Moscow Travel Forum

I am looking into traveling to Russia next year - come into St. Petersburg, leave from Moscow. I have been looking at the visa rules in the following site:

http://moscow.usembassy.gov/russian-visas.html

I know you need a sponsor, a visa, and you need to register the Visa, but when we start getting into the Migration card and sponsorship availability in case of problems, I am a tad unclear/unexperienced.

- If you are arranging the trip yourself and working with the concierge in a hotel to obtain the invitation, is the hotel then you sponsor who you need to contact in case of any problems with your Russian visa?

- Is the entry and exit visa in the same Visa document, - or does an entry and exit visa need to be separately requested.

- Are you able to wait until your Visa gets registered at the hotel, or does this visa registration process take longer?

We were planning to arrive in St. Petersburg and return from Moscow. Because the "sponsor" would need to be available to help with any visa issues,

- would you recommend arriving and departing from the same place, i.e Moscow, to mitigate any visa issues, or does it matter?

If your visa sponsor is a hotel employee (this is a reputable hotel part of the Starwood chain), and for any reason this person stops working in the hotel, what happens? Will the hotel manager or head concierge become your sponsor?

- Would the sponsor then perhaps be the company that is being utilized by the hotel to provide the guide/driver?

Agggh!

I would honestly get a travel agent to consolidate an itinery for you including internal travel and accomodation. It is the safest way to get your russian visa. You need to account, in advance usually, for every night you are in Russia, and then on exiting the country your entry card must agree as well. I have heard of people being refused a visa if they had done bookings themselves over the net and not formalised the entry requirements. - yes its a total pain

Thank you. So - a travel agent versus the hotel concierge?

Hi,

I'll try to explain as I understand your's question.
<If you are arranging the trip yourself and working with the concierge in a hotel to obtain the invitation, is the hotel then you sponsor who you need to contact in case of any problems with your Russian visa?>
If you'll be staying in hotel- you need to have a confirmation (invitation) letter from the hotel, in that case the hotel are the sponsor, not individual person which working in the hotel. If you'll staying in your's friends house, so in that case concrete person must send you the special invitation, which must be approved by Russian police.
When you arrive in Russia you"ll registrate your's visa and migration card in your's hotel (it takes 10 minutes), which are confirme that you stay legal, according to your's visa.

<Is the entry and exit visa in the same Visa document, - or does an entry and exit visa need to be separately requested.>

In your's visa you'll see two dates, the earliest day you may enter Russia and the last day you must leave Russia.
Only if you have overstay your's visa validity, you must ask for Exit visa (to leave Russia).

<We were planning to arrive in St. Petersburg and return from Moscow. Because the "sponsor" would need to be available to help with any visa issues, - would you recommend arriving and departing from the same place, i.e Moscow, to mitigate any visa issues, or does it matter?>

It depends only from your's preference!

Don't be afraid, it's not to hard to get a visa as it's look. Russian peoples must get visa for most of all countries, but it's not obstacle for our journeys.

Hope I help you.

Good luck!

What you want to do is not really very tricky--I've done it many times--but it's true, the regulations look confusing. It is best to go through a visa processing service--they can tell you everything you need to do and make sure all of your documents are in order. These days, if you are applying from the US, there are only a couple of visa agencies that are permitted to do the applications by mail: Travisa and CIBT. The Russian consulates are not allowing by-mail applications from individuals anymore--if you want to do your visa without using an agency, you have to apply in person, which is a major pain.

Both Travisa and CIBT have websites that walk you through every step in the process. Pick one or the other, swallow hard and pay the fee. You will be glad you did.

If you have hotel reservations, the hotels will do the invitations, and you just submit those documents with your visa application. The hotel, not an individual, is the inviting organization, and they will also take care of the visa registration once you are in Russia (they just have to stamp a piece of paper, basically--very quick). You won't need anything from your sponsor beyond that.

Don't worry about arriving/leaving from the same place. As long as you have your visa validated by your hotels, no one will care about that.

Thanks Julie. I have used Trevisa in the past. So, would it then be better to obtain the invitation from the arriving hotel since they will "register" the visa?

Yes prices are exhorbitant, but the tour packages are all unknowns. The cruises are obnoxiously expensive and there does not seem to be a way to go to the ballet. I have gotten a quote for a private guide and driver - expensive, but for what I would like to see I can do it for instance in two days in Moscow.

One question re. Moscow: Should I only have a driver for half a day for the places that are a bit farther - then ride the metro with the guide, or should we avoid the metro altogether?

Thx,
-Martha

Hi,

I think you must have invitation letters from both hotels, because they must cover all time of your's staying in Russia.

You can use the metro in Moscow to see all major sights, it'll be better to avoid metro only during peak-hours(morning 8.30-9.30, evening 18.00-19.30), but any way it's not a big problem too.

Good luck!

> So, would it then be better to obtain the invitation from the arriving hotel since they will "register" the visa?

It doesn't matter who does the invitation--the hotel can do the visa registration no matter who your sponsoring organization is. All they want to see is a valid visa in your passport.

> One question re. Moscow: Should I only have a driver for half a day for the places that are a bit farther - then ride the metro with the guide, or should we avoid the metro altogether?

I would actually say the opposite: take the metro and avoid driving. Moscow traffic is absolutely awful and it is generally much faster to use the metro to get anywhere. If you are going places that are very far from the center (e.g. Novodevichy Cemetery, Borodino memorial, etc.) then it might make sense to drive, but pretty much anywhere in central Moscow will be easier to reach by metro/walking than by car. You'll see what I mean when you get there.

Great info Julie, thanks.

I always like to analyze situations - when I was going to Argentina I had to sort thru all the negative (sometimes true) information and make an educated decision.

At this point I am not sure if I will be traveling alone, or with a friend. [Sometimes when another person is involved, if it becomes a burden because you're not sure if they're committed or not, you need to make a decision.]

Anyhow, I'm using expensive hotels, having the hotel do all reservations, like pickup from airport, take me to the train station, book my train tickets, etc.


-For a woman traveling alone, does that sound sensible, or it's best not to go alone? I don't go out at night or drink - just sight see.

Do want to go to the ballet. Have you been to the Bolshoy? (sp?).

Is late May a good time to visit Moscow and St. Pete (concierge indicated May was better to catch a ballet performance).

> I'm using expensive hotels, having the hotel do all reservations, like pickup from airport, take me to the train station, book my train tickets, etc.

If you have the money to pay for all of this stuff, and don't feel comfortable working with independent agencies, it certainly will make your life easier. The costs are truly shocking, though. Prices for just about everything at a high-end hotel in Moscow will run you well more than the same services at a similar high-end hotel in other cities. Prepare for serious sticker shock. It is definitely possible to arrange these services for less money, if you want to. Pretty much any travel agency in Russia will be able to do all these things for you.

> For a woman traveling alone, does that sound sensible, or it's best not to go alone? I don't go out at night or drink - just sight see.

Russia is very safe, and this is one thing that you really should not worry about. If you are staying in the city center, don't think you are trapped in your hotel room at night--you can go out and feel fine. This is especially true in the May-July period, when it is light out until quite late at night. I used to live in Moscow and speak/read Russian, so I am very comfortable walking around at all hours, but even if you don't, you really don't have anything to be concerned about. Street crime is really not a big deal there.

> Do want to go to the ballet. Have you been to the Bolshoy? (sp?).

I have, but not for years. When I lived over there in the 1990s, it was a lot easier and cheaper to get tickets. One issue you might consider is that the Bolshoi (Moscow) and Mariinsky (St. Petersburg) send their main companies on tour in the summer. Their seasons run in the fall and winter. You may end up seeing the second string, so to speak, if you go during the summer.

> Is late May a good time to visit Moscow and St. Pete (concierge indicated May was better to catch a ballet performance).

Late May is an excellent time to visit in general--see the paragraph above as far as when the opera/ballet seasons go. Looking at the Bolshoi's website (http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/), it looks like the main company will be on tour in the US starting in early June. So they might already be gone by the end of May.

Hi,

the end of May is really good time to visit Moscow and St.Petersburg, it's not be very hot in Moscow (yes, some years it was very hot during summer,over +35C) and in St.Petersburg you can see the nature phenomen - White Nights (Beliye Nochi), which usually are from 25 May till 10 July, it's a wonderfull time in city.

Also, keep in your's mind, that main historical buildings of Bolshoy Theater, now under reconstruction (all events now at the new stage). So if your's main goal to see the theater inside, may be it's better to choose Mariinsky in St.Petersburg, which also very beautifull.

Good luck!

This is all excellent information!

I wish I was going this year!

Re. affording higher end hotels: The packaged tours to Moscow are outrageous. In my case (my husband has been in hospice for a long time) - I may need to cancel at the last minute - and I can only do that if I book myself (minus a small amount I will need to give the hotel if they've already issued the invitation). Also I do not plan on staying very long - so I think we will have the guide to get past any issues (not the car). I know sometimes a guide can be stifling - but we can always have one day to ourseves (assuming my friend comes with me).

Thank you again! Need to copy this thread to my Russia worksheet!

The tour prices to Russia are outrageous, and when you have booked, guess what, the suddenly go up again. Still it is the easiest and most foolproof way to do it.

Best of luck, It is a fabulous country to visit, I loved both SPB and Moscow.

we are leaving for russia at the end of may 09
we are not doing a tour and of course we too had the headaches of organising everything ahead of us
that is why
wechose to get our agent to do it
we have very few russian experts here in our country so we really had to rely on our agent and his connections with another agency that dealt with russia

we chose to have an apartment but this meant that we had to get the company who deals with the renting of apartments inmoscow and st petes to issue an invitation
then this was sent via our travel agent to the consulate here ( we used a courier service rather than opting to go andsit and wait for ages in the consulate ourselves)
it took 13 working days to get back
we had to obtain a passport style photo and answer one page of questions about our employment etc but nothing to too tricky
the agency that dealt with the apartment in moscow rental wrote out a 'voucher' which read where were were staying ( didnt state the actual apartments but a hotel that supposedly is vouching for us lol- hope noone asks too many questions if we are stopped)
anyway - we got back our passports ( dont send in the cover cos theyre often lost lol) and inside was a our visa with just our names in english and russian translated

the invitation and visa support cost $150 aud each ( the support is the bit that supposedly gets you registered - otherwise you have to go stand in a queue at the moscow post office or police station)

then we had to get the actual visa processed by the consulate
and that cost us a further $85aud each plus a few bucks to get a bank cheque and 40 aud for a courier arranged by our local travel agent

glad it's all organised now

i say go through a travel agent or some reputable visa agency and definitely direct any questions you have to your consulate in your country
get the number and address of your embassy in moscow just in case
i think you can get help at the airport too - consulate help i think but i hope we are not held up in any way
good luck and enjoy your travels

Thank you lanerunner - yes I do have a good Visa service that I work with. I'm only staying for 2-3 days in each city, so not doing an apartment. I'm having the hotel concierge handle any bookings.