Italy is known for its unique cultural attractions and great resorts. Millions of tourists come to admire the Roman palaces and villas, the canals of Venice, the museums of Florence and the orange groves of Sicily. For Russians who dream of relaxing in this wonderful country, a tourist visa to Italy is required.
What kind of visa is needed for a tour
Italy is part of the Schengen area, so Russian citizens who would like to visit it need to apply for a visa. If the purpose of your trip is to relax and admire the sights, you will need a Category C tourist Schengen visa.
Tourist visas to Italy for foreigners can be of different types: single, double and multiple (multivisa).
If you have never been to the Schengen countries before, then you will most likely be issued a single entry visa for a period of 14 days first. During the paperwork for the second trip, you can get a multivisa for a year. In this case, you will be able to visit Italy several times during the validity of your visa.
Visa to Italy is usually issued to Russians without much difficulty. The country is interested in attracting tourists and does not seek to create unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles.
Methods of obtaining a visa
You can apply for a tourist visa to Italy for Russians on your own, through a visa center or through a travel agency.
If you are planning to purchase a tour to Italy, then a travel company will deal with visa issues. Its employees will prepare the necessary package of documents and take into account all the requirements of the consulate necessary to make a positive decision. An Italian visa through a travel agency is usually issued without difficulty, but its cost will be somewhat more expensive due to the commission of intermediaries.
If you decide to prepare visa documents yourself, you need to carefully read the rules for their registration on the consulate website.
It should also be noted that from September 2021, biometric data must be submitted to obtain a Schengen visa. This can be done free of charge at the Visa Application Center.
If you are traveling to the Schengen countries for the first time, then your personal presence will be required to pass the biometrics, regardless of whether you are applying for a visa through a travel agency or on your own. Biometric data are valid for 5 years, therefore, to re-apply for a visa during this period, the presence of the applicant is no longer necessary - his relatives or intermediaries can submit documents.
Thus, you can choose different options for obtaining a tourist visa to Italy.
List of documents
Before traveling, it is important to properly prepare travel documents. Their list includes:
- Application form completed in Italian, English or transliterated.
- International passport (original and copy).
- Civil passport (original + copy of the first page and registration page).
- Photo (30x40 mm or 35x45 mm) - 1 pc.
- Medical insurance for Schengen countries with coverage of at least 30,000 euros.
- Round trip ticket or booking.
- Confirmation of residence in Italy (hotel reservation).
- Confirmation of employment: a certificate from the place of work, for students - a certificate from the place of study and a copy of a student card, for pensioners - a copy of a pension certificate.
- Financial guarantee: bank statement, traveler's checks.
- Receipt for payment of the consular fee.
For a child:
- Application form signed by both parents.
- Child's passport (original and copy).
- Proof of accommodation during the trip (in the same place as the parents).
- Round-trip tickets for a child.
- If the child travels with one of the parents - the notarized consent of the second parent to leave (original and copy) and a photocopy of his civil passport.
- Receipt for payment of the consular fee.
Where can I issue
The documents are submitted to the Italian visa centers in the Russian Federation. You can also apply to the Consulate General, but this requires a preliminary online registration and waiting for admission at least 15 days.
The addresses of Italian consulates and visa centers in Russian cities can be found on the website of the Italian Visa Service in Moscow.
Registration costs and validity of a tourist visa
When calculating the travel budget, consider the costs of visa processing. Let's calculate what the cost of a tourist visa to Italy will be if you submit the documents yourself.
Until December 31, 2021, the cost of visa fees is calculated at the rate of 1 € = 76.1695 rubles.
Obligatory expenses:
- Consular fee: for citizens of the Russian Federation over 6 years old - 35 euros (2670 rubles), for citizens of other countries who apply for a visa in Russia - 60 euros (4580 rubles).
- Service fee (when applying at a visa center) - 29.50 euros (2247 rubles).
- Bank commission for transferring consular fees: about 200 rubles.
- Bank commission for transferring the service fee: about 100 rubles.
- Making a photograph of a visa format: 250-300 rubles.
- Certificate from the bank about the state of the account: 200 rubles.
- Medical insurance (for 14 days): 14-15 euros (1066-1143 rubles).
Possible additional costs:
- The fee for the courier delivery of documents to the consulate and back (if you are applying for a visa not in Moscow or St. Petersburg) is from 500 to 1200 rubles.
- Notarized consent of the second parent for the child to travel abroad - 800-1200 rubles.
- Urgent visa (done in less than 3 days) - 70 euros (5340 rubles).
Thus, the total price will be from 4536 to 8060 rubles for one person, and if necessary, it will be increased by 1000-3000 rubles if it is necessary to agree to take out the child or order an urgent visa.
For children under 6 years old, persons with disabilities, as well as applicants who have close relatives who are citizens of the European Union (parents, children, spouses, grandparents), the consular fee is not charged.
You can submit documents no earlier than 3 months before the date of the proposed trip. Usually an Italian visa is done within 5-10 days.
With a single visa, you can visit Italy only once, with a double visa - two. But if during the trip you did not violate the EU migration legislation, then in the future you may be issued a Schengen multivisa for 1-5 years. You can use it to make an unlimited number of trips to the Schengen territory, but subject to the condition: the total time of your stay abroad should not exceed 90 days in each half of the year.
When issuing an exit permit, the validity of the passport must exceed the validity of the visa by at least 3 months.
Conclusion
It is quite easy for Russians to obtain a visa permit for a tourist trip to Italy. To do this, you need to collect the necessary package of documents and submit it for consideration; Italian visa centers operate in all regions of the country. If you decide to go on a trip through a travel agency, then the company will take on the main hassle of obtaining a visa.
