Russia - Visa First, THEN Airline Ticket

Should I get the Russian visa in hand first, THEN get the airline ticket? Or what should I do? What are your recommendations?

There's an interesting question. I bought my tickets to Russia from my mobile phone whilst at a birthday party drinking vodka. It seemed like a great idea at the time. That was in the August and the travel was for the end of October. In the 10-ish weeks between we were not able to legitimately secure our visas despite numerous visits to the embassy.

Comment 1) I do not believe we presented out flight itinerary for the visa application so if you are able to get a visa then with hindsight I wish I had done it before booking the flights.

Comment 2) The normal practice at the time, and I believe I saw this recently, is that you buy your travel from a travel agency with a reciprocal deal with a Russian travel agency. The Russian travel agency will sponsor your visa application effectively rubber stamping it.

Having booked our flights and being about 5 days before our travel and still not having visas, I called a favour in and we ended up going on business visas via a Moscow consulting firm to work as business analysts for 10 days in a Siberian coffin factory. Amusing at the time but I wouldn't recommend it for stress free travel.

As long as you're buying far enough in advance (a month or more out) I don't see any problem buying the ticket and then getting the visa.

When there is less time, I think it's better to make sure you get the visa sorted out before committing to the ticket, unless you normally buy changeable/refundable tickets.

I've ALWAYS bought my tickets first before securing visas.

On a sidenote, everytime I've entered into Russia I never had a return ticket and have yet to have any problems (crossing my fingers.)

I always get visa first. Be REALLY careful with Russia visas. They tend to be careless with the dates and then you could be screwed.

I noticed on my visas that the Embassy had entered the wrong dates, but the visa agency had caught the error.

I was on a cruise starting in St. Petersberg. One couple had visas, but the embassy put the wrong dates on them and they missed the Russia part of the tour and caught up with the cruise on the first stop after Russia.

Unless you have reason you think you might get denied (on some list), it shouldn't be a problem.

In practice, i've always waited till it has been successfully processed (i.e I get a receipt from the Russian Consulate)

Should I get the Russian visa in hand first, THEN get the airline ticket? Or what should I do? What are your recommendations?
Considering your forum name, you haven't been Russian citizen at any point in the past, have you? If you lived in Russia as of February 1992, you might still hold Russian citizenship and you may end up renewing your Russian passport instead of getting a visa. Probably does not apply to you, but there are many people who found themselves in this situation.

Almost every country's embassy recommends not to get the tickets until you get a visa. As you can get Russian visa a year before your planned trip, it will make sense to get the visa first and then get the flights, just in case.

Almost every country's embassy recommends not to get the tickets until you get a visa.Off-topic here, but it is not true. For EU countries, tickets are a required element of application.

And you can only apply for a Russian tourist visa 3 months before your trip.

There are some good points on this thread, but as someone who has been working on travel to Russia and the former Soviet Union for over seven years, I would like to correct or amplify some of the points:

1. For US citizens, in practice airline tickets are not required to be purchased before getting a visa. The major exception is for transit visas, in which case the Consulates require a copy of the itinerary from an airline (one reason why we would recommend tourist visas in this case).

2. You cannot obtain a Russian visa more than 90 days in advance of its date of validity (i.e., you are planning on visiting Russia on April 1, 2012; you need to apply after January 4, 2012).

3. You do need to verify the dates on the visa are correct (again, a benefit of using a visa company).

4. JohnnyColumbia's experience is atypical but illustrates why it is easier to go through a visa processing company which knows Russian Visa issues and has a relationship with the Consulate. In practice you can buy the travel from anyone, it is the invitation that you have to be careful about (when getting a tourist visa; transit visas are handled differently but most of the time we just obtain a tourist visa as we can issue an invitation).

The above comments are based on our experience in obtaining visas for US citizens from the Russian Consulate in New York; other situations may have different consequences and requirements.