car problems - russia visa extension?
 

Hi,

I have a few questions that I was hoping you guys could help me with..
We are currently 'stuck' in the Russian Far East, in Tynda. Two weeks ago, coming back down from the great Yakutsk summer festival we rammed a Kamaz truck that had suddenly stopped for roadworks in a big dustcloud. No injuries but the car needs some repairs. Getting replacement parts (radiator, fan, batteries, hood) took a while so all in all we are in Russia at least three weeks longer than planned.

We have met a lot of really great & warm people here so it has already turned out to be a wonderful experience despite the accident. The Russian Far East has really made a big impression on us so far, friendliest and most hospitable place we have ever been to.

But, now we might run into some timing problems concerning visas for the rest of the trip.
We are on a 90 day double entry business visa, valid until 21-08-2009. Our plan was to visit Mongolia for 4 weeks and then go to Kazakhstan through Russia again. We made a new schedule now where we are looking at a shorter stay in Mongolia, say 20 days maximum. That way we might just make it to the Kazakhstan border on time before 21-08.
However, that would mean a very strict time schedule, a lot of pressure and also a lot of problems should anything unexpected happen again.

Does anyone know if it is possible to extend a double entry 90 day business visa for Russia? And how about the temporary import for the car? The only thing I could find out by Googling was that it might be possible to get a 10 day extension, which would already make it a lot easier for us.

We could of course skip Mongolia altogether and take our time going from Baikal through Russia to Kazakhstan, but I would hate to miss Mongolia..

Thanks a lot for any help or suggestions!
Onno

o yeah, here's a funny clip about us on Tynda local TV if anyone is interested
YouTube - REN GOLANCI klein

Hi Ovdvelde

See this http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...r-russia-36333

Sorry if I turn out to be the bearer of bad tidings. I had a similar issue when I arrived in Vladivostok on a 1 month double-entry tourist visa and planned to drive across Russia and into Mongolia for a short time, before re-entering Russia and exiting to Kazakhstan. The car was supposed to arrive on the day after the visa started and if it had turned up on time everything would have been OK. But it all went pear-shaped when I ended up getting the car nearly 2 weeks late. I did investigate getting my tourist visa extended (and was told an emphatic nyet, as with the temporary customs clearance which had the same end date as the tourist visa). Thus I too had to forget about Mongolia.

Hope you find a way.

Mark

Two problems - different outcomes.

Vehicle Temporary Import Document. The Customs at the border tend to restrict periods but this can be extended with little problem at local Customs Offices throughout Russia. Companions did this in Irkutsk a couple of weeks ago - all done in a morning and no charge! Best to apply before the present document expires.

Personal Visa. As Mark says - impossible. Visas cannot be extended and new Visas can only be applied for from outside of Russia.

If in your shoes now, I would get the vehicle paperwork extended otherwise you will complicate matters at the first Police documents check.

It is very very unusual to be asked to show your Visa (except in Red Square!) - therefore you could conceivably travel extensivly throughout Russia on an expired Visa. (I am currently 8,000 miles into a journey here and have not produced my passpoprt at all to any official!)

Your problem comes at the exit border point. There would no doubt be some penalty but I doubt it would be too great in the scheme of things. Much would depend on how busy (and clued up) the official is. Have proof of your extenuating circumstances. If this were my predicament, I would let the conversation progress amicably but as soon as any official form or note book appears ask if there is a way this can be overcome and quietly offer some money - say 1,000руб (20 quid) as starters.

Good Luck!

Good luck with the customs clearance extension - I was told emphatically by the British Embassy in Moscow that the Vehicle Temporary Import Document granted by Customs could NOT be extended, and that they had come across cases of overlanders who had overstayed having to sell their vehicles in Russia to avoid having them confiscated by Customs.

But Tony surely knows a thing or 2 about these issues if anyone does, and if there is a way around this problem then great. Let us know how you get on.

While I have not done it myself yet, based on posts here and conversations with Russian customs, I am almost certain that the temporary import documents can be extended for up to a year (but no longer than your visa). They should, however, be extended BEFORE they expire, not sure what can be done later. There are of course hoops to jump through, however, as described in previous posts. Be sure to get your paperwork right!

Be sure you are all over the customs staff (in a polite way!) when you enter so that you get the maximum possible temp import term--it seems to range from two weeks at the infamous Sochi customs point to three months, which I just received coming from Latvia (with visa valid until June 2010).

If your import doc does expire, as tony suggests you might be able to resolve the problem simply enough at the border when you leave, but at that point the customs guys have all the leverage and it could get pretty expensive.

embassy schmebbassy ... seriosly those guys know sweet f.a. and if they do know, they wont stick their neck out and say it. If you listen to embassy advice they will advise you not to visit russia at all, let alone drive here.

I got customs extensions, rather new customs forms for as long as i wanted ( i had 2 months and asked for and got an extra 2 months), for myself and a finnish guy i was with, at the "tammozhennie post" in Irkutsk. Its so common thhat there are forms for it.

Seriously, dont listen to a word the embassy says, they are useless.

p.s. ... there is no charge at customs for or an extension.

but it will suck half a day out of your travel time, once you find the right office... the right section of customs that does the extensions / reissuances. A smart player will do it in a smaller city, big enough to have a customs office, but not too big as to have it spread over 20 buildings all over the city.

Hmm. Neil Abbott was who I spoke to at the Moscow British Embassy, just so you know I'm not making it up. Maybe the incidents he was referring to were about people who had overstayed their customs clearance (and perhaps their visas) and THEN tried to get the customs clearance extended.

Neil said that getting a visa extension was doable but only in extreme circumstances eg sickness evidenced by a dr's note, but that customs clearance categorically was not.

Let us all know how you get on. Am curious now!

categorically he is incorrect re customs. I am not saying you are making it up, i am saying you are wasting your time asking the embassy for advice. In my experience they know very little real world information. Similarly if you ask one of these guys what roads in siberia are navigable by motorcycle and what fuel is available, they will give you a nonsensical or negative answer.. 'there is definately no road there'. Honesrly, if yhose guys actually had any accurate information about customs or road issues, we would not need this forum.

If you ask customs for more time on entry, they will either grant it to you or, as has also happened to me this year, explicitly even said 'you can get more time at the customs post in any city'

Which I did.

Same here, just last weekend, although I have not actually gone to Moscow customs to extend it yet...trying to get it extended until next June, so I can keep the bike here over the winter. Will keep everyone posted.

Wow, thanks for all the replies everyone! I just came back from the chinese "body shop" here in Tynda and it looks like the car will be ready to drive again on saturday. Chassis looks reasonably straight again and they are now fixing the headlights etc.
If we leave on sunday and go to Ulan Ude as fast as possible and get our visas for Mongolia before next weekend then this will leave us about 20 days in Mongolia. Should be enough time for getting Kazakhstan visas in UB and travel westwards to Russia again. Reasonably strict time schedule but we will see what happens.
Thanks again!
Onno

Best of luck, please let us know how it turns out.

Thanks a lot, I will post an update in a while!

From kazakstan on?
 

Ehh maybe stupid question, but where do you go from kazakstan on?

Am asking cause i am trying to figure this out for myself..

Hi M'jos,
We are in Omsk now and we're going to apply for the Kazakh visas on monday. Our plan is to go more or less via the 'classic' Stans route: Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey.
We just heard that the Iran visa application is on hold for a while. It seems there are many rejections right now so the agency (Stantours) advised us to wait for awhile. So we won't know for sure if the above route is possible until we are already in the Stans. If necesaary we will have to skip Turkmenistan and Iran and go back to Kazakhstan from Uzbekistan and try to get a transit visa there for Russia. Then we will have to hurry back through Russia in a few days. But that is the backup plan, we are still really hoping we can get Iran visas.
Bye,
Onno