Way to Russia Community and Forum

adeelitc · Just Starting Joined: 02 Jan 2009 Posts: 1

Thanx 4 shearing with us..
Adeel Khan Sherwani from <a>Atlanta</a>

ssokol91 · Just Starting Joined: 16 Jun 2009 Posts: 7

I have been traveling to Russia over 10 years on Tourist and Private Stay visas. It is not necessary to register with the same host that sponsored your travel visa. I always went to a friendly tourist agency, which is not the same one as my hosting agency just because it was much cheaper.

However, I do have a question if anyone has ever traveled on Tourist Visa, but actually stayed at an apartment and registered through Landlord's Post Office. Technically it shouldn't be a problem, because you are not obligated to stay at the hotel that you are booked for various reasons such as hotel being overbooked, too many cockroaches, or simply because you changed your mind. Therefore, if I never had any problems registering with a different host, I probably shouldn't have any problems registering through a private homestay.

Any thoughts on this one? Very Happy

Gieliovd · Just Starting Joined: 03 Nov 2009 Posts: 6

Hello all,

I've just registered after spending days of research and still having questions! Mainly currently about registering.

I've made up a little scheme because I want to visit a friend of mine in St. Petersburg soon and stay at her place instead of a hotel.

Well, officially that would require a special visa but I don't want to do that. I'll just get a tourist visa.

My plan:
- Use WTR to get an invitation (visa support+cover letter?)
- Travel to StP.
- Stay at her place for about 2 weeks
- Go back home.

Well, I've been working through the obvious problems like health insurance but the problems I face are:

- How do I register? I get a bogus hotel reservation with the WTR service, but will WTR automatically register my stay? Or can I just take my friend to the post office and fill in the form (Anketa?) there to say I'm staying at her place?
- What address do I fill in on the immigrations form? The bogus hotel reservation I presume?

Apart from that is all seems no too hard. Just get the invitation done and talk to the consulate for the visa. The consulate should accept the bogus hotel reservation and give me the visa without hesitation, right?

And whatever I do in StP. is up to me then, would be good!

Thanks for responding although this thread is kind of dead.

romdur · Just Starting Joined: 17 Mar 2010 Posts: 0

To the best of my understanding...

Anyone who is registered at an address, can register someone else at that address. This is subject to the limitation, that immigration authorities may question whether the number of persons registered at an address is greater than the house can accommodate.

As a practical matter, it is not necessary, that your registration address match your invitation address. For example, an invitation can come from a travel agency (for purposes of a tour), and a person on the tour could then register in one or more cities during their trip. The addresses won't match the travel agency address.

For the migration card, I don't have advice about the address. I have no information about these addresses being checked in any way. In a situation like yours, I would probably write my friend's address, but I think the inviting hotel's address would be OK too.

Gieliovd · Just Starting Joined: 03 Nov 2009 Posts: 6

Thanks!

Sounds promising!

Gieliovd · Just Starting Joined: 03 Nov 2009 Posts: 6

I got an email from Expresstorussia.com with some info I requested. I find it funny that it isn't the same as the info I found by myself.

aussiegirlmeetsworld · Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 3:59 pm Post subject: need some info on visa's

My Aussie friend and I are currently travelling in Europe. We are very keen to get onto the Trans Siberian to Beijing. We are looking into organising visas for all 3 countries, Russia, Mongolia & China. But can we do it if we need our passports pretty much up until when we leave??

We would like to get the train from Moscow which departs 1st Dec, I've got 3 more countries I'm going to before I hit Russia. When applying for visas, do we always have to send them our original visa - or can we somehow send photocopies, then perhaps pick up our visas in Helsinki (where I'm meeting my friend)??

I'm in Athens at the moment, then I'm in Barcelona, London very briefly before hitting Helsinki to start the journey.

Everywhere I've read it looks like you have to send them your original visa, can I perhaps sort these out in any of the places I'm going to beforehand. If so, where and how long does it generally take.

Thank you for any assistance.

Mary & Dazzling Dazza

romdur · Just Starting Joined: 17 Mar 2010 Posts: 0

@aussiegirl:

I'm afraid that the travel you intend is probably infeasible, at least on the dates you have in mind.

To be clear - a visa from Russia (I believe this will also be true for the other countries you want to visit) is a full-page sticker permanently affixed to one of the visa pages of your passport. Part of the process of obtaining such a visa, is giving your passport to the Russian consulate in your country (in a minority of cases, you can also apply for a visa in a third country).

If you are in, or could make your way to, the United Kingdom, you could apply for a Russian visa - but you would have to stay there for up to 2 weeks, as the visa processing service would have your passport during that time. See http://ru.vfsglobal.co.uk/generalrequirements.aspx

In order to apply for a Russian visa, you need an official invitation, which you must pay for and would take at least one more day.

If you're not in a position to make your application in England, then as far as I know, you probably won't get a Russian visa in Europe (but possibly, there is another 3rd country - maybe Finland? - where you could try). And if you could get a Russian visa, you would still need to arrange visas for Mongolia and China in the few business days remaining, after your passport was returned to you - I don't know whether you would have enough time.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult, or even impossible, to get a Russian visa when you are not in your home country. And to visit 3 countries that require visas, it is probably best to begin preparations at least 2 months in advance - and to do so in your home country.

Wish I had better news for you!

heyra · Just Starting Joined: 13 Nov 2009 Posts: 2

so is there an answer to this tourist visa but register at a private adress quastion?

I will my self get a tourst visa but live with a friend and i have no clue what adress i should write that i stay in on the migration form. If its my friends or a false hotel.

Then i dont know if my friend can register someone with a tourst visa on his private adress.

If someone can help me with this ít will make my trip to russia much more conviniant.

Gieliovd · Just Starting Joined: 03 Nov 2009 Posts: 6

I can't give you a conclusive answer. All I can conclude at this stage is that it doesn't seem to matter what's on your invitation when you want to register.

The invitation is merely a piece of paper you need to get the initial visa. As soon as you're in the country, you just need to tell the government where you'll be, registering your visa.

It's unclear to me where to do it though. In recent information I read there is no OVIR anymore and you need to go to the post office or the police station. But now this agent I spoke to says you have to see OVIR.

Confusing stuff.

I'm at the verge of ordering an invitation and getting down to the consulate. My plan, as it looks now, would be that I still need to find out what address to fill in on the invitation. The agent says "any" but it looks weird to have a home address on it? And then just go to the consulate or use a visa-by-mail service to get it.

As soon as I'll get to Russia my friend and I will work out where to register and just go there.

I read it's cheap.... anyone got info on that? I can order an invitation with visa registration as well but that's €30 extra.

Gieliovd · Just Starting Joined: 03 Nov 2009 Posts: 6

I found some more info.

when you order an invitation at www.expresstorussia.com you can order a basic one for 18 USD or one with registration in St. Peterburg for 55 USD.

I'm looking into the factual cost of registering yourself once in StP but that seems to be around €30 USD as well. So why bother?

But how do they actually supply you the registration documents? I'll look into that.

romdur · Just Starting Joined: 17 Mar 2010 Posts: 0

In Sankt Peterburg, I usually use a visa service that provides the invitation, and has a business relationship with a travel agency in town. On the day after I arrive to Sankt Peterburg, I make a trip to the agency's office, where they make a copy of my passport (and I pay them the fee, if I didn't prepay in my home country), and they take care of my registration.

Gieliovd · Just Starting Joined: 03 Nov 2009 Posts: 6

I got my invitation papers yesterday via mail. Quick and cheap! Didn't bother getting the 1 day quick service. Had it in within less than half a day anyway.

I'm going to go to the consulate with all the papers on monday (I think).

As soon as I get to St. Peterburg I'm going to take the adventure on with my friend and just try and register the visa manually. We can always use one of the travel agencies to do it! It seems quite easy.

Like Romdur says, you can just let someone do it. They'll make copies and you can pick up the documents 2 days later (or something).

I've learnt a lot in my research.

It just seems easy at this stage....

- Get a health insurance declaration
- Buy a visa invitation (visa support documents, voucher)
- Go to the consulate with all the papers and photo's and stuff
- Register your visa at the OVIR or police OR let some office do it for a fee.

Askapart · Just Starting Joined: 08 Feb 2010 Posts: 1

(Apologies if this is a duplicate post - I was under the impression I'd posted here a couple of days ago but can't see my question.)

We're UK nationals renting an apartment in Moscow, and my parents want to come and visit us. If I've understood correctly, the normal procedure would be for our landlady to register my parents, but she's not going to be available. What are my other options? Is there a travel agency somewhere that could handle this for me?

romdur · Just Starting Joined: 17 Mar 2010 Posts: 0

I was informed by a US expatriate living a long time in Russia, that it is not necessary to be registered by the property owner: a person registered at an address (because, for example, it is his home) can register you as a visitor. Whether you can personally do this, may depend on your status (temporary residency, or whatever you may have), and I don't have information on this.

If you don't have the legal status to register your parents, there are certainly Moscow travel agencies that take care of registration for people not staying in hotels.

Some agencies will only register people who got their invitations (visa support) from a company they are affiliated with. I have heard that there are agencies that will handle registration, regardless of who issued the invitation, but I don't have definite information or experience to back this up.

To be safe, I would suggest that you find a UK visa service company that can provide visa invitations, and that is affiliated with an office in Moscow to handle visa registration. Perhaps WTR (this website) can connect you with such a company; or you can make an internet search.

Here is a UK firm I found in a quick search:

http://www.realrussia.co.uk/visa/tourist_visas2.asp

Their website says that they have a Moscow office that handles visa registration.

Way to Russia Community and Forum

Way to Russia warm-up: place both your hands in front of you and then count one word for each finger, starting from the left thumb: "Conversation Is a Way of Finding Out What You Think".

Latest forum activity (view all)

mediashark

Daria

cyndy22

Most recent activity (view all)

Latest Blog Posts

Way to Russia on Facebook

Escape Beyond the Arctic Circle

Pics from Russia

	Way to Russia Talk Lounge Forum Index -> Russian Visa Forum	All times are GMT + 3 Hours Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3 ... 9, 10, 11
Page 11 of 11