Just applied for my Russian Tourist Visa - what to expect?

[MatryoshkaMan]

I bought my ticket to Moscow (going Sept 30 - Oct 14) last Wed. night on Travelocity.ca, paid $1190CAN for it - best deal I could find and best route (Vancouver - Amsterdam - Moscow on KLM) with comfortable gaps between flights (no more 1 hour connections for me! ). Then proceeded to dump $155 for deluxe travel insurance and then onto the visa issue. This is a must as have been burned in the past when I decided not to buy insurance..murphy's law is always at work...

I then immediately used WAYTORUSSIA and paid the $30US for the official invitation letter. Ordered Wed. night and had it via email on Friday afternoon.

Printed the Russian Tourist Visa Form off the Russian embassy Canada website. Filled it out but the only thing that confused me was the name of the host company! I used the name at the top of the form (invitation granter?) and also the hotel name which was in English - SPUTNIK - which I googled and is a real hotel in Moscow.

Wrote a short letter saying I was a innocent little tourist and that I just wanted to visit Moscow alone.

Photocopied my passport info page.

Cut my photo down to fit in the little box on the app. form and used a glue stick for the first time since a kid to glue it to the form.

Included a copy of my booked and paid flight itinerary, recipt and travel insurance for good measure.

Went down to the bank to overpay for a $75CAN money order in the name of the Russian embassy.

Went to the Post office and paid $32CAN for express post there and back.

So I am into this visa for exactly $150. Hopefully that's it!

Anyone know how long the turn-around time in Ottawa is lately? It says in the background info 5-20 days..

I have 2 months until I leave so I have a lot of time assuming there is no serious hick-ups along the way.

[I/O]

If it is like any other Russian consulate, you won't get anything back (No communication whatsoever) before the last day of maximum processing period.

[GoodOlBoy]

Just curious, how many Russian Consulates do you have in Canada?..... and where are they?

GOB

[MatryoshkaMan]

GOB the only embassy that I know of is in the capital Ottawa. Not sure if there is consulates anywhere else? I any case only at the main embassy do they process visa applications. I sure hope they don't take 3 weeks to give me the visa! But these are beaurocratic trolls from hell I am sure so it will likely take that long. I know one thing if I want to break my knuckles for fun I was call about my visa status, get some snarly old russian battle-axe, get pissed off and put my hand through the wall!

[BillyB]

Don't worry about getting the visa. Your worries begin after you get it. If the cops approach you, run...., run as fast as you can. When they catch you, they'll ask you why you were running after they've beat the crap out of you. That's when you tell them, if your jaw isn't broken, "I ran away because I've learned from the media back home that you're the crooks in this country. They will then release you because they'll respect a man who tells the truth.

Chances are nothing will happen. Out of my 11 times to the FSU, my ex-fiancee was robbed only once and I had an attempted robbery which I will speak about in my other thread. The reason it was only an attempted robbery was because I was determined to hang on to my money. In a separate incident, the cops wanted a bribe to allow me to live in an apartment very close to Uzebekistan's presidential palace after a neighbor ratted on me. I wasn't supposed to be there according to law but for a $100, the cops would close an eye. I didn't pay it but the landlord did. 3 out of 11 times crap happening isn't bad considering you will always be surrounded by people who want to get into your wallet.

[MatryoshkaMan]

I get snarly around authorities so I better keep my trap zipped. I have had a lot of verbal stand-offs at the Can-US border. Not to the US guards (well sometimes ) but when I come back into Canada I don't put up with their crap and if you don't bend over backwards and take their broomhandle up the *ss then there's going to be trouble. But for me its a cheap thrill to get into a confrontation with the Can. border guards. But in Russia, um, I won't be telling a Russian cop to go **bleep** himself. My ex told me that if I used my russian swearwords at the cops I would be left a bloody mess on the side of the road...

[Aloe]

If it is like any other Russian consulate, you won't get anything back (No communication whatsoever) before the last day of maximum processing period.

The 2 times my husband got russian visa, it took 3 days, apply on monday, pick up on wednesday, but thats in Belgium

[Al_C]

Never say never. but Moscow is less likely to see the police corruption problems you read about in lesser developed cities and countries like Uzbekistan.  You should not have any problems, actually; i just never say never.

On the streets in Moscow, there are lots of English speaking folk willing to help you for $$$ (usually not too bad; maybe $20.00 or so).

As for your visa app, you seem to have done everything right, but as to your photo, did you send it to them on real photo paper (not plain paper)?  They have a definite problem with plain paper photo (I know, yeah, it's dumb, but then they are the bureaucrats).   Just sit tight and wait for your visa.  It should arrive right on schedule.

Did you say that you had a ONE hour layover in Amsterdam?  That is really tight.  You should not squeeze it that tight in case your first flight is late.

Well, good luck to you, and I hope everything turns out OK/

[viking]

The invitation letter is a bunch of hogwash. I am in the US and the several times  I have been to Russia, I used a service, Visahq. For a few extra dollars they do all the work. I filled in an onlne form, which was quite simple, mailed them my passport with a photo and they created the invitation letter. Had my visa back in about a week.

Do make sure your 'register' within a few days upon arriving. I stayed in flats and the woman who rented them to me, took care of that process. They can ask for this when you leave.

[Shadow]

Cops are the same in the FSU as anywhere else. You break the law, you pay a penalty. Now as the most efficient way of paying the penalty is not going through the official red tape and paying it to the officer that caught you, most people choose that way.

If you feel you have enough time and connections to go through the official channels, you can always insist on being treated according to letter of the law.

[JR]

Just applied for my Russian Tourist Visa - what to expect?

Expect to have a good time

[Al_C]

The invitation letter is a bunch of hogwash. I am in the US and the several times  I have been to Russia, I used a service, Visahq. For a few extra dollars they do all the work. I filled in an onlne form, which was quite simple, mailed them my passport with a photo and they created the invitation letter. Had my visa back in about a week.

Do make sure your 'register' within a few days upon arriving. I stayed in flats and the woman who rented them to me, took care of that process. They can ask for this when you leave.

I agree with you, Greg.  It is hogwash.  So are the silly little blanks where you tell them where you work and what college you attended.  They could not care less.  You could probably write Taliban University, Kabul, Afghanistan, and it wouldn't even phase them.  The bureaucrats just want to see the blanks filled in.

The last time I went there, I used Russiavisa.com, they dd everything, and it was fast and easy.  I even lined up a service in Ekaterinburg to register it for me, but Elena insisted on doing it ourselves, which actually went well.  The woman has the patience of a saint with the bureaucrats, something I am severely lacking in.