You should list the place where you have "reserved and fully paid accommodations." That would be the place that OOO Europlaneta has stated they will put you up, not where you will actually stay.

Thanks! I thought so. I finished my application and took it and my passport and payment etc. to the Russian consulate here in San Francisco (in Pacific Heights, to be specific) on Thursday morning around 9:30 (their official hours for dealing with visas are from 9:00 AM to noon, M-F). I rang the bell and got buzzed into the gate and buzzed into the door, and entered to find quite a small room furnished with a few couches (helpful for family members waiting while the head of the household stood in line) and tables (presumably for filling out, finishing, or re-doing forms ;)), a Russian consulate person behind a window, and just two other parties in line ahead of me. :eek: I was surprised by how small and quiet the office was.

Anyhow, I had a fairly short wait while the consulate guy helped the others in line by answering questions and explaining things (both in Russian and English). When I got my turn, I found the young man to be friendly and chatty (rather the opposite of how such functionaries often are). He looked over my papers and engaged me in a bit of dialog, finally handing me a receipt -- a slip of paper that included the pickup date, which was just 11 calendar days after my application/dropoff date. (Maybe it would have been even sooner than that, but for the fact that the 11-day mark fell on a Monday!)

So far, so good.

Oh, forgot to mention: on my visa application I put an entire 30-day period starting on my planned day of arrival, even though my actual stay will only be a fraction of that. Thus I will be covered in case of unexpected delays in leaving the country (or even possible slight postponement of the trip). From what I've read here and elsewhere, trying to leave Russia with an expired visa is a no-go.

Good call. You should always pad your Russian visa. I padded mine just a few extra days. The next time, I will go further out.

Glad your visa process was smooth going! :cool:

I went and picked up my passport w/Russian visa today -- it was scheduled to be ready yesterday, but I just didn't manage to go to the SF Consulate until today.

The visa looks OK, i.e., has correct name, passport number, entry/exit dates, etc. So the whole process wasn't TOO bad (though far more complicated than for any of the other nearly 40 countries I've visited).

The main monetary costs were: $131 visa application fee payable to Russian Consulate (plus additional dollar or so to US Post Office for money order); $20 for invite/tourist confirmation paid to russia-visa.com (one-day turnaround by e-mail); and cost of passport-type photo. Other than that, the costs were my time spent figuring out how the process works, filling out the application, and going to the Russian consulate twice (once for dropoff, once for pickup).

Next time you can do it yourself for pennies.

Well, I didn't actually specify how much my passport photo cost, so for all you know, maybe I DID do it myself for pennies! :p

I've been a lot places, but never to Russia. Sorry for the dumb question, but do you have to actually purchase an airline ticket prior to the approval of your visa? Thanks for your answers.

No, not in my experience at least.

Thanks for the help.

This is very helpful and appreciated information. Was there any discussion or questions asked by the man of when the visa would be ready or when you needed it? My wife and I are flying to Canada on Aug. 21 and need our passports for that. We're planning to go to the Consulate tomorrow to drop off the paperwork, which would give them 16 days to complete the visa, which should be enough, but we need our passports back on the 21st and $250 seems like too much for the expedited visa fee.

More specifically, a visa expediter does not require you to have a ticket, although if you are applying for a visa directly from the consulate/embassy you need one.

Use the expediter. I'm a DIYer on this sort of thing, and after wasting time dealing with the consulate, it proved infinitely easier to use an expediter.

"Questions of when I needed the visa?" In my case, I wasn't going to any other foreign countries before my trip to Russia, so I wouldn't actually need my passport back until a day or two before the dates requested on my visa application (i.e., in time for my flight to Russia). Anyhow, the consulate guy handed me the slip of paper with the pickup date when I dropped off the application.

But since you have a special situation, you might want to discuss that with them. You are cutting it a bit close. They might even recommend that you pay the expedite fee (times two). I really don't know. Good luck in any case!

Wrong! There is NO requirement to have an air ticket when applying for a visa from the consulate or embassy. There is a (theoretical) requirement to have a confirmed, prepaid hotel reservation; however, the expediter firms can set this up for you, so you don't even need to get your hotel(s) to write confirmation letters for this purpose. Anyhow, on the visa application, there is nowhere to put any flight info, nor do you need to show proof of a flight reservation.

On this subject, here is what the website of the Russian consulate in San Francisco has to say:

http://www.consulrussia.org/eng/fee.html

Of course, I ignored this advice because I wanted to grab an airfare deal and put in my upgrade requests ASAP, and I was reasonably confident I could get the visa in a timely manner.

I agree only to the extent that getting your invitation and tourist confirmation from one of the various firms mentioned here (for $20 or so) is money well spent. But I didn't find it necessary to get the full service from an expediter. However, that is because I was willing and able to hand-carry my passport, application, fee, etc. to the local Russian consulate. If I didn't live near a consulate or embassy, I imagine I would have just paid for full service.

This thread should be made a sticky.
 

I just came across this thread. Excellent topic for a thread. Maybe the moderator(s) will consider making it a sticky as anyone who goes or plans to go to Russia has to get a visa.

:p Bully for you -- and for going to the Consulate, too. I figured the $40 to the visa place was well worth it for the time and aggravation saved.

No kudos are deserved on the photo front -- I actually got it at Kinko's, er, Fedex Kinko's, or rather, Fedex Office or whatever it's called today, for a moderate fee (but more than a few pennies). :p

The motivation for the consulate trip was a combination of 1) wanting to save a few bucks; 2) curiosity/desire for a learning experience; 3) always worrying a bit about mailing important documents such as passports; and 4) liking the instant feedback from the consulate person as to whether my application seems to be in order, and when my passport w/visa will be ready.

(In a similar vein, when I have planned leisure trips to China, I have applied for my visa in person at the SF Chinese consulate.)