Russian visa
Aug 1st, 2012, 07:54 PM
#21
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There continues to be a lot of confusion about visa.
It does not help that posts and articles stay up on the internet for years after they are obsolete.
Other than international cruise passengers or passengers of two ferry cruises by Peterline, you need a vias, either Tourist visa or Business Visa for a river cruise. The application that includes: Passport photo, completed application form(American citizens have to fill out a more intrusive 2 page application because Russians have to submit to even worse if applying for US visas), the Consular fee by money order. The current fee is $140 for the consulate and $30 for the drop off point now as of May 12th 2012, a company names ILS. You can no longer visit the consulate to apply in person and you have not been able to apply by mail for 5 years. The application is now prepared on-line with the Foreign Ministry's web site. Filling out the document on-line stores the information in their Database in Moscow and it allows you to print the hard copy that goes long with the application. Also the passport is needed, and must be valid 6 months past the expected exit date from Russia. The visa is a pasted-in sticker that takes up a whole passport page. Two free unused pages are needed.
The final requirement is Visa Support, often called Invitation. It is a two part document that is issued by your host in Russia. Only hotels authorized to host foreign guests and tour operators are legal sources for Visa support for Tourist Visas. There are lots of visa services selling this document but it is not strictly legal and it is possible to have serious problems if caught. I had a very unpleasant experience when the Immigration officials contacted me in Russia saying my visa was illegal. I bought a visa support document from Travisa in San Francisco which was essentially a rip off in the first place. But when I got to Russia and was there for a couple weeks I was confronted by the fact that the visa sponsor that Travisa sold documents from, was not really a company and investigators for the immigration service were trying to track down approximately 3,000 holders of these illegal visas. For this I paid a great deal to Travisa, where they bumped up the price a couple times after I had submitted my order, each time saying they needed to pay more for faster processing times. The charge escalated to over $500.
That was the easy part. I had to attend hearings and hire a lawyer in Russia and eventually pay a $3000 fine and talked my way out of being deported.
I was in a hurry so used a visa service. I complained to Travisa both in SF and their national headquarters and never got a response. Years ago I had another bad experience with www.GotoRussia.com that also ended up being a major hassle.
If you are booked in a hotel that can legally host you, they will provide the visa support when you book. Some smaller hotels charge $25 or so but most send it for free. Tour operators will send it for free if you book a tour with them. If a river cruise boat company is authorized to host foreign guests they will have to register as a tour operator also so will have the right to issue the visa support for free. It costs nothing to create it and send by email, except for the labor of typing in a few lines. It is an automated process inmost hotels and tour operators which regularly work with foreign guests. Technically your sponsor/host is responsible for you while in Russia. If in country 7 days or longer, they must register your visa with the OVIR(office of visas and passports), or post office. You can tell if the company can host or sponsor your stay or have you in their hotel, they will have a registration number displayed on their web site. That is called the MBT Number and is given to them when registered as a foreign visitor authorized service. I would question the cruise company if they do not supply that visa support, it means that they might not be authorized to work with foreigners. The main requirement in getting an MBT number is posting a substantial bond that proves financial responsibility. The fund created can be claimed against by visitors who do not get what was promised.
A cover letter is often mentioned as being needed but the consulate do not require it and do not even use it if one is supplied in the application.
Anyway, that is the status Russian visas as of August 2 2012
It does not help that posts and articles stay up on the internet for years after they are obsolete.
Other than international cruise passengers or passengers of two ferry cruises by Peterline, you need a vias, either Tourist visa or Business Visa for a river cruise. The application that includes: Passport photo, completed application form(American citizens have to fill out a more intrusive 2 page application because Russians have to submit to even worse if applying for US visas), the Consular fee by money order. The current fee is $140 for the consulate and $30 for the drop off point now as of May 12th 2012, a company names ILS. You can no longer visit the consulate to apply in person and you have not been able to apply by mail for 5 years. The application is now prepared on-line with the Foreign Ministry's web site. Filling out the document on-line stores the information in their Database in Moscow and it allows you to print the hard copy that goes long with the application. Also the passport is needed, and must be valid 6 months past the expected exit date from Russia. The visa is a pasted-in sticker that takes up a whole passport page. Two free unused pages are needed.
The final requirement is Visa Support, often called Invitation. It is a two part document that is issued by your host in Russia. Only hotels authorized to host foreign guests and tour operators are legal sources for Visa support for Tourist Visas. There are lots of visa services selling this document but it is not strictly legal and it is possible to have serious problems if caught. I had a very unpleasant experience when the Immigration officials contacted me in Russia saying my visa was illegal. I bought a visa support document from Travisa in San Francisco which was essentially a rip off in the first place. But when I got to Russia and was there for a couple weeks I was confronted by the fact that the visa sponsor that Travisa sold documents from, was not really a company and investigators for the immigration service were trying to track down approximately 3,000 holders of these illegal visas. For this I paid a great deal to Travisa, where they bumped up the price a couple times after I had submitted my order, each time saying they needed to pay more for faster processing times. The charge escalated to over $500.
That was the easy part. I had to attend hearings and hire a lawyer in Russia and eventually pay a $3000 fine and talked my way out of being deported.
I was in a hurry so used a visa service. I complained to Travisa both in SF and their national headquarters and never got a response. Years ago I had another bad experience with www.GotoRussia.com that also ended up being a major hassle.
If you are booked in a hotel that can legally host you, they will provide the visa support when you book. Some smaller hotels charge $25 or so but most send it for free. Tour operators will send it for free if you book a tour with them. If a river cruise boat company is authorized to host foreign guests they will have to register as a tour operator also so will have the right to issue the visa support for free. It costs nothing to create it and send by email, except for the labor of typing in a few lines. It is an automated process inmost hotels and tour operators which regularly work with foreign guests. Technically your sponsor/host is responsible for you while in Russia. If in country 7 days or longer, they must register your visa with the OVIR(office of visas and passports), or post office. You can tell if the company can host or sponsor your stay or have you in their hotel, they will have a registration number displayed on their web site. That is called the MBT Number and is given to them when registered as a foreign visitor authorized service. I would question the cruise company if they do not supply that visa support, it means that they might not be authorized to work with foreigners. The main requirement in getting an MBT number is posting a substantial bond that proves financial responsibility. The fund created can be claimed against by visitors who do not get what was promised.
A cover letter is often mentioned as being needed but the consulate do not require it and do not even use it if one is supplied in the application.
Anyway, that is the status Russian visas as of August 2 2012
Aug 3rd, 2012, 04:10 PM
#22
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Wow! My head is spinning, but I think I now have a much better idea of what to expect,thanks to all of you responders. The Gate 1 agent told me when I booked that they will provide the invitation letter and I got the idea that they would help me through the process if need be. But she didn't mention cost. Now I know and will not be shocked when I have to fork over a few more hundred dollars for our 2 visas. Thanks again to all of you for all the good info.
Aug 3rd, 2012, 05:59 PM
#23
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We used Gate One last December for our trip to China. We were on our own with regards to obtaining our Visa, which we did in person at the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles.
We just visited St Petersburg on our own in June. We did not have to get a Visa because we took the Peterline from Helsinki roundtrip. We stayed just under 72 hrs in St Pete.
According to the Peterline website we were required to have a letter from our B&B stating we had a reservation and had paid in advance for our room. The only person who looked at the letter was the agent at the terminal in Helsinki prior to our boarding the ship.
We just visited St Petersburg on our own in June. We did not have to get a Visa because we took the Peterline from Helsinki roundtrip. We stayed just under 72 hrs in St Pete.
According to the Peterline website we were required to have a letter from our B&B stating we had a reservation and had paid in advance for our room. The only person who looked at the letter was the agent at the terminal in Helsinki prior to our boarding the ship.
