All nominated students are contacted by International Student Mobility Office and provided with instructions on the application process. The nominee is to fill out Applicant's Online Account till May, 25 for Fall Semester and October, 15 for Spring Semester. The login details will be provided via email. 

Documents to be uploaded into online HSE University Applicant's Online Account:

Passport:

Double page spread, no watermarks and/or drawings are allowed

Your passport must be valid for at least 18 months from the proposed start date of the visa

1 picture 30mm*40mm:

Your face takes up 70% to 80% of the photo

The head is centered in the image; you look directly at the camera and show your full face

If you normally wear glasses, your eyes are clearly visible in the photo

Photo must have sharp focus and a good color balance

The photographs is color with white or off-white background that is not patterned or busy

A motivation letter:

Written in English only; 300-500 words long

Transcript of records:

Signed and stamped by your home university coordinator

Submitted in English only

A Letter of Reference*:

Written by a person who is familiar with your academic performance (a professor/a research supervisor/a teaching assistant)

*Submitting a Letter of Reference is optional, however, students are sometimes asked for it when enrolling for courses.  

To process and release the Invitation Letter for the Russian Student Visa, your application in Applicant's Online Account has to be completed till 15th of May for the Fall Semester and 15th of October for the Spring Semester, including a clear and readable scan of your travel passport (page with photo) uploaded there. After you upload the documents to Applicant's Online Account, we start issuing the package of the documents for your Invitation Letter which is later sent to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. You will receive a digital copy of your Invitation Letter on your email address by the middle of July for the Fall Semester students and by the middle of December for the Spring Semester students. As the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs is a governmental organization, the process cannot be speeded up. For more information visit our Immigration & Visa Support. 

NB!

1. Your passport must be valid for at least 18 months from the proposed start date of the visa.

2. Please plan in advance to apply for a visa in the country of your citizenship. Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions it is not possible to issue an Invitation Letter if you plan to apply for a visa in the country which differs from the country of your citizenship. 

3. Foreign citizens are recommended to enter Russia using direct flights from the country of their citizenship or official residence. Also, please do not buy your travel tickets until you have received your Russian Student Visa.

At HSE University we do our best to ensure that your daily life in Saint Petersburg is comfortable. We offer a variety of options for students to choose from, please check the information below.

1. Private housing via the partner real-estate agency service, types of rooms: various
2. HSE - St Petersburg dormitory on Zaporozhskaya st.,  types of rooms: 2 or 4 beds; number of places is limited

To apply for the dormitory, please tick the required box while you submit the infoirmation in ASAV. Due to the limited amount of places in the dormitory on Zaporozhskaya st., the selection will be done on the first come-first served basis. If you consider the option of the private housing, before signing a Tenancy Contract and paying the rental fee it is crucial to make sure that your landlord agrees to do an FIS Registration for you. Without FIS registration it won’t be possible to extend your visa. For the students who stay in the dormitory the FIS-registration will be done by HSE University.

According to the current entry procedure, after buying a ticket and no later than 15 days (10 days at latest) before the date of entry into the Russian Federation, you need to share the information about your planned date of entry which is later transferred to the state border control service via Gosuslugi website, otherwise the entry won’t be possible. You need to send us the following information:

• Subject of Email: "Entry of an international student into the Russian Federation"

In the email, please provide:

• Full name in Latin letters as in the passport on which it is planned to enter the Russian Federation
• Date of birth in dd.mm.yyyy format
• Gender
• Citizenship
• Series and number of the document (passport), according to which it is planned to enter the Russian Federation
• Point of entry into the Russian Federation (name of the airport of arrival or land border crossing point)
• Estimated date of entry into the Russian Federation (which is indicated on your ticket)
• The duration of your Russian Student Visa (from dd.mm.yyyy to dd.mm.yyyy)
• Series and number of the visa (on the top of the right corner of the visa; only if you have a Russian study visa valid at the time of the planned entry into the Russian Federation)
• You email address

DOCUMENT CHECKLIST

Before visiting the International Office please make sure to prepare the following documents: 

1. Valid passport with a Russian student visa (you should also send a scan of all passport pages to incomingspb@hse.ru)
2. Migration card (you will receive one at the border in the airport when you arrive in Russia; you should send a scan or a photo of it to incomingspb@hse.ru)
3. Copy of the second negative PCR-test, which is done in 72 hours upon arrival (you should send it to isso@hse.ru)
4. FIS-registration for students who stay in the private apartments 
5. FIS-registration for students who stay in the dormitory: upon arrival to St.Petersburg you need to bring copies of all passport pages including the Russian visa and the entry stamp + copy of the migration card to the Visa and Migration Office, 123 Naberezhnaya Kanala Griboedova, Room 304 
6. Medical insurance 
7. 2 passport-size (3x4) photos on a mat paper 

Also, before the arrival it is important to check the following information:

1. Contact details of the embassy/consulate general or diplomatic mission of your country in Russia
2. Contacts of your exchange coordinators: Ms. Daria Zima, Head of Student Academic Mobility Unit of Centre for International Cooperation, Ms. Dasha Sanochkina, Incoming Student Coordinator of Centre for International Cooperation, HSE University St. Petersburg
3. Contacts of your buddy

DOCUMENTS FOR THE DORMITORY CHECK-IN

You can apply to the dormitory through the ASAV application. The amount of places is limited and appears on a first come-first served basis. In order to move into the student dormitory, you will need to present the following documents:

1. Valid passport with Russian student visa
2. Copy of all of your passport pages (including Russian student visa)
3. Migration card (you will receive it at the airport when you arrive in Russia)
4. Negative PCR test which is done in 3 days upon your arrival 
5. Copy of COVID-19 vaccination certificate (all vaccines are acceptable)
6. Copy of your medical insurance
7. General Good Health certificate (in Russia it is called "О86-У" health certificate) translated into Russian, signed and stamped by a physician (could be obtained in 5 working days upon arrival)
8. Fluorography certificate (lung X-ray) translated into Russian (could be obtained in 5 working days upon arrival)
9. 2 passport-size photos (3x4, preferably on matte paper)

MEDICAL INSURANCE

Before arriving in Russia you are required to purchase your own health and accident insurance in your home country. The insurance should cover the whole period of your stay at HSE University St.Petersburg. You will not be able to receive a Russian Student Visa without valid medical insurance. If you already have insurance, please contact your provider and confirm that your insurance policy is valid in Russia, and check the details of your cover. Obtain a list of hospitals that you may attend should the need arise, and make a note of your insurance company’s emergency contacts. 

ORIENTATION SESSION

Orientation session usually takes place at the beginning of a 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 – St Petersburg, visa and migration control, student social life, living in St. Petersburg, as well as other useful tips to help you better enjoy your experience in Russia. Orientation Session for the Spring 2022 exchange and free-mover students: January 10, 2022.

Each foreign student arriving to Russia from December 29^th 2021 must provide fingerprints and undergo an obligatory medical examination.

According to the alterations made to the federal law ‘On the legal status of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation’ from December 29th, 2021 foreigners arriving to Russia for stay over 90 days will have to undergo a medical examination, as well as provide fingerprints and biometric photographs.

Foreign students have 90 days since arrival for this procedure. 

Detailed step-by-step instructions for students of HSE are available here. 

The official order of the MIA of Russia – can be found here (available in Russian only).

You will first receive a single entry student visa which is valid for 90 days. Upon arrival in Saint Petersburg we will guide you through the process of receiving a prolonged multi-entry visa that usually appears in November for the Fall 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, e.g. for the first 3 months of your studies!

List of the documents for the visa extension:

1. Your passport in original
2. Copies of your passport pages with marks (1^st page + visas, stamps)
3. One color portrait photo 3x4 size
4. Copy of migration card (you will receive one at the border in the airport when you arrive in Russia)
5. Copy of the last FIS Registration under the actual address in St.Petersburg
6. Visa extension fee (1600 Rub) payment receipt (there is an important document in an email attachment («ДЛЯ ОПЕРАТОРА СБЕРБАНКА»). Please print it out and show the operator of any office of Sberbank! Be sure to check the receipt that the operator will print out to you; the full name should be like in your Russian study visa. If you notice an error, you should immediately contact the operator.