Viewing topic: Please post reliable accounts of visa 'experiences' here.....

....and nothing else!!

No chat, no jokes.. just anything specific that you think might be useful - so that we can try to build up a picture of what is happening about Russian visas - and where.

(Chat about general visa issues can be entered/carried on under the previously existing threads)

Thanks!

Good idea to have a thread only for the topic, mememe. I hope this is on-topic enough.

My visa dates from 22/07/07 and is for 367 days, so pre-dates the law changes. I have been to UK, Prague and Spain with no problems on returning. Nothing has been added to, stamped on or deleted from the visa.
However, my previous registration, through an agency, was for six months, 06/03 to 05/09. So much for the old system. On returning from a weekend in Prague on 16/10, well after my registration had expired , the new registration was dated from 18/08/07 (possibly for cosmetic purposes) to 25/01/08. This is not 90 days, nor 180 days nor until the end of my visa.
If this helps at all it is probably just to illustrate the confused and confusing nature of things here and, perhaps, that there are changes taking place at least in the registration process. Most encouraging is that existing visas don't seem to be amended.

From the St. Pete's times. In July I was told the same when I went for my visa, although I still got it the same day.

link: http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=23458

Alexander Osipovich and Svetlana Osadchuk wrote:

Foreigners Face Wait Of 10 Days For Visas

By Alexander Osipovich and Svetlana Osadchuk

Staff Writers

MOSCOW — The minimum wait time for a new Russian visa has risen to 10 days at many embassies in Europe where expatriates previously could get them in just a day.

The consulates in Tallinn and Riga, once popular destinations for expats on visa runs, said Friday that U.S. and British citizens must now wait 10 days to receive any kind of visa.

“I’m in shock,” said Paul Goncharoff, a Moscow-based U.S. businessman who learned of the change last week as he prepared to make what had become his annual trip to the Latvian capital for a new visa.

The consulates in Paris and Berlin have also slowed down processing to 10 days, according to visa agencies and foreign businessmen familiar with the situation. Repeated phone calls to the consulates were not answered Friday.

But the consulates in Madrid and London are apparently still offering one-day turnaround.

“Unfortunately, different consulates are doing it differently,” said Tatyana Bondareva, general director of the Visa Delight agency.

The longer waiting times stem from an agreement between Russia and the European Union that was meant to simplify visa procedures and went into effect in June. “The agreement says consulates have up to 10 days to issue the visa,” Bondareva said. “But some consulates have taken that to mean a set period of 10 days.”

The agreement also has lengthened waits because of a provision that has changed the process for issuing invitations, Bondareva said. According to that provision, any Russian company can now write a letter of invitation, a document that has always been required for a foreigner to obtain a visa. Previously, such invitations could only be issued by the Federal Migration Service after the service got a request from an organization authorized to invite foreigners.

The problem, Bondareva said, is that consulates now have to do the work of verifying the facts on the letter of invitation, a task that was previously done by the migration service.

London and Madrid may be among the bright spots for expatriates in Europe. An employee who answered the phone at the Russian Embassy in Madrid said the consulate was still offering 24-hour and three-day processing there.

At the London embassy, a man who answered the phone said most visas were taking about a week to process and asked a reporter to call back for more information. Nobody answered repeated phone calls afterward. But visitors to the expat web site RedTape.ru said the embassy was still offering expedited processing.

Repeated phone calls were not answered Friday at the consulates in Berlin, Paris, Rome, Prague, Warsaw, New York and Washington. The consulates in Kiev, Vilnius and Brussels were closed Friday afternoon. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said requests for comment had to be submitted in writing. Questions sent by fax were not answered as of Sunday.

The EU-Russia visa agreement is the reason behind another change that has caused anxiety in the expat community: a new requirement that foreigners who enter Russia on multiple-entry business visas stay for no longer than 90 days at a time, and for no more than 180 days out of one year. In the past, such visas could be used to stay in Russia year-round.

Bondareva said the EU-Russia agreement had made things easier despite the longer waiting times.

“It has become simpler,” she said. “The inviting party just writes a letter, in a certain format, saying that some person needs a visa, and he will get that visa. But maybe not as fast as he wants it.”

Well, I've been told that I must leave the country after 90 days just to re-register. But it is unclear if they will let me back in or not until I have stayed out for at least 90 days. I got my I year ME Visa before the new rules went into effect in October. The company who invited and registered me say that I can come straight back to St Petes the same day but What if they are wrong and i left all my stuff inside Russia while I am in Helsinky? Nice eh?

Alex_j last night heard an account direct from a UK national who got his visa in March, went and came back recently and was told on the border that he could stay for 3 months and then had to leave.

Inconsistency? Fun. Taiwan looks like a good choice.

Just to let everyone know who might be worrying about the whole visa thing at the moment:

FACTS

I crossed the Estonian/Russian border yesterday (11th Nov) without any problems. I have a one year multi-entry business visa that was issued in London in December 2006. I've been in Russia for more than 180 days. Not only did I cross the border, but so did two dogs (presumably without visas), that didn't belong to me.

In Tallinn, you must wait for 10 days to receive a new visa.

An Irish national who I met in Tallinn, was told that he must return to Ireland to receive a new visa.

You must cross the border every 90 days (the Russian consulate in London told me this 11 Nov).

On a new business visa issued from the Russian embassy in London, nothing has changed. You must leave every 90 days for a day or two and then return. There's no 90/180 rule (the Russian consulate in London told me this 11 Nov). They couldn't tell me if this would change or not in the near future.

The visa agency I use in London, told me that the new 90/180 rule applies to all new multi-entry business visas issued from the London embassy.(It's a fact that they said this, not a fact that it's true).

So make from all of this what you will. It seems to me that the visa agency is saying what they said just to cover their backs. As I understand, the UK has a different agreement with Russia concerning visas, than other European Union countries. So I expect that if you're a UK national and apply for a new visa at the London embassy, everything will be as it was before.

I'm just hoping that when I apply for my new Visa in London at the end of December, the situation won't have changed. As I understand, though it's not a fact, to apply for a visa at the Russian Embassy in London, you must now provide proof of residency in the UK. For instance, a utility bill or something official like that. As for the Embassy in Finland, I've heard nothing.