For those who are going to the Baltics - step-by-step instructions on how to independently obtain a visa to Latvia. A package of documents, consular and service fees, design features and reasons for refusals.
For a tourist trip to the Schengen area, you need a C visa. It is issued for a period of 5 days to 5 years. A visa to Latvia is issued in consular departments of embassies, visa centers and Pony Express offices.
Step 1: Book your tickets
Recently, a visa is given exclusively for paid tickets in both directions. We do not recommend drawing documents in Photoshop! Reservations are easily checked, and the violator is entered into the SIS database with a ban on visiting the Schengen countries.
Where can I find cheap tickets? Use the search engines Aviasales and Skyscanner to compare prices of all airlines. Find out the secrets of finding cheap flights.
Step 2: Book your accommodation
Book hotels and apartments on Booking or Airbnb. When booking, indicate the names of all guests in Latin. Cancellable bookings will not work! Take a look at our selection of housing: 9 apartments in Riga from 16 €.
ElSo: "From June 2019, you need to provide a confirmation of PAID accommodation and tickets, a confirmed booking will not work in this case."
Step 3: make copies of passports
Check your passport. It must be valid for at least 3 months after leaving the Schengen area and have two blank pages. Make a copy of the spread with photo and data and, if available, pages with closed visas to Schengen countries.
Remove copies of the completed pages from your civil passport. When photocopying, place two spreads per sheet. Make copies on both sides of the page.
Step 4: buy insurance
Anyone who wants to get a visa needs to buy insurance with coverage from 30 thousand euros. This can be done in advance on the services of Cherekhapa or SravnRu or directly at the visa center, but it will be more expensive.
Step 5: get help at work
Get a certificate from your organization on letterhead with a seal and signatures of the director and chief accountant. Check that this document contains your position, date of start of work, salary for 6-12 months and information about paid vacation.
Individual entrepreneurs need a copy of the TIN, a certificate of registration of an individual entrepreneur, an extract from an individual entrepreneur's account for three months, a 2NDFL / 3NDFL certificate or an extract from the register of the tax inspectorate. For pensioners - a copy of the pension certificate, and for students - a certificate from a school or university signed by the director (dean).
If you are not officially employed, prepare a letter from a sponsor willing to contribute money for your trip. Attach documents of relationship and a certificate from the sponsor's place of work on his income.
Step 6: Get a bank statement
The financial guarantee of the upcoming trip is a certificate from the bank with a "wet" seal on the movement of funds on the account for 3 months. You must have at least € 14 for each day of your planned trip. Instead of a bank statement, you can attach a photocopy of the front side of a bank card and a check from an ATM with a balance.
Step 7: Take a photo
To apply for a visa to Latvia, applicants are asked to submit 2 color photos 45 mm by 35 mm. The photo should be taken on a white or light background without a corner and frames, and the face on it should occupy at least 70-80%. Take a photo in advance or directly at the Visa Application Center. Shooting in a photo booth costs 300 rubles.
Step 8: fill out the form
The form is filled out on the embassy's website. Write in capital Latin letters. Be careful and enter the exact information from the prepared documents.
If you were born on the territory of the USSR, write USSR in item 6. In paragraph 19, about the profession, individual entrepreneurs write INDIVIDUAL ENTREPRENEUR, pensioners - RETIRED, unemployed - UNEMPLOYED, and housewives - HOUSEWIFE.
Those who are experiencing difficulties can fill out the questionnaire with the help of an employee of the visa center. This service costs 650 rubles. If you notice any inaccuracies in the finished questionnaire, make corrections with the employee of the visa center.
Step 9: make an appointment
The application is allowed to be submitted no earlier than 90 days before the start of the trip. In Moscow, the embassy on Chaplygin Street, 3, is recorded by phone. Depending on the season, the queue stretches from 1-2 weeks to 2 months. Documents are handed over to visa centers without an appointment on weekdays.
There are consular departments in Kaliningrad and Pskov. In Yekaterinburg, visas to Latvia are issued by the Consulate of Hungary. Pony Express points of acceptance operate in 56 cities of Russia. In St. Petersburg, applications are considered at the visa center at 2-22 Zastavskaya Street.
The Moscow Visa Application Center is located at 5, Bldg. 9, Nizhniy Susalny Lane, a 10-minute walk from Kurskaya metro station. Tourists praise the employees for their prompt work and the opportunity to always find out the necessary information by calling the call center. The disadvantages are that documents are accepted only on weekdays, and sometimes you have to wait in line for a long time.
Step 10: Submit documents and biometrics
When you arrive at the Visa Application Center, take a ticket to the electronic queue. Fold your documents in a specific order to make the operator's job easier. A reminder on how to do this is given at the entrance.
When your number appears on the screen, go to the window and give the paper to the employee. If you have not taken biometrics before, go through a fingerprint scan and go to the cashier.
How much do you need to pay for a visa to Latvia? A regular visa for Russians costs 35 euros, an express visa, which is issued for three days - 70 euros. The service fee for the services of the visa center is 20-30 euros. Payment is taken in cash or by card in rubles at the exchange rate.
Together with the check, you will receive an invoice with which you will come for your passport. For an additional fee, you can order an SMS notification of the readiness of the passport and its delivery to the specified address by courier.
Anton: "I applied to the Moscow embassy for myself and for my children. I asked for a visa to Latvia for the first time, before that there were several trips to the Schengen countries. We were given visas for two years."
Step 11: Get your visa
It takes 5-10 business days to process the submitted application. It is easy to track readiness using the invoice number online. Passports are issued in the same place where you submitted your documents.
Eugene U: "Visas to Latvia are given quite easily, and having a Latvian" cartoon "in your hands, you can already travel further to Europe."
Refusals in a visa to Latvia
The Republic of Latvia is one of the loyal countries where it is easiest to get a multivisa to Schengen. The percentage of negative decisions is small - less than 1%.
Reasons for refusing a visa to Latvia:
- incompletely completed questionnaire;
- inaccurate information;
- not enough money for the trip;
- lack of insurance;
- no paid tickets and accommodation reservation;
- the applicant is on the list of unwanted persons.
If the C1 stamp is put on the refusal list, the violations are minimal. You need to fill out the form correctly or submit missing documents. The C2 mark means that you are called for an interview with the consul in order to clarify your personal data. Together with the C3 stamp, you will receive a letter stating the reasons for the refusal and a list of documents that must be re-submitted for a visa. It is very rare for applicants to be given C4 - a stamp on an indefinite ban on entry into the territory of the Schengen countries.
Refusal is not a sentence! You can apply for a visa to Latvia again the very next day. The main thing is to eliminate the mistakes!
