Russian Visa
 

Hello everyone
Are there known problems with the US-imigration for an foreigner (German)
with a Russian-Visa in the passport?

My employer will send me to Russia for work with an 1year-visa.
And I'm gone start my "Global Entry"-process next week. (1st visit to the German borderpolice and then on)

Your Russian visa has no impact on your status for entering the US.

The official at the US border will probably only wish to know which US state Russia is in, as he might not have come across it in his elementary school geography books.

Technically, (if &) when the individual was in elementary school, it wasn't "Russia", but the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics". Seeing "socialist" in the name made some of these people go a little nuts

Maybe with a gas station attendant in a middle of nowhere it would be the case. A CBP officer would probably know that Russia is a country, at least because he encounters people from all over the world on a daily basis.

I fly from YYG to the US nonstop and yet quite often some of the more senior CBP employees don't know that YYG is in Canada. I have not seen any such issues with Russian flights to the US. Very few, if any, of the youngest CBP employees may have been born after the dismantling of the Soviet Union but old nomenclature can be rather sticky when it comes to older folk.

The OP is unlikely to have a problem with CBP because of a Russian visa, although it may be possible that questions could arise related to declared residence or with matters tied to residence.

I know some Scandinavian attorney who live and work in Russia and come to the US for vacation. They haven't had a problem. But none of them have been trying for Global Entry type of allowances for the US AFAIK.

Sorry for the off topic comment, but...

The title of this thread, "Russian Visa", made me think, "Russian MasterCard" and "Russian Discover". All of which led me to remember the old Yackov Smirnoff joke (from the Soviet days):

In Russia we don't have, like, American Express. Instead, we have Russian Express - "Don't leave home!"

It's a complicated, old, out of date joke, probably not funny any more. But it sure was funny in 1984!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GK8ewRec7c

Someone told me he actually has a theatre in Branson, MO...

Since we are off topic I remember one funny he did about how great America was because we had "warning" shots. If you are wearing parachute pants it's funny.

Visa Application
 

I'm looking at the requirements for applying for a Tourist Visa. Two of the requirements are as listed on http://www.russianembassy.org/Embass...rist_visa.html are "a contract for provision of tourist services, confirmation of reception of the tourist?"

Does this mean I can't apply independent of a tour operator/group? That is, go solo in the Russian Federation? Anyone have a rec for a reputable tour operator for the purposes of visa application? Or know a way around this?

You can apply on your own, but you would still need the extra paperwork from the hotel you are going to stay in. This is the normal method.

Don't have/want a hotel. The way around this is to use an agent. They provide the "tour operator" paperwork. Not sure for how much longer this will be possible under the new laws they recently passed though.