Official Documents and Visa

Petrozavodsk State University provides visa support for all incoming international students.

Most foreign applicants need to obtain a student visa in order to study at PetrSU. This type of visa requires an invitation letter from an educational institution. Our coordinators prepare an invitation for you after you submit all the necessary documents.

The first step to get a visa invitation is to send us a scanned copy of your passport and a filled application form to interdep@petrsu.ru

Before you send an application and a scan of your passport to us, please make sure that:

• your passport is valid for 1,5 year (or 18 months) since the date of your arrival to Russia. Otherwise, you need to renew your passport before applying for the program.
• you submit your application not later than 8 weeks before the expected date of arrival. We need this time to prepare an invitation letter for you. Note that an invitation letter is only valid for three months after being issued.

• Passport 
• Student visa 
• Migration card (given to all the foreigners upon crossing the Russian state border)
• Registration (a Notification of Arrival)
• Medical insurance (DMS/"ДМС")

Visa

The initial student visa is a single entry visa issued for 3 months only. With such a visa you can travel within Russia, but you cannot go abroad.

Since semesters in Russia last longer than 3 months, students have to extend the visa. A multi-entry visa is extended for the whole period of your studies. Visa extension is done in Petrozavodsk and costs 1600 RUB. For this procedure please address PetrSU Registration and Visa Department 

Migration card

A Migration card is given to every foreign citizen at Russian border checkpoint. This document is valid through the entire period of your stay in Russia. If you leave Russia and then come back again, you will be given a new Migration card at the border checkpoint. In this case you will also need to update your Registration upon arrival to Petrozavodsk at PetrSU Registration and Visa Department.

Registration (Notification of arrival)

Every foreign citizen must inform local Migration service about his/her arrival and address in Russia. This can be done at PetrSU Registration and Visa Department. The documents for migration registration must be brought to PetrSU Registration and Visa Department on the next working day upon arrival of a foreign student to Petrozavodsk.

• passport with a valid student visa issued by PetrSU invitation;
• migration card with the stamp of crossing-border checkpoint.

Medical insurance

Upon arrival to Russia, all foreign citizens must have the medical insurance certificate (DMS/ДМС) which is valid during the whole period of stay in Russia. The insurance cover must be not less than 100 000 rubles and include all the general kinds of diseases and repatriation of a deceased body. The insurance can be made at the university.

! In case of travelling to other Russian cities, a foreign student must bring the documents for the new registration on the next working day upon returning back to Petrozavodsk.

!!! In case of a loss of any documents (including a passport, an ID, a migration card, a notification of arrival or a visa) the student must immediately notify both the Migration service and PetrSU Registration and Visa Department about the loss and wait for further instructions of the officers.