3 Year Visitor Visa

We got 3 year Visas in 2015 for a trip to Petersburg and used the same visa to travel to Moscow/Petersburg this summer. We didn't do anything new, just used the already obtained visa.

thought so just wanted to be reassured - many thanks

I would rely on Janet's first hand experience . Information on the consular website also substantiates this . Since we are also returning to Moscow and St Petersburg this Autumn , I will be keeping copies of my hotel reservations at hand when proceeding through immigration at the airport , as further confirmation of my plans , a kind of " belt and suspenders " approach .

You don't have to do anything special before you go back to Russia. You just gave to make sure your Russian hotels write on your visa the dates you stay with them. We loved Moscow and are heading back to St. Petersburg in 2 weeks. We managed to fit 4 Russia trips into our 3 year visa..By the way, we stayed at the Garden Ring Hotel in Moscow. Very comfortable and windows that open. We requested a quiet away from the main street. The hotel included a good buffet breakfast.

thanks all ---- am doing this on the spur of the moment which I am able to do
because of the visa already in the passport --- want to attend the First Triennal of
Contemporary Russian Art at the Garage, a new gallery in Gorky Park that is a creature of private enterprise --- it is near the modern art building of the Tretyakov
and am taking my chances on a nearby hotel, the Warsaw which seems like it might do the trick

You can definitely go back without doing anything beforehand. A previous user correctly stated that your hotel will need to "register" you within a few days of your arrival, which they have to do and indeed do all the time and will certainly not forget. The only other thing necessary is to fill out the migration card they'll distribute on the airplane or in the airport. You'll enter your current trip details on two cards, one of which will be taken by the border control officer when you enter, and the other of which you'll need to keep in your passport and will be taken when you leave the country (there's a hefty fine if you lose it). Other than that, you can visit Russia as many times as you want in the 3-year period of the visa, filling out a new migration card for every visit.

Totally support your choice of accommodation: the Warsaw hotel is a bit on the old side, but rooms are decent and it's quite nice in a Soviet kind of way. The area immediately surrounding Oktyabrskaya (ring line) kind of lacks character and can get somewhat seedy at night, but it's within a walking distance from Gorky park, Neskuchny Sad, Muzeon, new Treatyakov and Polyanka area. Lots of good food joints in the neighborhood.
Please report back on your Garage experience - I never had a chance to go, but I have rather mixed feelings about Vinzavod, which is conceptually similar (while not nearly as glamorous).
Have a great trip!

Like Steve I carried hard copies of all my hotel arrangements and also cruise arrangements as we did a river cruise between our visits to Moscow and Petersburg (terrible idea but we had to learn it first hand). We never had to show them to anyone. When we stayed in an apartment in Petersburg for 9 nights, we had to register our visa ourselves which was a bit of an adventure. Staying in hotels we didn't have to worry about any of that.