Applying for a VISA for Russia from the UK
 

Hello all:

I may be taking a trip to St. Petersburg within the next two weeks, and assume I need a VISA. Before you smack me for not planning ahead, I only thought of this today, based on advice from Foderites, when I asked for possible destinations in the next 2-3 weeks.

For those of you that have applied for a VISA to Russia from London, what is the best/quickest route? I assume it is possible to do so on-line? Can it be done within 7-10 days? I will be traveling on a EU/Irish passport.

I need practical advice on those who have gone through the process.

Many thanks for your assistance.

Best regards ... Ger

You need to pay a visa broker to get it done this quickly.

Just stick that phrase in google

You need to get moving on this straight away and be prepared to throw a significant amount of time and money at this problem. Getting a Russian visa is not as quick/straightforward as you seem to think. Find a London-based visa service company who will act on your behalf without further delay.

You can do this via the official Russia visa agency ( note the Russian Embassay does NOT take applications) you can apply ( in person) in the morning and it is then ready for collection the following afternoon after 3pm. The cost per person is £139.

You have to complete the application on line and then print out the application form and take with you, if you plan to pay by CC you have to take that form with you too. Note they do not accept cheques!
you will also need one recent photo.

I have researched it a lot as we are going to St Petes in about 4 weeks and are going through this process. You can apply with the visa people and for around £82 it takes 7 days......I'll dig out the link

http://ru.vfsglobal.co.uk/Tourist.html
This link will tell you all you need to know. You can use a bis a service but they will charge on top of these costs, so if you are able to get to London, this could work and be cheaper.

That should say you can use a VISA service....
The above link is the official agency who handles all visa applications for the Russian Embassay.

Just thought of one more thing, you MUST have your visa offer letter and visa voucher before you apply for your actual visa. I got mine from the hotel we will be staying at ( for free) if you use a visa agency they can get these for you but again they charge.
So in short, if you have your hotel booked, ask them to supply it ( they send as PDFs) I believe most do for free!

You can only use vfsglobal. The visa application process was outsourced to them few years back. They can do urgent visas, so as long as you are prepared to pay and you have your paperwork in order, you should be fine.
Are you going as an independent tourist? You need to have booked your hotel and receive from them a letter of invitation, which is an official document showing your arrival and departure date from the hotel. Some hotels charge for this service, others do it for free. They will ask for the info page of your passport to be sent to them. This is because the letter of invitation will contain your passport no, citizenship etc.
If you don't want to do the above, there are companies in the UK who provide letters of invitation at a cost. It's important that all the documentation to support your visa is correct otherwise it will be rejected. You have time to do this, 2 weeks is OK but it is a busy time for visas.