Russian Visas question
 

I'm presently at the first stage in seeking Russian visas and have just ordered the letter of invitation for my family of five. The first difficulty that has arisen is that I am asked to give a detailed day by day itinerary for our time in Russia, including naming hotels we'll be staying at. This isn't at all practical.

We are flying in around the same time as our 4wd is due to arrive at the port in Vladivostok, but obviously I can't know exactly when my vehicle will have cleared customs and be available to drive on the road. Also I don't know how far we'll drive each day and so do not wish to book hotels in advance.

Others will obviously have encountered this same situation. I just want a 30 day tourist visa for each member of my family so that we have ample time to collect the car and drive to Mongolia. What is the best way to deal with this?

I have not heard of anyone wanting a detailed itinerary for a tourist visa. Are you sure you are applying for a normal tourist visa?

Who is asking for the itinerary? If it's the inviting agency, try a different one.

If it's the embassy, I suspect you are not applying for a tourist visa.

RealRussia has a great website for visa information and they offer affordable visa support.

EO

China asked me for a detailed itinerary for my tourist visa. ;)

Note that in Russia, you are technically required to register yourself with the police when arriving in a new town. (Within 72 hours, and usually the hotel does this on your behalf.) As with many things in Russia, the strictness of the law is compensated by non-observance. But it's technically there.

What I suggest is that you put together a detailed itinerary using e.g. TripIt, with free-to-cancel bookings via booking.com, and submit that. Once you get the visa and get into Russia, you're certainly free to deviate from the original route.

That's what I did for mainland China, and the embassy was perfectly happy with it. What you need to understand is that you are dealing with bureaucrats, and if you give them something they don't know how to deal with, it is easier for them to just reject you. Help them cover their ass, and they will leave you alone.

And for Russia it matters which country co live in and what passport you have.

Kiwi sound like New Zealand

So this is important if you ask for information about Russian visa

When we were arranging our Russian Tourist visa in Ulaanbataar Mongolia, it also had to come with such an itinerary, in the invitation I believe. And this was an invitation coming from a company that I know and trust (even run by European).

I just gave a very basic itinerary. Of the places we would go (basically Baikal lake, and then towards Vladivostok). And we only gave names of hotels in big cities, not in between (which also cost several days). No reservation of the hotels were needed. (and this info goes into the invitation, in which case there would be no space for attachments of booking information).

But you need to plan the 30 days. So plan it before your car arrives, and it is very feasible to say you will be a week or so in Vladivostok, that should be fine. But don't mention the car if not needed. And then a rough itinerary towards Mongolia.

Once you get the visa you don't have to care about any of it.

However, at the embassy, they really read the invitation and mentioned the itinerary (without any problems, they just processed it)

Tourist Visa or transit visa???????
As far as I know you cannot get a tourist visa in Mongolia for Russia as a Dutch resident.

Usually you can only get a Tourist visa in the country where you live ( for the most Nationalities at least )

And that is big difference.

For a transit visa they might need an detailed itinerary

This is exactly what I said. The law is strict but most of the time it is not observed. But any cop or government official can choose to enforce the letter of the law at any time, if they don't like how you look.

I wish you luck in trying to explain your interpretation of Russian law to a Russian cop at the side of the road.

Logic does not matter. Stamps and official signatures on papers matter.

Quoting the VFS Global office (official processor of Russian visa applications for their embassy):

"I don't live in the Estonia; can I apply for my Russia visa at the Russia Visa Application Centre in Estonia?

The Russia Visa Application Centres in Estonia are available to all residents of Estonia. Depending on your nationality you can apply for Russia visa, if you are a visitor in Estonia; however, processing time of your Russia visa application may vary."

Yes a Tourist visa as mentioned. I also updated the topic about that. Many nationalities cannot get it as you know. This was September 2018, we got it without issue in 4 days.
But it is not relevant for this topic.

What is relevant, is that for Tourist visas, it seems to be reasonable to ask for an itinerary.

I think where Eurasiaoverland finds it strange to hear about a itinerary request, is because you guys are using Business visas which work very different and don't have that requirement.

So supplying the itinerary is very normal it seems to me, for a tourist visa. Maybe not everybody asks it.
But it is not a big deal. You give a very reasonable itinerary, and once it passes, you don't care anymore.

Important is that, in my case, I did not have to have bookings.

Important thing nr2 is that the information determines begin and end date of your visa, so set those dates properly.

@AnTyx:
Still it is also law that you only need to register if you stay more than 6 days on the same place.
And I am quite sure official know that too......

@Lovetheworld:
Funnywise usually you don't get Tourist visa for most countries.
So it seems that Dutch nationality is excepted from that.

And I definitely talked about that to the ambassador of RUS in UB, he is a friend of my family there.
He personally told me that most citizen cannot get a Tourist visa, only if they have a paper from their own embassy there can be a way around.....

But then some nationalities did not need that paper. I saw really a lot of French people there getting a visa, some of them getting a Tourist people. I saw no other Western nationalities.
Anyway, not so relevant, unless kiwi wants to get another visa for Russia, if he is not going to China.

I was required to submit an itinerary. I just went on line, selected some hotels in likely destinations which listed addresses (required), and added them to my application. The inviting agency (required) translated these into Cyrillic and emailed my invitation letter, which I submitted. Once I arrived in Russia, I ignored the whole thing.

All of the above using a US passport and a tourist visa.

None of this is especially unusual. Lots of countries require that I provide a destination address or a local contact, either when applying for a visa or when actually entering a country. I usually get this from a guidebook or online, but I don't recall ever actually bothering to stay in the place I listed. Sometimes I hear of countries which check on this, but still I've never had any problem. YMMV.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

A quick look at https://caravanistan.com/visa/russia/

The latest rule (since March 2017) seems to be this:

To apply for any category of visas except transit, one must have a long-term registration in the country you are applying in.

Citizens of these states can get any category of visas at regular price, but the waiting period may vary from 10 up to 26 working days: Australia, France, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Turkmenistan, the USA.

If citizens of the states and territories that are not mentioned above, .....can apply for any category of visas except transit, ONLY in their country of origin.

And then further down the page:

Ulan Bator embassy
Opening hours: 9-12 (not 14-15 anymore) Monday – Wednesday – Thursday. Pay at TDB Bank (GPS: 47.920134, 106.910285). Transit visa updates – Tourist visa updates. Tourist visas are also possible for those not supposed to get it on the 90-day registration rule.

FWIW im in the process of getting my second Russian visa.

Ive had to list 3 or 4 places i will be "visiting". I list the places i pass... Moscow Irkutsk Magadan Vlad. Not mentioned hotel names.

Last visit i was in a 4x4 and never took an hotel. Camping and bivouac even in the big cities. Never registered. Ever. Never asked for proof on leaving Russia.

Chris

Exactly my experience
And I got more Russian visas by now

So you have to make a very basic itinerary (naming a few places is already an itinerary), with the difference that you didn't have to name hotels.

Even if they ask for hotels it is not a big deal, because you just name some hotels. No bookings, and you don't have to go there once you have the visa.