Visa content can be elegantly wrong. A confident heading, a green tick and a date in the footer do not make a rule current. This policy explains what sits behind the advice that affects which visa a traveller applies for.
Our hierarchy of sources
For immigration and visa facts, we prefer:
- Russian government and MFA portals.
- Official Russian embassy or consular pages.
- The responsible visa application centre for local logistics.
- Primary legislation, official notices or registry records where necessary.
- Reputable secondary material only for context, never to overrule a primary source.
Secondary articles and forums can reveal useful questions. They are not authorities.
High-impact claims
Some facts determine whether you qualify for a visa. They receive the closest verification:
- e‑visa eligible citizenships;
- permitted purposes;
- validity, stay and entries;
- application window and processing rule;
- passport and insurance requirements;
- approved checkpoints;
- whether an invitation is required;
- invitation issuer and format rules;
- prices, refunds and delivery targets.
Where an official page conflicts with another official page, we do not quietly choose the more convenient answer. We identify the conflict, date it and direct the traveller to the responsible authority.
Fact, practical advice and inference
We separate three voices:
- Official fact: directly supported by an identified authority.
- Practical advice: a risk-reducing recommendation, such as applying earlier than the legal last day.
- Inference: a conclusion drawn from available sources, labelled as such where it could affect a decision.
For example, “applications may be submitted no later than four days before entry” is an official rule. “Do not plan to submit at the edge” is practical advice.
Review dates
A page’s “reviewed” date means its substantive rule set and links were checked, not that a script changed the number overnight. Cosmetic edits do not earn a fresh legal-looking date.
Our main visa information pages are reviewed:
- on a regular scheduled cycle;
- after official portal or policy announcements;
- when users or partners provide credible change evidence;
- before a major commercial campaign;
- after an operational case exposes ambiguous guidance.
Writing standard
Every page starts with the decision a traveller actually needs to make.
Pages should:
- answer the query near the beginning;
- explain the decision, not just define the noun;
- include concrete examples and failure modes;
- avoid mass-produced city or country substitutions;
- link to the next relevant action;
- use plain English without pretending the rules are informal;
- avoid fabricated experience, testimonials or statistics;
- avoid copying a competitor’s distinctive language.
The tone may be warm. The claims must remain cold enough to check.
Checks before publication
A page is checked for dates, amounts, links and contradictions before it is published. High-impact facts must come from an identified primary source, and translated summaries must preserve the limits in that source.
Country and passport pages must add something concrete: the visa requirement, permitted stay, a passport-specific condition, the responsible source or a useful next action. If a page cannot do that, it should be consolidated rather than padded.
Commercial independence inside the site
The service may earn revenue from invitation and e‑visa assistance. That creates an obvious incentive to call every visitor a customer.
The editorial rule is the opposite: if you do not need an invitation because you qualify for an e‑visa or visa-free entry, we say so prominently. A guide should not hide a free option or the official application website beneath paid services.
Corrections
Send a correction with:
- page URL;
- exact disputed statement;
- official source link;
- date accessed;
- brief explanation of the impact.
We assess the source and, when a material error is confirmed, correct the page promptly. Significant corrections should be noted in context or a change record where the old statement could have affected active travellers.
We do not require personal case documents to correct a general factual rule. Redact anything unnecessary.
What we cannot promise
No editorial process makes a cached web page an immigration decision. Authorities can change rules, local practice can differ and individual facts can matter.
The page should help the traveller ask a better, narrower question of the responsible authority. That is not a disclaimer added after the useful work. It is the useful work.