Russian visa, how do I obtain one outside of the USA? This is going to be tricky. My initial plan was to travel to Helsinki, Finland and apply at the Russian embassy there but it’s not so simple. Not only do the Russians require a ton of documentation (which I may or may not have on me at the moment), they might outside reject my application since I didn’t apply for it in the USA. I am going to take a shot in London, see what the Russian embassy there says.
This might be the same for India and China down the road but not as bad as Russia I think.
So US$130 for a Russian Visa…and all the hassle…is it worth it for St Petersburg and Moscow? A tourist visa is only for 14 days I think… I have to think about this one. Maybe bypass Russia altogether this time around?
You should have taken care of this before you left, or at the very least had the proper documentation. Getting your visas are the biggest roadblock to travel outside of Western countries. Russian visas are the most notoriously difficult (and expensive) to get. You didn’t mention that you’ll also need an invitation from a Russian agency.
Everyone tells me I should’ve taken care of this before I left but I believe those visas (India/China) are all “effective from issue date”, not “arrival”. If I’m not going to be in India until later this year, and China middle of next year…then what?
Documentation wise, all I need are copies anyway so my family can email me copies of whatever I need, if anything.
Ok, maybe Russia I could’ve taken care of it in advance but I read somewhere ppl have done it via Helsinki and I was counting on that. I didn’t know when exactly I was going to be in Russia as I was planning on winging it.
in soviet russia, visa invites you
seems like alot of work, but the vodka…hmm tough question
Meh. I’m all about beer anyway. Czech + German.
you COULD skip russia..gives you an excuse for a vacation next time (:
That’s right 🙂
why don’t you try going to the US embassy for help? they may be able to pull some stunts for a fellow countryman.
and BTW, beer is good…but sometime, vodka is pretty cool too. and then there’s whisky…and wine…ok, i better stop before i sound like an alcoholic.
Yeah I’d imagine beer would be expensive in Russia but I heard vodka is dirt cheap.