Moscow On The Hudson: The Pains Of Getting A Russian Visa

Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.

You, guys, don't know how to deal with the completely ridiculous Russian queues.

You have to come 1-1.5 hours before the place (say, the consulate) opens and reserve your spot in line. You assign yourself a number, basically. If for any reason you have to leave, you generally won't lose your place in line if you tell 2-3 people in front of you/behind you that you are going to come back and to have them hold your place in line. This sounds weird and I could never understand that. When the place opens, you have to rush in to make sure nobody cuts in front of you and the queue order is conserved - use your elbows but don't get in a fight!
If this doesn't deter you from going to Russia, the visa application fees may - $600 for a 3-day visa, ~300 for the regular 2-week tourist visa. Ukraine, on the other hand, does not require a visa from the USA. Then again, not many US citizens are interested in going to Ukraine (although you may have been better off flying into Kiev and then taking a train/bus into Belarus). Nothing but bad experiences with government/customs workers in Russia on this side; dealing with Ukrainian officials was downright pleasant, although I was there for only a day.

With that said, things have gotten much better at the Manhattan consulate. Yes, they were much, much worse. First, they now have two separate lines - one for those with visa/passport problems, second for the unruly retiree crowd receiving their pensions (you may have ended up in that crowd by mistake, and boy, are they used to the queues of the Soviet Union). Second, the consulate actually - gasp - schedules and keeps appointments instead of just letting everyone storm the place. And the people inside are relatively nice as opposed to the bitter taste of the Soviet Union service you used to get before where everyone looked at you like you ate their lunch. This is based on experience this past winter and experience of 4-5 years ago.

Also, never fly Aeroflot. If the plane doesn't crash, the best you'll get out of the flight will be terrible service.

Add your comments

Your comments:

Remember me

E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.