Russian Visa
 

We are planning a June 2018 trip to the Baltics which will include 2 days in St. Petersburg and we plan to add on several days in Moscow. We have been reading about visas for Russian travelers being difficult to get and are concerned that this might lead to a backlash that will make visas for Americans traveling to Russia to be more problemmatic. Any thoughts or advice? I know it's probably hard to predict, but any info would be greatly appreciated prior to finalizing our plans.

There are agencies that will handle almost 100% of everything required to get a Russian visa for you, for an extra fee - you fill out a form, FedEx them your passport and payment (or pay online), and they handle the rest. A friend used this method to get visas to go to Russia last year and it worked well for her and her traveling party. Sounds like it would be worth it, if you don't want to worry about hassles.

As I understand it, you can't even apply for a visa until you within 90 days of arrival in Russia. I know my friend had to wait to send her application in.

But, that was before the recent escalating tensions. Who knows what the policies will be next year?

One option for a quick visit to St. Petersburg might be to do what I did last year: do a 72 hour "visa free" visit by ferry. Then you don't need to get a visa at all. Take a ferry one evening overnight from Helsinki, spend three nights in St. Petersburg, and depart on the same ferry back to Helsinki. (When I did it, I had two nights and three days, but the ferry operator changed the scheduling. Click on my name to read my trip report(s) from last year.) This means you probably can't go to Moscow - well, you could, but there's barely time, and I probably wouldn't. I'm assuming even the "visa free" rules will still be in effect next year as well - who can say?

If you are planning a trip now, maybe it's best to plan it both ways: where you get a visa and can go longer and visit St. Petersburg and Moscow...or you can't and just do the ferry like I did and take extra time elsewhere in the Baltics.

Thanks for the input. You are correct - it is hard to know what the situation will be next Spring. This is one of those where trip insurance is probably a MUST!

If it were me, I would plan three scenarios and make contingency plans to do my trip three ways, based on the situation next year:

1. Get a Russian visa, visit St. Petersburg and Moscow
2. No Russian visa take the ferry to/from St. Petersburg via Helsinki and spend three nights there.
3. No visit to Russia at all - spend more time in the Baltics or Scandinavia.

Obviously, not a good idea to book flights into/out of Russia til closer to departure or just plan flights into/out of other cities besides Russia. You can take the ferry anyway even if you get a visa (round trip or just one way, train the other direction maybe - I loved the ferry experience, actually, more than expected.