Russian Tourist Visa advice

[jed1]

Hi everyone,

I was just after a bit of advice with respect to an Australian obtaining a Russian Tourist/Business Visa. In about August 2015, Im intending on riding solo from the Finnish boarder, through St Petersburg, onto Moscow and then out towards Estonia/Latvia/Belarus and taking about 1-2 weeks to do so.

Im buying a motorbike in the UK - so as yet I don't know the vehicle details and also I would like to spend the majority of my time camping, with the odd night in a hotel. I don't know an exact date either so Im a bit lost as to the best course of action I can take.

I spoke to a Visa agency here in Australia, but they were just reading out of a book and were really as bout as helpful as a wet fart.

If anyone could offer me a bit of current advice, I would be very grateful

Regards,

Jed.

[Habi]

Hi ,

we are also going to Asia this summer! With the original route we planned to enter Russia three times, thus to get a business visa, but since we had to alter the route due to time constrains, now a double entry tourist visa will do.

We spent quite some time gaining information about how to deal with the Russian Visa. We are German and Dutch, I am not sure if it is different for Australians, but this is what I would say regarding your Visa:

I think the problem is not having a booked hotel and no travelling agency.
Visa are issued usually on the basis of the exact date you booked your flights or train or hotel, up to a maximum of 30 days. Since you dont have anything booked, I think you just have to write a letter describing what you do in Russia (where you want to visit and when), so they can see how many days the visa should be issued. So if you plan to stay 1-2 weeks, maybe make a plan for them for about 3 weeks to have some play in the entry and exit date.

In the form there is also a part where you have to put in your travelling agency. In our case the Visa agency will do that (I think via the invitation). So maybe because of this you do have to get an invitation through a visa agency, even though formally for a single entry visa you wouldnt need one.

I hope this helped a bit. I am also still a little confused about everything.
I think you should just contact a couple visa agencies until you have someone who actually wants to help you. I made the experience that the agencies can be really different from each other.

Good Luck!

[PanEuropean]

I've obtained numerous multiple-entry business visas for Russia in recent years, all of them valid for one year.

The process is not at all simple or easy. You will need an invitation from a Russian business. The whole process takes about 8 weeks to complete.

In each case, my company used a visa agency that specialized in Russian visas to do all the work. Total cost averaged about $800 per visa - that included the agency fees as well as visa fees, courier fees and other disbursements.

It's not cheap, it's not easy, and there is nothing you can do to speed the process up. Start at least 8 weeks ahead of time, I can't emphasize that point enough. It is impossible to accelerate the process.

Michael

[eurasiaoverland]

Getting a tourist visa is very easy. You find an agency online to give you an invitation (try 'Real Russia'), then print it out, fill out a form and apply at your local embassy.

Only snag is you have to do it in a country where you are resident (i.e. Australia, or any other country where you have a passport or residence permit)

Tourist visas are valid for one or two entries, to a maximum of 30 days in total.

The company providing the invitation gives you a document by email immediately saying that they are inviting you and arranging accommodation. This is of course BS, but that's the way it works in Russia. You do NOT need flight tickets or hotel bookings; it is very easy. Real Russia charge GBP 15 I think for an invitation, and it does not matter where you are from.

Visas longer than 30 days are more involved; the above poster is right in saying a 1 year visa is a PITA, but you are planning on staying 1-2 weeks, in which case a 1 year visa would be a ridiculous waste of time and money.

EO (15+ times in Russia with tourist, business and transit visas)

[jed1]

Thank you all so much for your words of advice, I really appreciate your help. It looks like Ill be applying for a singe entry tourist visa. My only problem now is trying to work out an entry and exit date as I dont really have any idea how long its going to take me to get there from the UK, via half of Europe!!

Ill let you all know how the process went from this side of the world.

Thanks again, Jed.

[Eshark]

According your plan, you also need Belarus visa.

[cyber-zebb]

since February you also need to have an electronic finger print taken for EVERY russian visa application,

[eurasiaoverland]

Originally Posted by cyber-zebb

since February you also need to have an electronic finger print taken for EVERY russian visa application,

This is true in London, but not all embassies. I just got a visa in The Hague (Netherlands) with no biometric data taken.

EO

[Gionatill]

Paperwork fun!

Hey everyone, great advise so far, there doesn't seem to be an option where I can have 60 day visa, as we are traveling from Kazakhstan to Russia and then to mongolia, but we want to spend at least 3-4 weeks in mongolia which in return then would leave us nearly no time to get back to europe trough russia with the multi entry visa of 30 days.

what other options do I have? Not really wanting to spend 800€ on paper..

is it possible to get a transit visa (Kazakhstan-Russia-Mongolia) and a tourist visa (mongolia-Russia-Europe)?

[eurasiaoverland]

90 day double entry business visa