Thread: What exactly.

Every website for visa registration says something diffrent. Some say i need to send a fotocopy of my plane tickets some say i need to just state my entrance / exit dates. Some say i need 3 passport sized fotos, some say i only need 1.

Also, most of the links to russian consulates are old or don't work...

If there is anyone who knows the real deal, or has gotten a visa from russian consulate in seattle before... Can someone please tell me what exactly i need to mail them ?

If Individual Travel: Confirmation of hotel arrangements from authorized Russian travel company, or directly from the Russian hotel, showing reference number and confirmation number for the visa.

Man wtf. what if i'm not gunna stay in a hotel ? Then i can't go ? this is confusing.

I don't know man. The visa requirements to enter Russia differ from a country to another. I'd say just stick to the visa requirements of the Russian Embassy/Consulate in Washington DC (I'm sure there is one there).

Check the official website of the Foreign Ministry of the RF.

If the difference occur between various consulates in different states within the US, try to stick to the one in your state, if there isn't, then go back to my first opinion.

A telephone call of inquiry wouldn't hurt.

Note: I've never been to Russia, but I guess that's what I would do if I were you.

So now i have even found two diffrent visa application forms.
How much more confusing could it get ?

I think one of them is older though, didn't they change it in april ? This other one i found has more questions.

http://www.russia-travel.com/visa4US.pdf

http://www.getrussian.com/download/usavisa.pdf

which one ??!?!?

figure it out for yourself it shouldn't be that complicated!!!! Oh i forgot your Dogboy.....what to say to a moron like you...don't travel at all your best off in a nice padded room in a straight jacket to protect you from your own blatant stupidity.......

Why don't you figure it out jackass.

YEA it shouldn't be that complicated, but it is.
You obviously have no knowlegde of russia, or russian culture.

It's a maze of beurocracy and pointless paperwork.

anyways, if anybody has anything USEFUL to say, or has dealt with russian tourist visas before... I could use some advice.

Мне надо срочно поговорить с кем нибудь, который в россии был в гости на "Tourist visa"... помогите меняяяяя .

I only recognise the second of those two application forms, but then I have't been to Russia since January so either the first one is newer than that, or it predates my first visit a couple of years ago.

Which, I suppose, is absolutely no help whatsoever

You're right though, even without mentioning the forms, the Visa procedures are a bit of a PITA if you don't plan on staying in a hotel and don't want to put a friend through the endless hassle of getting you a private invite (not any more of a hassle than visiting any other country that requires a visa, but that's small comfort).

That's why I'd suggest letting someone else do it for you. There are dozens of Visa companies out there who will not only process the application for you, filling in all the unanswerable questions such as the tour company, itinerary, hotel reservations and so on (most of these companies are registered as tour operators in Moscow, and as such they are entitled to issue their own, perfectly-legal invitations), but they'll even register it for you once you arrive if you so require.

Bare in mind that I choose to go down this route in spite of being married to a Russian national, as a tourist visa is still the easiest way for me to visit my in-laws even when I am travelling with my wife. So long as you remember to register at the local OVIR within 3 days any time you move to a new city, then as far as the local plod are concerned, should they stop you to check your documents, you are perfectly legal, and what's more your immigration card will be in order when you leave, so you won't have any trouble at the airport either.

Given how much you are going to be spending anyway, I don't think an extra $100-ish is going to be too much on an issue.

I'm not sure how helpful I can be; you really need a US citizen's advice. For what it's worth:

1. Guests of mine have been required to provide one passport-size photograph but no photocopy of plane tickets.

2. Russian consulates abroad are notoriously unhelpful - many refuse to answer their telephones. Persistence might help; visiting one in person would be best of all, but expect to queue.

If Individual Travel: Confirmation of hotel arrangements from authorized Russian travel company, or directly from the Russian hotel, showing reference number and confirmation number for the visa.

Man wtf. what if i'm not gunna stay in a hotel ? Then i can't go ? this is confusing.

3. You need to play their game, I think. This may involve booking at least one night in a hotel, in which case they will register your visa on your behalf and you will avoid the bureaucratic nightmare involved when attempting to register it yourself. There is, of course, no need for you to actually stay at the hotel: they're just a means to an end and this sort of rule-bending practice is very widespread.

Edit: as Scotcher points out, there are agencies which will deal with all this for you, but their reliability is sometimes an issue. Acquaintances of mine have arrived in Russia expecting to have their visa registered for them, only to find that said agency 'can no longer perform the service without an additional payment'. It's a minefield, really.

Edit 2: have you considered enrolling - if only for a very short period - at a language school? An academic/student visa, I have found, is more flexible (they are often multiple-entry) than a tourist visa and may allow you a longer stay.

Originally Posted by joysof

Edit: as Scotcher points out, there are agencies which will deal with all this for you, but their reliability is sometimes an issue. Acquaintances of mine have arrived in Russia expecting to have their visa registered for them, only to find that said agency 'can no longer perform the service without an additional payment'. It's a minefield, really.

Indeed, that has happened to me before, but since I was planning on registering myself at OVIR anyway it wasn't a problem.

Also, to illustrate joysof's 'minefield' point, it seems that even Russian officials often don't always know (or perhaps care) how the system works. The first time I visited Russia without a hotel booking I didn't register my visa at all, and handed my immigration card back to the lass at SVO un-stamped. She didn't even blink. On the other hand, during a different visit I (well, my wife ) actually had to explain the registration procedure to the OVIR official on duty when I went to register.

Originally Posted by joysof

Edit 2: have you considered enrolling - if only for a very short period - at a language school? An academic/student visa, I have found, is more flexible (they are often multiple-entry) than a tourist visa and may allow you a longer stay.

This is also an excellent idea, and is the way I'd go if I thought I was going to need the extra time limit/ multiple entry aspects.

Thank you both for your concerns and ideas.

I actually did Email one fellow, the manager of a hostel... I asked exactly what you suggested. If i could stay at his hostel for only a night or two, while my visa was being registered. he said.

"Dear Matt,
thanks a lot for your attention to our Hostel. We can provide your visa registration in case of your accommodation in our hotel only.
If you're going to stay with your friends, you need to registered your visa through the local police station.
Sorry for your inconvenience,
Best regards,

Dmitry ********
Hostel manager"

So i said. ok, what if you register my visa, and then i go somewhere else (On their website, it DOES say "we register for guests and non guests".)
And he said "we can register you for your booking period... but once you leave you need to re register with the local police station."

This confused me... Why would i need to re register ? Isn't that a little... Impossible ? Once your visa is registered. It's registered. Right ?

Now im a little weary of staying at this hostel, because i think he'll be "on to me" lol.

And, 2) I have found a travel agency that looked pretty decent

www.getrussian.com

they say they will handle (like you said) all my stuff for me, and they have an office in moscow where i can register my visa.

The only thing is, the embassy is still requiring a "voucher" and "itinerary" for a hotel or tour group. =(( Will this travel agency be enough ?

Scotcher... what did you do when you went to russia and didn't stay at a hotel ? This is basically my delemma...

and 3) yes i have looked into langauge schools, unfortunatley i can't really afford them, or afford missing time from my regular school =(.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

...snip...

This confused me... Why would i need to re register ? Isn't that a little... Impossible ? Once your visa is registered. It's registered. Right ?

Now im a little weary of staying at this hostel, because i think he'll be "on to me" lol.

...snip...

When you register, or someone does it on your behalf, the stamp on your immigration card will include the arrival and departure dates (in this case, at the hostel). This guy isn't willing to flex the rules, he'd only be able to state the real dates, so by the time you left his hostel you'd already be unregistered again, if you see what I mean.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

And, 2) I have found a travel agency that looked pretty decent

www.getrussian.com

they say they will handle (like you said) all my stuff for me, and they have an office in moscow where i can register my visa.

The only thing is, the embassy is still requiring a "voucher" and "itinerary" for a hotel or tour group. =(( Will this travel agency be enough ?

getrussian should include all of that as a given, if they don't, then find someone else. All I have ever had to do is fill in my personal details (name, DoB etc) on the application form, and send it along with my passport to the booking company who fill the rest of it in, post it to the embassy to get the visa put in it, then they mail it back to me.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

Scotcher... what did you do when you went to russia and didn't stay at a hotel ? This is basically my delemma...

I used this lot http://www.russiangateway.co.uk/visa.html to aquire my visa the last time, though because I wasn't staying in Moscow anyway I didn't bother asking them about their own registration scheme, I just went to the local OVIR office the day after I arrived in Ivanovo (where my in-laws live) and queued with everyone else. Eventually I got to the front of the queue (I use the word losely) and the wifey on duty gave me the relevant form and asked me to fill it and come back the next day. These forms are fairly heavy-duty (and Russian-only), and I certainly would have struggled without the help of a native, though your milage may vary. You need to know the address as well as quite a lot of detail about your hosts and their status at that address, and your relationship to them, etc etc.

Anyway, after queueing for a while the next day again they took my passport off me (I had a photocopy of it to tide me over), stuck it in a drawer, and told me to come back a few days later to collect it after it had been 'processed', so that's what I did. I went back on the instructed day, she took it back out of the drawer, stamped it, and gave it back to me

Even after all that, I am still pretty sure I wasn't 100% legal, since technically speaking I entered the country on false pretences, but it's the closest I could get to legal within acceptable practical limitations.

And that's the rub really. You're in sort-of the same boat as me: Since you don't want to stay in a hotel or go on an organised tour, don't know anyone who'll jump through the endless hoops necessary to get a personal/ business invite (or aren't willing to put them through it), and can't use the 'studying' excuse, there really isn't any way you can go 100% legally, so you are left having to decide which shade of illegality is acceptable to you.

Incedentally, I noticed on russiagateway that there is a supplimentary application form for US males. I've no idea what that is, but it might be that second form you found a link to in a previous post.

Yea, i already have that other form filled out. It basically goes over military backround... making sure i wont buy/build/ or trade nukes in russia... or something like that .

So i guess i'll just go ahead and order my visa invite then... And then ship it off... we'll see what happens .

Thanks again everyone.


*EDIT*
Getrussian.com Has this posted on their website.

"If you decide not staying to stay at a hotel, GetRussian will assist
you in registering your visa quickly and easily through our
partners in Moscow and St Petersburg. This service is open to
everybody who obtains their visa invitation from us."

So, I just hope they know what they are doing.

Dogboy,
Some time has passed, but what did you find out anyway?? Заранее спасибо!

I found out i can't go. Lol.

have a look see here. http://masterrussian.net/mforum/viewtopic.php?t=3843

=((. Germany is cool, but my heart remains in RO SEE YA!


But thanks for your concern =))

Hey Dogboy,

It's too bad you aren't able to go . . . what happened, anyway? Did you get your visa at all? I found this site to be helpful for all of this . . .

[url]http://www.waytorussia.net/Travel/VisaSupport.html

Their helpful and informative, and the application process is straight-forward, less hassle and cheap. Just something to consider in the future.