Visa to Greece

To travel to Greece, Russian citizens need to obtain a visa. A visa can be issued single, double or multiple entry, depending on the decision of the Consulate of Greece. At the moment most Schengen countries issue single entry visas to Russian citizens for the duration of the trip or for a period of up to 2-3 months, and only a small percentage of applicants receive multiple entry visas with a permitted stay in the Schengen area of ​​up to 90 days. According to our practice, the Consulate of Greece mainly issues visas for the duration of the trip or for 1-3 months. 

To apply for a visa to Greece, you need to decide on the purpose of your trip. Most often, Russian citizens go to Greece for business or tourism purposes. 

If your trip involves business purposes, such as visiting a Greek company, you must contact the inviting organization to receive an invitation, a copy of which will be sufficient for you to apply for a visa. Based on the above invitation, you may be issued a short term visa to Greece. 

If you are planning a tourist trip and the purpose of your visit to Greece is tourism, you will need to apply for a tourist visa. You will need to book a hotel and buy airline tickets. The procedure for obtaining a tourist visa will be described below. 

Submission of documents is by appointment only, appointment are currently made approximately a week in advance. Submission of documents is possible only by the applicant personally. If necessary, the Confidence Group can accompany the Client. Receipt of the completed visa is also possible with the personal presence of the applicant, or through paid return delivery, which can be arranged at the time of submission of documents. 

You can submit documents for a visa no earlier than 6 months and no later than 15 days before the planned date of the trip. We strongly recommend that you plan to submit your documents in advance, as the timeframe for viewing documents has been significantly extended, and documents must be submitted by appointment. 

The Greek Visa Application Centre in Moscow is located at: 115184, Moscow, Bolshoy Ovchinnikovsky lane, 16, “Arcadia” shopping centre, 2nd floor. 

Visa application processing time, Consular and visa fees:

Below you can find a list of documents required to obtain a visa to Greece for Russian citizens.

In case of applying for a business visa:

1. A completed application form with the applicant's signature.
2. Printed sign-up sheet for submitting documents.
3. A copy of the invitation from the inviting party in Greece on company letterhead with the seal/stamp of the organization, signed by an official person.
4. 2 color photos (35 x 45 matte on a white background, without ovals and corners, no older than 6 months at the time of submission, not appearing on other visas, the size of the face should be 70-80% of the photo). The distance from the chin to the top of the head, including hair, should be approximately 3 cm.
5. A certificate from work in Russian/English language on the company letterhead, addressed to the Consular Section of the Embassy of Greece in Moscow, with a signature and seal. The certificate must be no older than 1 month at the time of submission.

     ·  For unemployed applicants - a bank statement with the movement of funds for the last 3 months and with information on the account balance. The recommended amount of funds is at least 90 euros/day of stay. The financial document must not be older than 1 month at the time of submission.

6.  A copy of the insurance policy covering the entire period of stay in Greece and valid in the Schengen area. IMPORTANT! The transliteration of the full name must correspond to the foreign passport. ATTENTION: at the moment the Greek Consulate accepts insurance policies issued by Russian insurance companies, however, due to the requirement of some other Schengen countries for insurance policies issued by EU insurance companies, we recommend providing a policy issued by a European insurance company. You can submit an application for an insurance policy issued by an insurance company in the EU on our website.

7.  Round trip ticket reservation, which must be valid for the entire duration of the document review at the Greek Consulate. Direct reservations are not accepted. Mostly connecting reservations are provided via Turkey, UAE, Serbia, etc., the entire route must be visible.

8.  Hotel reservation for the entire period of stay in Greece, which must be valid throughout the entire period of document review.

9.  A foreign passport valid for at least 3 months after the visa expires and with at least two blank pages.

10. Copies of all completed pages of the passport.

11. If you have an old foreign passport, you must provide a copy of the first page and copies of Schengen visas for the last three years. If you have a second valid passport, you must provide a copy of the first + all completed pages (as well as all entry/exit stamps), and have the original with you when submitting documents.

12. Copies of all informational pages of the internal Russian passport. Have the original with you when submitting documents in person.

13. Consent to the processing of personal data.

14. Citizens from other regions temporarily residing in regions belonging to the General Consulate of Greece in Moscow must provide a certificate of temporary registration in the given consular district, issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which must cover the entire planned trip + a photocopy of it. In addition to temporary registration, it is necessary to provide documents confirming the fact of residence in the territory of the given consular district (certificate from work, certificate of ownership of real estate, bank statement with the movement of funds in the account, apartment lease agreement).

In case of applying for a tourist visa:

1. A completed application form with the applicant's signature.
2. Printed sign-up sheet for submitting documents.
3. 2 color photos (35 x 45 matte on a white background, without ovals and corners, no older than 6 months at the time of submission, not appearing on other visas, the size of the face should be 70-80% of the photo). The distance from the chin to the top of the head, including hair, should be approximately 3 cm.
4. A certificate from work in Russian/English language on the company letterhead, addressed to the Consular Section of the Embassy of Greece in Moscow, with a signature and seal. The certificate must be no older than 1 month at the time of submission.

     ·  For unemployed applicants - a bank statement with the movement of funds for the last 3 months and with information on the account balance. The recommended amount of funds is at least 90 euros/day of stay. The financial document must not be older than 1 month at the time of submission.

5.  A copy of the insurance policy covering the entire period of stay in Greece and valid in the Schengen area. IMPORTANT! The transliteration of the full name must correspond to the foreign passport. ATTENTION: at the moment the Greek Consulate accepts insurance policies issued by Russian insurance companies, however, due to the requirement of some other Schengen countries for insurance policies issued by EU insurance companies, we recommend providing a policy issued by a European insurance company. You can submit an application for an insurance policy issued by an insurance company in the EU on our website.

6.  Round trip ticket reservation, which must be valid for the entire duration of the document review at the Greek Consulate. Direct reservations are not accepted. Mostly connecting reservations are provided via Turkey, UAE, Serbia, etc., the entire route must be visible.

7.  Hotel reservation for the entire period of stay in Greece, which must be valid throughout the entire period of document review.

8.  A foreign passport valid for at least 3 months after the visa expires and with at least two blank pages.

9.  Copies of all completed pages of the passport.

10. If you have an old foreign passport, you must provide a copy of the first page and copies of Schengen visas for the last three years. If you have a second valid passport, you must provide a copy of the first + all completed pages (as well as all entry/exit stamps), and have the original with you when submitting documents.

11. Copies of all informational pages of the internal Russian passport. Have the original with you when submitting documents in person.

12. Consent to the processing of personal data.

13. Citizens from other regions temporarily residing in regions belonging to the General Consulate of Greece in Moscow must provide a certificate of temporary registration in the given consular district, issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which must cover the entire planned trip + a photocopy of it. In addition to temporary registration, it is necessary to provide documents confirming the fact of residence in the territory of the given consular district (certificate from work, certificate of ownership of real estate, bank statement with the movement of funds in the account, apartment lease agreement).

The Consular Section of the Embassy has the right to:

• request the provision of additional documents/information;
• call the applicant for an interview/re-submit biometrics;
• send documents to Greece for consideration by the relevant authorities;
• refuse to issue a visa without giving a reason;
• reduce the requested visa validity period and visa multiplicity;
• extend the visa issuance period to 45 days without giving reasons.

For applicants wishing to apply for a tourist visa to Greece with a minimum package of documents, the list of documents is significantly different. For additional information, please contact Confidence Group consultants. The cost of this visa is indicated in the table above.

Additional services of Confidence Group when applying for a visa to Greece for Russian citizens:

* the cost of support includes 2 hours of courier work, the cost of each subsequent hour of courier work is 1500 rubles;

** the cost of a medical insurance policy for applicants over 60 years of age is negotiated individually.

Confidence Group consultants will be happy to advise you on the specifics of obtaining visas to Greece, help you collect the necessary documents, fill out the application form and organize free delivery of documents from/to the Customer.

The procedure for obtaining a visa to Greece through Confidence Group is as follows

1)      filling out an application and agreeing on the required list of services;

2)      preparation of documents on applicant’s side;

3)      payment*;

4)      filling out an application and making an appointment to submit documents by Confidence Group consultant;

5)      receiving documents for applying for a visa via Confidence Group courier;

6)      accompanying to submitting documents for a visa if necessary, payment of consular and service fees;

7)      informing about the release date of the completed visa.

* Payment can be made by the following:

• to the company's current account in one of the Russian banks, or in the People's Bank of Kazakhstan;
• cash;
• QR code;
• bank debit or credit card. 

Please note if you need to obtain a multiple-entry Schengen visa, we recommend you to obtain such a visa through French Consulate, which continues to issue Russian citizens, in most cases, multiple-entry visas for up to six months. The cost of this visa varies significantly, the details and more information available on our website. 

However, we remind you that it is necessary to enter the territory of the Schengen area through the state whose consulate issued the visa. 

Please note that recently the trend towards tightening entry requirements for Russian citizens is obvious, we strongly recommend that when crossing the border you have with you the documents on the basis of which the visa for entry into the Schengen country was issued. If border guards request these documents and you not provide them, entry into the Schengen country may be denied, even if a visa has been issued. 

Should you have any additional questions, please contact Confidence Group consultants.