Thread: Workaround for 18 days wait for Russia visa?

Hi all - I was going to apply for a 90 day double entry visa for Russia, as my stay may be longer than 30 days, and I want flexibility. I thought it was a matter of Pay&Go... and have not planned ahead very well

Seems I was mistaken though, I can't find any UK based site that offers less than ~15 days turnaround for a busioness invitation and getting the visa issued at a Russian consulate.
I can't wait that long. Am I missing something? What is the workaround? (I am an EU citizen).

Could I request to have the visa picked up in the Russian embassy in another country as I'll be stopping in a couple of places before going to Russia?

If anyone has experience of any of this, please help out with some advice!

I've never applied for a Russian visa but mostly rules are close to rules of other countries.

If you will apply for a visa directly to the Russian consulate in London or Stockholm the process will go faster. Actually it is the fastest way.

When I applied for a non-Russian visa in Russia with the help of a tourist agency the duration for such a process was generally of two weeks. So ~15 days is a typical duration.

As for the Russian embassies in other countries the only reliable way to get information is to call to the specific embassy explain your situation in full details and get the actual information directly from them.

Thanks Coffeecup! I was just being stupid, I guess, not checking this beforehand, and planning better. I think the visa processing vary from country to country; the ones I got recently (for Asian countries) were more a matter of paying up... My "workaround" will be to apply for the visa in Ukraine, and spend a bit longer there, perhaps going to Belarus while waiting (their visa processing is really fast).Here in England we have lovely spring weather at the moment - hoping for more of the same in Easter Europe.

Try this lot: Real Russia

I've had to obtain visas at short notice a few times and these guys always come through.

It'll cost you, of course.