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Tatiana Gavrilova Editor |
Tania is a full-time journalist who occasionally finds time out of her hectic shedule to write for VisaRus. We'd like her to write more, but then so would everybody... |
| Getting a visa is not as easy as parking your car on a hill in the snow. Read on to find out more... | ||
Getting a visa...
Long gone are the days of Soviet-style bureaucracy, when getting a visa was akin to having to pull your own wisdom teeth out with rusty pliers, only to be told to go back and do it again because you'd missed out a field in the form.
These days, the visa application process is much easier, but that's not to say that it's completely devoid of challenge. To find information, you have to wade through lots of outdated or unreliable sites on the internet, not to mention politely humour the advice of your well-meaning but totally potty neighbours who went to the USSR in their hippy days and lived on the proceeds of selling their ripped flares to the locals.
There are a lot of commercial companies that deal with Russian visas. This is fine for a one-time visit, but when you plan to keep coming back, you need to cut out the middleman unless you have a special stupidity fund in a high-interest bank in Switzerland.
Rule no. 1: Don't panic.
The Russian Federation is not the big scary monster it seems. It actually allows people to come and go (and even live here) relatively freely. As long as you apply for your visa properly and follow all the rules when you get here, you should have no problems.
Rule no. 2: Don't panic.
There are several different types of visa, from the humble 28-day tourist visa right up to the almighty one-year multi-entry, with different flavours and textures all the way in between.
For a first visit to the country, the tourist visa is by far the simplest option. It can be bought online from many companies for around 30 USD, and the processing fees vary depending on your country and how quickly you want it done. For details of your nearest embassy or consulate, try this link: Russian Embassies List
Once in the country, things get a little easier. Providing you don't forget to register your immigration card of course. If you decide that you like the place and you want to stay, you can go to one of the many agencies dealing in visa invitations. They can generally print off a tourist invitation on the spot, but invitations for longer visas like the one-year multi-entry take up to a month to process (awkward if you are there on a one-month visa, I know, but it's possible to wait until the last minute and buy a tourist visa if your multi-entry invitation doesn't show up on time). However you do it, once you have a new invitation, you can make your first visa run to the nearest neighbouring country that will let you in. Finland and Estonia are popular destinations, with Tallinn (Estonia) being a much cheaper place than Helsinki to entertain yourself while waiting for the consulate to process your visa.
Rule no. 3: Don't panic.
The main thing is to keep your head about the whole situation, and to keep track of dates for renewal of any documents, registration, etc. It's all too easy for these things to slip your mind while you're having fun, and can lead to real problems when you come to leave.
That's the visa process in very much condensed form, stay tuned for information about registration.
The site editors are always happy to help, and we will do our best to answer any questions that you may have.
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