake US visa requirements with those of the Russian Federation.
"Unexpected and irrational features of the restrictive and complicated Russian visa regime will surprise even seasoned travelers" http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1006.html
The letter of invitation will most likely dictate which dates the visa will be good for.
To answer Cam's question, I usually make my travel dates the same dates as those listed on the private visa invitation. But if you feel more comfortable listing tentative dates that is fine too. I think the warning concerning not buying tickets before the visa is issued is general common sense, since you can incur airline penalties for changing ticket dates or cancelling the flight if you have visa problems.

Cam if you're doing the invitation letter/sending it to the consul yourself, don't get tickets yet. Tell them what dates you want to go on, then buy tickets after the visa is issued.

If you're going to use an online service (and spend an extra $200) then buy your tickets first and tell the company what your travel dates are. They will get your visa for you on those dates (probably +/- a few days.)

When I went to Moscow, I bought my tickets, then once they arrived, I went through a serivice and told them exactly what dates my tickets were for. They issued my visa for the exact dates.

Satellite has told us repeatedly that it's silly to do it this way if you can get the invitation for the homestay visa, and I agree with him, but for me, it was more convenient to spend the extra $200 and go through the agency so I could get my visa issued more quickly. If you have a few months to plan your trip then definately get your fiancee to send you an invitation. If not, get one of the online services to get it for you.

Try to book the tickets, but do not buy them until you get the visa.

I just wanted to add that I too would use the agency if:
1. I needed to stay in Russia longer than 3 months, because I am not sure how someone from my wife's family would go about getting a business invitation for a year. And it is very difficult to near impossible to extend the visa in Russia beyond 10 days.
2. If my trip was planned less than 2 months in advance.
3. My financial circumstances improved greatly.

This is excellent advice but for some of the great specials available online or through an agent the money must be paid in full within a short period of time when placing a reservation.

on't know if she is my fiancee yet. Can she email an invitation to me. What does it have to say and look like. I am planning on staying in a hotel. Probably in July. Flying into Kazan and going with her to Volzsk.

The simple answer is no.
The key to this question is what kind of visa are you planning on applying for.
For a private visa your fiancee needs to go to the OVIR and have them issue an official invitation which must be mailed to you.
See example at below:
http://www.visahouse.com/images/Invitation_large.jpg
But this visa should only be used if you are planning a homestay visit which based on the information you provided would not be the case for you.

The other kind of visas you can consider are tourist and business.
A tourist visa voucher can be faxed or emailed to you. It looks something like this:
http://www.waytorussia.net/RussianVisa/VisaSupport.gif
I am unable to locate a picture of the business visa voucher.

Technically speaking if you book a hotel in Russia the hotel or Russian travel agency should send you the tourist voucher for free or for nominal cost. Few people do this because it sounds inconvenient.

Since that option is probably out, you'll have to order your own voucher.

The key differences between the business visa and tourist visa are:
1. Cost - (tourist visa invitation can be ordered for as little as $30). Business visa invitation can cost over $200.
2. Length of stay. Tourist visa is limited to 30 days. Business can be up to a year. If you plan on making more trips this year, the business visa might be more cost effective.

Keep in mind that in each city you stay in more than 72 hours you must register your visa, or face "possible" fines. Not all fines are enforced and no exact amount is listed for any fine.

Or as Slim and others have done, just screw all this and pay an extra $200 and have an agency do the entire process for you.

I'll be getting a tourist visa, guess I'll get an invitation online.
Thanks for the help, I will probably be back for more.

I have always traveled on the exact dates on my visa, but actually as long as the travel is within the time specified in the visa I would not expect a problem. Lets say you wanted to travel from June 1 to 10, If you did the visa for June 1 to 30 it should cover you.

The other option would be the expidited service available at some of the companies doing visa. They can do a visa for you in 24 hours. You do pay extra though.

Much easier to go through a service. I think the extra cost for mev was 60 dollars and they got the invitation letter and the visa for me. It was for 45 days even though I was gone for only 16. I used a tgravel agents service based in Seatle.

I needed an address also where i was staying. Just buy the ticket, arrange for where you are staying and apply for the visa.

I don't know where the idea of paying an EXTRA $200 for using a service came from. I use www.russia-visa.com and pay $160 for a double entry tourist visa WITH invitation. Just fill out application online and send in your passport with one photo. Tell them the dates. Be sure the begining date is the day you will arrive or before.

So really I am paying an extra $60 for the invitation and their work. Much easier for me. They don't care where you are staying. They don't care if you already have a plane reservation or not. I always make my travel reservations first then apply for the visa.

You will have to pay the shipping, but you have to do that anyway unless you are lucky and live close to the embassy.

I did do the homestay visa once, but it was a hassle and never did it again after that trip. Much easier for me to do the tourist visa.

Unless you have some fairly unique circumstances (Satellite, perhaps me) - you are better off with the tourist visa. Easier to get, since it doesn't involve any legwork in Russia.

For the homestay visa, I can get an invitation for Moscow, but not Lipetsk. Since the person inviting me is in Moscow, I won't be able to register it in Lipetsk (sponsor needs to be with you). The homestay visa has lots of complications like this - if your sponsor doesn't travel with you / take time off of work, you are still likely to end up paying fines.

If you are getting a Russian visa for the first time, I would get a business visa. Cost is a little higher, but it is generally easier in the long run. When you want to travel, all you need to do is book tickets. Want to change your travel dates? No big deal. Don't want to stay in a hotel? No problem.

Russia-visa.com looks like the way to go. Thanks

Like Satallite said, it is really an invitation from OVIR. There is more to this, though. Like most things in Russia, you probably can't just go to OVIR and ask for it. They will want a few things from you (depending on what office and their mood). For my mother in law, they asked for: Written proof of employment, proof of criminal record, proof of assets, proof of citizenship, proof of propiska (internal passport registration), proof of relationship to me, copies and translations of all my documents, and a few bribes to get all of the above.

She gave up after about 2 days standing in line. (Most of the things she would need in Russia would each involve a whole day in line).

Your experience may be much different - Satellite reports having little trouble obtaining these invitations.