Russian Federation to United Kingdom visa requirements

Yes - Russian ordinary passport holders need a visa to visit the United Kingdom. Russia is on the UK visa national list, so you must obtain a Standard Visitor visa before travelling. Russian nationals are not eligible for the UK ETA. A Russia (RU) ordinary passport holder cannot travel to the United Kingdom visa-free for tourism or a short visit. Russia is a UK visa-national country (item 83 in Immigration Rules Appendix Visitor: Visa national list), meaning Russian citizens need entry clearance before travel as visitors or for most other purposes under 6 months. The visitor route for tourism, family visits and many short business activities is the Standard Visitor visa. The UK is not in the Schengen Area, so the Schengen 90/180 rule and ETIAS do not apply. The UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) is only for listed non-visa nationalities; Russia is not on the ETA eligibility list, so Russian nationals cannot use ETA instead of a visa. Applications are made online through GOV.UK, with biometrics provided through a visa application centre unless GOV.UK tells the applicant they can verify identity another way. From the 8 April 2026 GOV.UK fee table, the 6-month Standard Visitor visa costs GBP 135, with long-term 2, 5 and 10-year visit visas costing GBP 506, GBP 903 and GBP 1,128. GOV.UK lists Standard Visitor processing outside the UK as 3 weeks, measured under the current processing-times service.