Russian Visa

Random

How hard is it to get a visa for a holiday to Moscow? Has anyone got any experience doing it? Can you just get it at immigration in Moscow or do you need to get it from the Embassy in Dublin or what?

Cheers

rainbowtrout

random wrote: »

How hard is it to get a visa for a holiday to Moscow? Has anyone got any experience doing it? Can you just get it at immigration in Moscow or do you need to get it from the Embassy in Dublin or what?

Cheers

You have to get it from the embassy in Dublin. First of all you need an invitation to Russia from your hotel or you can get it through a website for about €20. get the visa application form from Russian Embassy website, fill it in, send it off with your invitation and the fee and your passport and you get your visa. you can only get it 90 days in advance of travel.

PM if you want more details

I'm going next week! can't wait!

Random

An invitation from the hotel? i.e. I book a hotel and they send me an invite basically to confirm I'm staying there?

How much is the Visa?

I have to send my Irish passport away to them?

What's the Official Russian Embassy website? Google brings up loads and wanna make sure I'm looking in the right place. It's like trying to find the official US Green Card Lottery website .. too many

rainbowtrout

Russian Embassy

www.ireland.mid.ru

you do have to send them your passport


The visa costs €60 for 10 day return, 80 for 5 day return, and 100 for same day/next working day.


I'm staying in a hostel, so i got my visa through internet, from what I understand, the hotel has to be approved by the Russian Dept of the Interior or some such place,

I got my visa through this site https://www.getrussian.com

they can send it as a pdf file that you can print out. Do remember to save the file though. Print it out and that's your voucher which you send off with your visa application. make a couple of printouts, I didn't get mine back when i got my visa.

Random

Can you call into the embassy with your passport and get one on the spot ?

rainbowtrout

As far as i know you can, in that it's same day processing, you have to leave it in, in the morning with all the relevant paperwork and they can have it ready that evening, but it costs €100 instead of €60 and they do say on the website that it may be next day processing if they have a large volume of visas to process

cailinoBAC

If you have all the relevant documentation you can do it, but, as mentioned, there is the €100 same day fee. Also, by 'on the spot' obviously you have to wait. I remember leaving mine in and being told to come back in an hour.

StickyMcGinty

just got myself two champions league final tickets so hopfully i'll be heading to Russia in May.

can you only get the visa 90 days in advance of travel?

I heard there was a special 1-day visa in Istanbul for the champions league final if you had a ticket, i dont suppose any of you would know if the russians plan on a similar deal?

rainbowtrout

StickyMcGinty wrote: »

just got myself two champions league final tickets so hopfully i'll be heading to Russia in May.

can you only get the visa 90 days in advance of travel?

I heard there was a special 1-day visa in Istanbul for the champions league final if you had a ticket, i dont suppose any of you would know if the russians plan on a similar deal?

well Russia is awkward enough on the red tape front on a normal day so I can't see them giving special concessions for football matches. But if you have your tickets and are planning on going, why don't you get organised now, it's less than 90 days to any date in May (I haven't a clue what date the final is on) so if you got your paperwork in order you could apply now.

90 days is the limit, no exceptions - as in you can apply any time within 90 days of travelling not up to 90 days before. A little off topic but if you are looking to save a bit I flew to Berlin (Ryanair) and flew with Air Berlin to Moscow, pretty cheap and half the cost of flights from London. Accommodation is expensive so get booking!

cailinoBAC

Well Ukraine temporarily got rid of visas for EU citizens at the time of the Eurovision and never brought them back. I suppose you can live in hope...

StickyMcGinty

rainbowtrout wrote: »

well Russia is awkward enough on the red tape front on a normal day so I can't see them giving special concessions for football matches. But if you have your tickets and are planning on going, why don't you get organised now, it's less than 90 days to any date in May (I haven't a clue what date the final is on) so if you got your paperwork in order you could apply now.

90 days is the limit, no exceptions - as in you can apply any time within 90 days of travelling not up to 90 days before. A little off topic but if you are looking to save a bit I flew to Berlin (Ryanair) and flew with Air Berlin to Moscow, pretty cheap and half the cost of flights from London. Accommodation is expensive so get booking!

oh 90 days before, thats fine.

thing is i'll only be travelling if liverpool get through, which i wont know until 3 weeks before i'm due to head over.

cheers for the flight advice, i've been franticly looking around for cheaper options. Aer Lingus are doing a special charter flight for the final for 850 return PP!! robbing b*stards!! any advice on where to stay??? should i play it safe and stay with a well known hotel chain?

I would be pleasantly surprised if Russia brought in a special visa for the champions league final. Turkey et. al. have done it in recent years so heres hoping! third biggest spoting event in the world might swing it!

rainbowtrout

StickyMcGinty wrote: »

oh 90 days before, thats fine.

thing is i'll only be travelling if liverpool get through, which i wont know until 3 weeks before i'm due to head over.

cheers for the flight advice, i've been franticly looking around for cheaper options. Aer Lingus are doing a special charter flight for the final for 850 return PP!! robbing b*stards!! any advice on where to stay??? should i play it safe and stay with a well known hotel chain?

I would be pleasantly surprised if Russia brought in a special visa for the champions league final. Turkey et. al. have done it in recent years so heres hoping! third biggest spoting event in the world might swing it!

Or you could go anyway! It's not often you would get to see a Champion's League Final. Well here's a sample of cost of flights

Ryanair - Dublin to Berlin Mon 19th May to return Fri 23rd Berlin - Dublin €60 +baggage/credit card charge so probably call it €80

Accommodation in Berlin is not expensive.

Tues 20th Berlin - Moscow, return Thursday 22nd, €344 return with Air Berlin, all charges included.


Accommodation is expensive in Moscow and maybe more so for the final. I stayed in a hostel there a couple of weeks ago and while it was rough and ready in comparison to what I would be used to here or in Western Europe, it was clean, safe and secure and cost a fraction of the cost of a hotel. And right in the city centre.

You could do the whole lot for the price Aer Lingus are charging for the flight

PM if you want more information, I don't want to drag the thread off topic too much.

Galadriel

I booked my flights last year through Ebookers, normally I would book flights directly through the airlines website but for some reason it was cheaper that way.

Using ebookers and flying from 19th - 23rd May is working out at €373, thats flying from Dublin to Riga, Riga to Moscow.

Any yep Moscow hotels verrry expensive, but Moscow is a great city so worth it!

Random

Maybe this is a stupid question ... but the general thing to do would be to book everything before applying for Visa .. to prove we're coming back etc ?

rainbowtrout

yes more or less. you need to have accommodation booked to get the tourist voucher which is needed to get the visa. And i guess you're not going to book accommodation without the flights.

if your worry is that you will have it all booked and then have your visa application denied, well that's unlikely. the application process is pretty straightforward. it just seems a bit cumbersome, probably because we're used to travelling to countries where we just wave our passports at them on arrival. That's what I felt anyway

BanzaiBk

Russia ftw!

Once you have a tourist voucher OR a relative (handy my dad's Russian) who can vouch it's really straightforward. In all my years of going back and forth I've rarely heard of applications being denied. The bureaucracy involved is very alien by comparasin to the EU etc. I've found the cheapest visa option only takes a week or two anyway. The longest I waited was 13 working days. Great tip about flying from mainland Europe, Amsterdam is another relatively inexpensive option I've found.

Outlawtorn

Howya...

Im heading to St Petersburg for a few days in July and i just have one question boyt the visa, ive already booked a hostel for St Petersburg so if i get the voucher from that GetRussian site, send off the voucher, hostel details and application ill be sorted...

Cheers

cailinoBAC

Don't send your hostel details. Your voucher should give hotel details (you won't be staying in them but that's beside the point) so if you give your hostel details you'll be confusing them.

Unless your hostel actuall can send you the tourist voucher itself? I don't think most of them do though...

rainbowtrout

I think when you apply for the tourist voucher online you will probably be asked for the details of the hostel, address etc. So when you get your voucher the name of it will be on it, and the dates you are staying, it's the voucher you will be sending off to the embassy to get the visa

finbarrk

I thought the tourist voucher was to avoid having to have a hotel or hostel voucher?

cailinoBAC

Yeah, that's what I would think too. If a hostel can register you, usually it can organise the tourist voucher too, in which case you don't need to apply for one online. With mine, I just told them what cities I was going to and they sent me a voucher with some hotel names on them. I walked past one of them in Moscow, the Kosmos, but that was as close I got to anything on my tourist voucher.

gary the great

Checklist:

2 application forms
the invitation
-60 quid
- 1 signed passport photo

that it? Feck sake the red tape is ridiculous

rainbowtrout

ya that's yt's fairly straightforward after that

gary the great

Cool beans, it is 1 passport sized photo isnt it? Ive got one the been cut a little bit smaller than a passport photo, hopefully its OK, its such an effort to try get down there if ive to go off and get another photo i wont be impressed, either will my boss!

BanzaiBk

gary the great wrote: »

Checklist:

2 application forms
the invitation
-60 quid
- 1 signed passport photo

that it? Feck sake the red tape is ridiculous

That's all grand. At least we can kind of keep people out of the country this way:p

rainbowtrout

gary the great wrote: »

Cool beans, it is 1 passport sized photo isnt it? Ive got one the been cut a little bit smaller than a passport photo, hopefully its OK, its such an effort to try get down there if ive to go off and get another photo i wont be impressed, either will my boss!

yes, it's only one photo which doesn't go on your visa, it must be for their files. they'll get onto you pretty quickly if it's not ok

rainbowtrout

.. if you have a ticket you don't need a visa!!!


http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iU96qDEhDhpXPFzbmHzSLMkojuSA

UEFA says tickets for Champions League final to serve as visa for Russia
2 hours ago

NYON, Switzerland — All fans travelling to the Champions League final in Moscow on May 21 can use their match tickets as visas.

Monday's historic gesture - believed to be the first time visitors to Russia will be allowed in without a visa - was made after UEFA president Michel Platini sent a personal letter to outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"For this, I must thank wholeheartedly the president of the Russian federation, Vladimir Putin . . . for this exceptional and unprecedented gesture," Platini said in a statement.

Up to 50,000 supporters are expected to travel to Russia for the game between English clubs Chelsea and Manchester United at Luzhniki Stadium.

There had been concerns there wouldn't be enough time for the visas to be approved through Russia's notoriously laborious application procedures.

The tickets will be valid as visas for a 72-hour period between May 19 and 23, and must be kept after the match to be shown on leaving the country.

"This is great news for football fans travelling to watch this year's UEFA Champions League final. Our job is to make sure that they are able to get to and from Moscow as easily as possible," Platini said.

UEFA believes the visa compromise will offer fans greater flexibility.

"It will favour bookings for more charter planes because supporters now don't have to book a hotel as a visa requirement," UEFA spokesman William Gaillard said. "They can come in on the morning and fly back after the game. It is a victory for football."

Dmaurice

im all ready to go!!! i fly out from dublin at 11am tuesday on czech airlines (via a 6hr stop in prague!!) - anyone else on that flight? im hopin it will be full of man u fans!!!

Hmm_Messiah

I'm having a problem here

Meant to be visiting Moscow / STP In July but no visa as yet. We could not apply earlier as had business trips and could not risk not having passport back.

Now queueing at the embassy but are midway down in queue of about 120 people ! Some say its there 3 rd day queueing - queueing every day is not an option (I presume they would prefer people in employment visiting their country)

So am wondering , other than whats on the website, has any one personal experience of sending their application by mail , speed of reply, and delays with paperwork etc

Also have any one spoke to them by phone and is there any point ( one of us is fluent russian speaker)



sorry for restarting old thread, but really, really really want to go to Russia, but not to plan too much without the visa

cheers

rainbowtrout

Hmm_Messiah wrote: »

I'm having a problem here

Meant to be visiting Moscow / STP In July but no visa as yet. We could not apply earlier as had business trips and could not risk not having passport back.

Now queueing at the embassy but are midway down in queue of about 120 people ! Some say its there 3 rd day queueing - queueing every day is not an option (I presume they would prefer people in employment visiting their country)

So am wondering , other than whats on the website, has any one personal experience of sending their application by mail , speed of reply, and delays with paperwork etc

Also have any one spoke to them by phone and is there any point ( one of us is fluent russian speaker)



sorry for restarting old thread, but really, really really want to go to Russia, but not to plan too much without the visa

cheers

I sent all mine by registered post when i went in march and had no problems. I used the 10 working day service which essentially means 2 weeks from the date of postage. it costs €60, or you could go for the 5 working days option for €80. Once you have all your paperwork it shouldn't be a problem

Hmm_Messiah

thanks for the quick reply

a problem may be one of us is not an irish national and it states on their website that different charges and conditions may apply

so I've sent by registered mail and included a postal order for 2 x 100.00 which is the highest fee on their site, hopefully it will go ok

cristina06

I have downloaded the visa application forms. could anyone tell me about the medical coverage?? do we need that? if yes, where do i get it from and how much does it cost?? and what about the index & name of tourist group? i dnt have a tourist group!
Thanks

theCzar

cristina06 wrote: »

I have downloaded the visa application forms. could anyone tell me about the medical coverage?? do we need that? if yes, where do i get it from and how much does it cost?? and what about the index & name of tourist group? i dnt have a tourist group!
Thanks

AFAIK medical coverage isn't mandatory... its been about two months since I applied. As for tour group, you need a "travel voucher" which would be provided by tour group in their name if you had one, failing that, you can pay about 20 euro to an agency who'll email you a pdf of the supporting docs.

The overarching message Russia goes to great lengths to impress upon its visitors is "We don't like you, we could care less for your money, and wish you would just stay at home and leave us to our vodka and early graves"

I have travelled the world, but never have I faced the level of bureaucratic antagonism as that employed by the Russkies.

theCzar

Oh and incidently to people looking for flights, I haven't read whole thread (no time!) but I'm seeing ebookers and mish mashes of ryanair and regional connections on the first page.

www.s7.ru is, to my mind, the only way to get from Dublin to Moscow, one way direct flight from 80 squid before taxes if booked a few months in advance, likely about 120 or 160. That will not be beaten.

EDIT:
Oh and S7 fly into Domodedovo, which is far nicer place to land than Shermetyevo as there's a dead handy train link straight into central moscow for a few euro. Taxis from Shermetyevo will cost you the price of another flight.

Random

cristina06 wrote: »

I have downloaded the visa application forms. could anyone tell me about the medical coverage?? do we need that? if yes, where do i get it from and how much does it cost?? and what about the index & name of tourist group? i dnt have a tourist group!
Thanks

You do not need medical cover.

Posted via Mobile Device

Hmm_Messiah

If of any interest to any one

10.06.08 120 people queuing for visa

10.06.08 mailled it instead

12.06.08 passports and application returned - had paid too much !

12.06.08 Thursday re sent

17.06.08 Tuesday passports back with VISA


other than paying 100.00 to visit some ones country I was very happy with the service

Outlawtorn

Hmm_Messiah wrote: »

If of any interest to any one

10.06.08 120 people queuing for visa

10.06.08 mailled it instead

12.06.08 passports and application returned - had paid too much !

12.06.08 Thursday re sent

17.06.08 Tuesday passports back with VISA


other than paying 100.00 to visit some ones country I was very happy with the service

Did you put cash, cheque or postal order in the envelope???
Also which option did you choose, 1,5 or 10 days??
So posting it would be best all round then??

theCzar

the queue was pretty bad when I went, but its a question of time really. If you need it pronto you're better to go early and queue, if you have a fortnight (leaving some time for safety margin) and you trust An Post with your passport, mail is definitely easier.

I didn't do it myself, but usually, nobody likes cash, usually bank draft/postal order/cheque is prefered.

Knowing how intentionally difficult the Russians make the whole process, I wouldn't be surprised if they insisted on being paid in non-sequential deutchmarks or faberge eggs

rainbowtrout

i sent mine when i was getting it by registered post and paid by postal order. no problem.

Hmm_Messiah

I'd suggest Postal Order as the way to go - prevents any delay clearign cheques etc

Sugarfree

Sorry to open an old thread but I am planning to travel to Omsk in September. Flying into Moscow and getting the trans siberian express from there to Omsk. Has anyone any experience with the Russian embassy lately? would they still be a bit pissed off about the government expelling there diplomat?

undo

The Russian embassy is an experience in itself. I cannot imagine that them being pissed off would make any difference. It is one hell of a gloomy and backwards place already .

Make sure to apply for your visa in time and be prepared to come back and provide additional documents that you may have forgotten. Also remember that you need to fill in the online application before visiting the embassy. Otherwise, they will just turn you right back.

Ficheall

Just to check - I presume one doesn't need a Visa for a stopover in SVO?
The stopover might be over a day long though, so I'm hoping that they won't want to close the airport at night or anything...

undo

A stopover is defined as a stay of 24 or more hours. For this, you would need a visa. If you stay less than 24 hours, you are dealing with a transit, not a stopover. As long as you do not intend to leave the airside part of the terminal, no visa would then be required.

It is entirely possible to stay in SVO overnight. But it is extremely unpleasant. On our way back from PVG last year, my friend and I had a 12 hour overnight transit in SVO. I got a transit visa beforehand and left the terminal to explore Moscow. He spent the night at the terminal instead.

Hi experience was that there is nowhere to lie down. All the benches conveniently have armrests between the seats that cannot be folded up. Also, the frequent reminders not to leave your luggage unattended do not let you sleep. On top of that, he was unable to locate a working power outlet and so could not use his laptop to keep him entertained. I found one later - so if you look hard enough, at least that last problem can be worked around.

Our experiences are shared by many others. Moscow Sheremetyevo actually won an award as "worst airport" to be staying at overnight:

http://www.sleepinginairports.net/europe/moscow.htm

Edit: In case you were asking this because you were interested in booking the SU error fare with up to 18 hour transits at SVO - the fare has been pulled, booking is no longer possible. We got our €245 DUS-PVG-DUS flights on this fare last year, a friend got €245 SXF-PEK-SXF just yesterday .

Ficheall

Thanks very much for the rapid response.
I'm trying to get to Hong Kong, and am willing to fly from anywhere in Europe (taking a Ryanair to wherever's cheapest to fly from), but it seems that almost all of them stop in SVO - certainly all the cheaper ones. Or possibly Saudi Arabia. For an extra 200e or so I could fly direct from, say, Amsterdam. I'm strongly considering it at this point.

undo

A bummer you missed the SU error fare then. You could have gotten SXF-HKG-SXF for ~€300 all-in. And FR do DUB-SXF.

I just saw a €360 fare SXF-PEK-SXF with Transaero. Maybe you should look into that airline. They may be doing HKG at a similar rate.

dizzydiesel

Has anyone tried to complete the online visa application recently as linked on the Russian Embassy in Dublin?

The site says you need to complete the online form before you go to the Embassy, but it also says you need to bring 2 copies of your form with you.
I've tried filling out the online form, but there are pages to complete. The basically want to know what you had for breakfast.

Does anyone know if you can just go to the Embassy with your documentation, (invitation letter etc.) without a prior online application being submitted?

Thanks

undo

dizzydiesel wrote: »

Does anyone know if you can just go to the Embassy with your documentation, (invitation letter etc.) without a prior online application being submitted?

Sure you can. But all they will do is point you at the poster on the wall that says "you need to fill in the online application first" and send you straight back home.

There is absolutely, positively no way around filling in the online application first.