And, as Eddie suggests, by getting it along the way you will almost certainly save yourself some money. The Embassy Fee varies from country - with UK citizens applying through the UK paying most!
Thats why the UK is often called Treasure Island.

I'm travelling with Kennichi, and it looks like we've resolved this problem by applying for cultural visas. The same as business visas except they're basically for tourism purposes, and cost less; just need proof of sufficient funds in a bank account for the duration of the stay.

Sure if you're doing a RTW trip lasting a couple of years you can apply for visas in the cheapest place possible, but if you've got a tighter time schedual then this isn't always possible. Especially if hard facts aren't always easy to come by and prices, requirements and availibility can change. Thanks for the help though guys.

Getting the visa along the way?
 

Hi Edde
That sounds really good about getting the visa on the way (which would be my choice due to the time constraints) - but why is Stantours currently saying "do not risk it as there is a chance that it will not be issued once you leave your home country"? It sounds like they may be giving out conflicting advice, or maybe the Russians do have a bigger issue with us Brits than you guys?!

Tiffany,
Judging by your route I'd consider the following...

List the countries in order of travel between London and Russia.

Give that itenary to David at StanTours and ask him which is the easiest countries to get a Russian visa...he'll have recent information based on other travellers who've passed through and acquired Russian visas...AND the costs WILL be cheaper.

The risk of you getting visas ahead of time is just as unpredictable as getting visas en route...depending on the country...

For example...even if you get an Azeri tourist visa 3 months in advance that lasts 30 days...do you realize there is a time restriction? You have 30 days from when the visa is stamped in your passport to enter Azeri...that was the case in May 2007 with a fellow traveller.

Being a CPA/Chartered accountant, I play it safe and prefer to get my visas a couple countries ahead of time of when I will enter that country. I'm sure you faced similar dilemmas on your first trip to India;)

We have our visas stamped 4th April 2009 , I asked the agency who did it for us and they stated that we can enter anytime in the next 3 months and it will last 30 days. I had them ask the embassy again to clarify this, might pop into the embassy on the way out to triple check.

On my Azerbaijan visa i've got:
Validity: 3months
Entry from: 04.04.09
Duration: 30days

Makes sense to me.

And so it does, I wasn't reading it correctly :oops2:

Dont forget thet you also need a letter on headed note paper from your employer saying that you are going there on business!!!! My girlfriend has only found this out today when she went to try and get our business visa, she had taken passports, invitation letter and visa application for as this is all we were told by realrussia that we needed, so lucky for us we still had some headed note paper for our last jobs that i have sent her in the post to print out and hopefully this will do as we are supposed to be leaving on monday.

WE got it today, our 6 month multiple entry bussiness visa!!!!


:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:HAPPY DAYS!!!:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

Good to hear that!

Out of interest, have you been to Russia before? All info on the net says chances of getting a multiple entry visa are lower if you haven't been granted a Russian visa before.

no this was our first time and they gave us the 6 month multiply entry business visa!!!!!

Game on!

it did cost us around £1000 for both of us and that inclded a business support letter from a russian comapany and the visa appliaction fee.

£1000 each! , why on earth did it cost so much? , even the agency we didn't like Scotts would provide a multi (presume unlimited) 6 month biz for £550 all in..