Arrival

 At the Pulkovo airport     (📍Moskovskaya metro station)

• We recommend to check out Pulkovo airport website to be more prepared for your flight.
• You can change money in the Currency exchange point or take some cash in the ATM.

How to get to Moskovskaya metro station from Pulkovo airport

• You can take a taxi in the airport but it can be very expensive. It is better and cheaper to use taxi apps but only with cash as Visa and MasterCard don’t operate on the territory of Russia. We strongly do not recommend to take a private taxi outside the airport.
• If you want to use public transport, you can take buses №39, 39Э (buses operate from 5:10 to 0:44). Bus stop is on the first floor of the airport in front of the exit from the arrivals hall.
• At the metro station you can buy Podorozhnik travel card to use during the first few weeks in the city. It works as an electronic wallet, all citizens use it and you can top its balance up at any subway station. It is cheaper to use Podorozhnik than to buy ordinary tickets. Later you will get a student transport card.
• We recommend you to apply for a Buddy in order to ask a Russian-speaking student to meet you at the airport and help you to navigate through the city during your first hours in Saint Petersburg.

Tips

• To estimate the exact time between metro stations you can use Interactive metro map or Yandex.Metro app
• The best way to navigate around the city is to use Yandex Maps (Яндекс Карты) app 

📍  Kantemirovskaya St., 3A, building 1 (Petrogradskaya and Lesnaya metro stations) - International Office is here!

📍  Kanala Griboedova Embankment, 123 (Sennaya Sq., Sadovaya, Spasskaya metro stations) 

📍  Vasilievsky Ostrov, 25th Liniya, 6, building 1 (Gorny Institut metro station)

📍  Souza Pechatnikov St., 16 (Sennaya Sq., Sadovaya, Spasskaya metro stations)

Each building has a wi-fi access, canteen, cafes, study open-spaces and a library. Your courses might take place in different study buldings, in one week before the start of the module addresses are uploaded to the schedule in RUZ.

You can find more information about study buildings and dormitories here.

Orientation session usually takes place at the beginning of each semester. In order to adjust to student life, it is essential that you participate in the Orientation Session as it will provide you with information on studying at HSE University – Saint Petersburg, visa and migration control, student social life, living in Saint Petersburg as well as other useful tips to help you better enjoy your experience in Russia. Event dates will be sent out by email closer to the start of the semester.

All university buildings (including dormitories) have free Wi-Fi access. The duration of one session is 30 minutes.

Network: HSE

Login: hseguest
Password: hsepassword

Network: HSE.Student

Login: corporate email address
Password: as to corporate email address

Instructions for connecting to the HSE.Student network on Android (PDF, 365 Кб)

Instructions for connecting to the HSE.Student network on iOS (PDF, 436 Кб)

Instructions for connecting to the HSE.Student network for macOS devices (PDF, 458 Кб)

Instructions for connecting to the HSE.Student Wi-Fi network for Windows devices (PDF, 714 Кб)

As a student of HSE you will be able to purchase a student transport card (it is called BSK in Russian) with a considerable discount. 

You can apply for the card only after getting a notification from your mobility coordinator. As soon as you get it, you can buy the card at:

• any metro station – will take several days

• BSK Issuing Center – on the same day (metro station "Alexander Nevsky Pl.-2", per. Chernoretsky, 3, opening hours: 09:30 - 19:30, daily; tel.: 301-97-74. You must provide your passport and student ID/electronic pass to HSE)

• All international students must be registered in the Russian Federation in 7 working days upon their arrival at their actual place of residence.
• After registration you will receive a registration slip. It is a document confirming a foreign citizen’s legal stay in the Russian Federation.
• You must be legally registered every time you enter Russia or change the place of your temporary stay (hotel/hostel/hospital/changing the apartment).
• If you're staying in the HSE dormitory, our Centre for Visa & Immigration Support will apply for a registration for you. In the first two days after arrival you have to bring copies of all passport pages (including Russian visa and the entry stamp) and a copy of the migration card to the Centre for Visa & Immigration Support (Kantemirovskaya street, 3А, office 1005). You are also required to send all those copies to migrationspb@hse.ru. 
• If you're staying in a private apartment, it is a legal responsibility of your landlord to secure your FIS Registration in that apartment each time it is required (check-in, after visa extension and each re-entry to Russia). As soon as you get your registration (and each time it happens in the future), you must send its copy/scan to migrationspb@hse.ru. 
• All hotels and hostels in Russia are legally mandated to register foreign guests with the migration authorities, even if they are staying for just one night. As such, if you stay in a hotel or hostel, your registration at a dormitory or privately rented apartment will be automatically cancelled. Upon returning, you will need to get registered again. Don't forget to take your registration slip from the hotel/hostel manager.
• If you require hospitalization, certain medical institutions will register you there as your temporary place of residence. Prior to leaving the hospital, confirm with its staff whether you have been registered there – you should be provided with a new registration slip. After being discharged, you will need to get registered again at your subsequent place of residence.
• If you fail to get registered in time, your Russian study visa will not be extended.
• The issuance of registration costs 500 rubles.

! Each time you receive a new registration slip (not from HSE!), please don’t forget to send a scanned copy to VISO via email migrationspb@hse.ru ASAP.

Please read carefully all information about FIS-registration here.

On 1 January 2025, a new Communications Law came into force in Russia, providing for the purchase of SIM-cards by foreign citizens only using biometrics. To purchase a SIM-card, you need to go through several steps:

1. Send the documents to the Centre for Visa & Immigration Support on the first day upon arrival to register at the place of residence (only those living in HSE dormitories) and wait for an invitation to come and to pick up the document.
2. While waiting for registration, contact the translation agency for a passport translation and notarization (the list of bureaus is limited). It is better to show the translator your Acceptance letter from us so that there is no difference in the spelling of your full name in the translation and the university documents.
3. Check all further steps in our instruction

! The alternative is to use e-sim. To do this, you need to check if your phone supports this option. If it supports it, you can purchase a virtual SIM-card online or from telecom operators in your country. However, it is advisable to issue a Russian number for further registration of a bank card.

! Remember that Russian state organizations and a number of private organizations cannot call your personal number (especially via different apps) – the police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the Russian Post, the Pension Fund, the MFC, the Federal Tax Service, Gosuslugi, the Social Fund of the Russian Federation, all banks, telecom operators, insurance companies (if not yours) and so on.

! Do not share your personal information and codes with anyone over the phone!

According to the federal law ‘On the legal status of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation’, international students staying in Russia for more than 90 days are required to undergo medical examination, fingerprinting, and photographing. These procedures must be done within 30 days after your arrival as you will need the results for visa extension. Usually it takes 2-3 weeks to get the final certificate.

Detailed step-by-step instruction for students of HSE University - Saint Petersburg is available here. 

Before arrival to Russia you will initially get a single-entry Russain study visa which is valid for 90 days. Upon your arrival to Saint Petersburg, we will guide you through the process of getting a multi-entry visa that usually is issued in November for the Autumn semester and full year students and in March for the Spring semester students.

Please DO NOT plan any trips outside of Russia until you receive your multi-entry visa, i.e. for the first 3 months of your studies!

List of the documents for visa extension:

1. Your passport (visa extension requires the passport validity for at least 6 months after the end of the new visa; it must also contain minimum 2 consecutive blank visa designated pages for your Russian visa stamp and entry/exit stamps)
2. Printed copies of all your passport pages (even the blank ones)
3. One colour portrait photo 3x4 size
4. Printed copy of a migration card (you receive one at the border when you arrive to Russia)
5. Original + printed copy of current valid registration under the actual address of stay in Saint Petersburg
6. Visa extension fee payment receipt (1920 RUB) - you will receive the instruction for payment process via email in due time
7. Signed Educational Agreement (will be prepared by International Office)
8. Printed copy of plastic dactyloscopy ID card issued after medical examination, fingerprinting and photographing procedures
9. Printed copies of all valid medical certificates and a confirmation note that your certificates are in the MIA database (given at Krasnogo Tekstischika after doing your medical examination)

Do not forget to print copies before visiting Centre for Visa & Immigration Support. Without these copies documents for extending your stay in Russia will not be accepted. 

The whole process of visa extension will take about 4-6 weeks. Missing the deadline on submitting the full set of documents means that you will have to leave Russia within the validity terms in your current visa and get a new visa invitation via your study support office.

More information can be found here.

HSE SPb Centre for Visa & Immigration Support:
📍 office 1005, 3А Kantemirovskaya St., St. Petersburg
Tel.: +7 812 644-59-11 ext. 61238, 61577
Email: migrationspb@hse.ru