Applying for a visa away from a consulate or application center in US?

Question

I do not live near any of the major consulates, embassy's, or visa application centers and I am applying for my visa. I am assuming I will have to print out my visa and mail it in, but I also have to mark down where it will be processed here in the states (QUESTION: Select the location where you will be applying for your visa). Does it matter which location I select since I won't be able to go there in person? Or should I select "Embassy of Russia in United States"?

Answer 1

There are 5 Russian consulates and each of them services specific US states – you can find which consulate services your state in here: http://www.russianembassy.org/page/russian-consulates-in-the-u-s

For example, if you are from Missouri, you need to apply to the Russian consulate in Houston. Here's their page: http://www.rusconhouston.mid.ru/eng_main.htm

Since 2012 Russian consulates do not accept visa applications directly, it has to be done through their affiliate visa processing company, ILS. This visa processing company only accepts documents on the walk-in basis or through a personal appointment. You can contact them to see if they will accept your documents by post – please, tell us what they tell you, so we can inform other travelers. Here's their website (for the ILS visa application center in Houston) – http://www.ils-usa.com/main.php?id=contact4&lang=en

If they don't accept documents by post, you can use a local US travel agency - you can find a recommended one on here: http://www.waytorussia.net/RussianVisa/Agencies.html (they'll charge extra though, so it may even be cheaper for you to actually travel to Houston to apply in person).

To get visa support documents, use http://waytorussia.net/Travel/VisaSupport.html