The Great Russian Visa Chase
Well according to this $45 USD piece of paper I am now officially invited into Russia, in fact I even have a whole itineray and hotels booked- not that I will ever stay in them. The beaurcracy of the Russian Visa situation is ridiculously confusing. To officially get a visa you must have your entire trip booked and all hotels booked. Obviously this is not ideal for anyone wanting to travel independantly, but the best past is it is all just a front. You simply pay money to an organisation who pretend to book hotels for you. I mean, seriously, dont they work it out??
Anyway once you have your invitation you need a cover letter from a travel agent. Yesterday I spent the entire afternoon trying to find a travel agent who had some idea about what was going on. Most I spoke to didn’t quite get the fact that you dont actually have to book hotels and its really just a sham
“Ummm….so do you have your hotels all booked? Because It says here that you need to”
I ended up explaining the process to most travel agent swho had no idea what was going on. They give me helpful advice like “I am just looking on the embassy website and it says you need an invitation and a cover letter”
Ummm, yes I know I can look at the website myself, and that is why I am ringing, to get a cover letter. Flight Centre wanted to charge $70 for their visa service, which is just the cover letter. STA would only do a cover letter for $50 IF we booked accomodation through them and the only option available for me and my 2 friends was a $320 a night hotel room. So much for being the student/budget travel agency with more options. Finally I found a travel agent who actually had been to Russia and was very helpful in getting it all sorted for me. So my passport and peices of paper are on thier upto the embassy where I have paid $100 to get it processed in time to arrive back before I leave. Fingers crossed it gets accepted! Rdoc and Tom will be applying for thiers in the next weeks and all going to plan we will all have visas and be allowed into the country in September.
Total cost $190 (mainly due to the fact I had to get everything processed faster as you can only apply for a visa 3 months before your entry date and because I am leaving soon it only gives me a short window of oppertunity), For the other guys it will cost $130.
Tags: planning, Russia, visa
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Apparently the hotel we’re booked into for Moscow is 5 stars, overlooking Red Square and called Cosmos. Can’t wait
awesome, I wonder what would happen if we turned up and demanded to use our ‘reservation’?