Russia Visa in Ulaanbaatar, Possible? Whats the situation?
 

Hi all, we will soon be doing Mongolia on two wheels but will sell the bike in Ulaanbaatar to take the trans-siberian home.

I have read some conflicting info about whether you can get a Russia visa in UB or not. One of us is with a US passport, the other with a Swiss. Anyone done this recently?

Specifically we were curious of

A.) it is possible (I have heard you must apply for Russia visa in your country of residence)

B.) Do you need all the invitation and hotel bookings etc.

C.) How long does it take

And lastly, if it takes several weeks would it be a problem to leave our passports in UB while they process the visas and go tromping around Mongolia with only photocopies of our passports and the receipt from the Russian embassy.

Any help much appreciated!

Not sure about for Swiss citizens, but US citizens definitely don't need to apply for a Russian visa in the US. I've received many Russian visa outside of the US. This differs by country, however, based on reciprocal visa arrangements, so could be different for Swiss.

In 2015 I met one person in Oasis who got a Transit Visa in UB.

I am not sure what Nationality he was, but I think he was from Europe.
At least he did not speak German. So no Swiss, Austrian or German.

Last year friends of me get It. Not sure how many time was needed, but I think It was less than a week. Try to get fresh news.

Regards.

I got my Russian work visa (UK passport) in UB November 2016.

Is there any update to this?

Coming from Europe to Mongolia, continuing to Vladivostok, it is not clear to me what the best choice is. Perhaps take a normal tourist visa of one month (which we will probably need one month). And then go to Ulaanbatar to get a new Russian visa?

I also read the business visa can be used to get a longer duration double entry visa. But if you take the multiple entry that is one year, you have to stay out of Russia for three months. This is too long, maybe we stay two months in Mongolia.

So three months double-entry also won't work because it is probably too short.

So I'm wondering if we would take a 5 to 6 months double entry business visa, it would work? Or other restrictions?

First:

This year I met a British guy in UB who got transit Visa.
And he was able to go back to Europe in 10 days, not more.

Second:

I ad 3 times now Russian Multi entry business visa.

And I got in several times without 3 month of waiting.

With a 1 year business visa you van stay up to 90 days in 6 month, then you have to wait.

And you have to apply for it in the country where you are living.

only transit you can get on the road as it seems.

Thanks for all the replies. Just to report back how it went for me...

It was possible for me (I am with a US passport) but my travel partner was Swiss and for her it was NOT possible. She had to Fedex her passport back to Siwtzerland and pay an agency to do it. Go figure.

For me I needed the invitation and hotel bookings and it took just over a week I think. I was out motoing around the country though and didnt return to pick it up for several weeks, which was fine. The guy working at the embassy speaks great english and was surprisingly friendly.

So it works fine for some nationalities, but not for others.

Thanks guys for the info.

It seems that for Europeans you could only arrange transit visa's. I guess we could use that as a backup plan, but would prefer the business visa with double entry.

@klausmong1, I guess I didn't interpret the rules well. I guess during 6 months you can stay 90 days, but they can be split up over multiple entries. And when you reached the maximum of 90, then you have to stay out for 3 months. I guess it is like that?

Yes, it is like that.

And you cannot have 2 Russian Visas at the same time!!

So if you have a valid visa, you cannot apply for a new one

you can ... you just need to have more than one passport. :thumbup1:

I have had 15 one year business visas, and often go in and out weekly. There is obviously no 3 months out of country requirement. The only requirement is that you are limited to be in Russia a maximum of 90 days during the past 180 days.

keepcalm

You are right, I did just think about the option with 1 passport.

And how I understand, if you use the 90 days in the first 90 days, then you have to wait for another 90 days ( to fullfill the 180 days ) to enter again.

But if you use the 90 days in different periods, than you can just enter again after 180 dys for a new 90 days of traveling

I hope this was not to complicated.:-) :rofl:

But if someone knows the rules well, it's Colebatch

It is clear to me, thanks. I have used two passports per person on a previous Asia trip, but now it doesn't seem to be necessary. Longer Russia visa, Mongolia visa, and Japan you get 90 days free.

And we travel with kids, so that would involve a lot of extra cost (not only for the passport but also double visa)

Coming back to this topic, it seems that we won't be able to get a Russian Business visa for the kids (I guess that kind of makes sense, otherwise it would be child labor :P )

So we would probably have to try and get either a new tourist visa or at least a transit visa in Ulaanbataar, to get to Vladivostok. If we choose to do it this way, we will update this topic.

However, it would also mean that using a tourist visa for the first part. It would have to be 30 days at least, and should start (as in being valid) from around a week after we left home, something like that. That seems to be possible, if the invitations are done correctly, is my current understanding.

I am not so sure that is correct actually.

I have never done it, but the visa agent I use has recently told me that I can get a mirror visa for any dependant children I have for russian visas. i.e. she can issue a business visa invitation for me, that also will include my dependant daughter. Both passports are processed at the same time under the one invitation. Like I said I havent tried it to date, but I am told it is possible.

That is different from getting a complete separate independent business visa for kids ... which of course is impossible.

@colebatch. Ah thanks! That makes sense actually. I might look into that. It also seems like it may be cheaper? So you get two visas for the price of one, or at least of the price of one invitation.
Anyway, there is still the feedback that you cannot get a 6 months multiple entry visa without being to Russia before. Some say it is not true, but I also got it here locally from a visa agency.

However, I know now that I can get away with just a 30 day tourist visa (of which I can set the dates in future right where I need them) and getting at least a transit visa in Ulaanbatar to get to Vladivostok.

We won't spend more than 30 days in Russia in the first part, because we will visit some cities and visit the Altai region, before we have to move on to be "in time" for Mongolia. With in time, I mean the warmer months to be in Mongolia.

But it is good to know there are some options. If we could get a business visa at least double entry, I guess it would be nice to have everything covered with visas before you leave.
But we're used to getting visas on the way, and knowing that the bare minimum is a 10 days transit visa, we should be alright.

We went to Russia in 2011 for the first time with a 1 year multi entry business visa and had never been to Russia before.

It is one of those great russian wives tales (most inaccurate russian travel myths seem to originate on Lonely Planet forums)... I have heard it many many times ... but never seen one shred of evidence that indicates it is true. I have seen a lot of evidence to say it is false ... many people have gotten 12 month multi entry business visas as their first visa to Russia

It is written for example here:
https://www.visatorussia.com/russian...a_support.html (near the bottom)
And here:
https://www.visatorussia.com/russian...a_support.html

I think it just depends on which consulate or embassy you are using. I'm sure you can get lucky somewhere and get it at once, without being in Russia before.
For our local embassy it does not seem to be the case, as our local visa agency is also telling us about this policy. I don't need to use our local visa agency, there are a lot of others to choose from. But I think it says something about the local embassy applying this policy.

Anyway, I would really get it into it and try to make it work if there was a need for it. But now, I don't really see the need, because we can get a second visa in Ulaanbatar. Even a 10 day transit will be enough, but we will try to get the tourist visa again. If we manage a tourist visa in Ulaanbatar, I will report it here.

Well, I can just repeat, that I did it 3 times now without been in Russia in the past 12 month.

I also know many travellers from Germany, same there.

I also know that some visa agencies say that.

But still, many people get that from different agencies who do not say that it does not work.

But you still can believe your agency and hold on to that problem which all the others don't have.....

You are only confirming what I'm saying, read it again.
And like I said, I don't have a real need for it, otherwise I would try it.

No, I don't confirm what you are saying !!!

And as far as I know , you can only apply for a new visa when the old one is expired ( with the same passport )

And also as far as I know, you cannot get a tourist visa in Mongolia with a German passport.

But its your trip, and your choice.

Why make it easy, if it is also possible the hard way ?

@Klaus and others, there are several things going on.
Like you cannot get a Tourist visa in Ulaanbataar with a German passport, but at home in Germany (or Austria for you?) you can get a business visa without having been in Russia before (in past 12 months)
For us in the Netherlands it is the other way around. I cannot seem to arrange a business visa in the Netherlands, but I will most likely be able to get another tourist visa in Ulaanbataar. And as I said many times, I don't need a second tourist visa, it would be nice, but I could also use a transit visa which they issue there anyway.

I will try to explain. There are mainly two rules that are sometimes being applied, depending on the embassy/consulate where you go.

1. Being registered in the country where you apply for a tourist or business visa
You can read about it on: https://caravanistan.com/visa/russia/
There is a list of nationalities, which need to be registered in whichever country you are applying for the visa. This seems to be the main problem for applying for a visa in Ulaan baatar. It also confirms why a German or UK passport holder cannot get a visa there.
The Netherlands is exempt from that, so I should be able to get a visa there. This is confirmed by a Czech guy (Czech republic also exempt from this rule) most recently, August 2017.

Now, if you could get a multiple entry long business visa, then yes, you would not have to worry about getting a tourist visa in Ulaan Baatar. But that gets us to the next rule:

2. Getting a long multiple entry business visa without having visited russia before in past 12 months
You guys keep mentioning that this isn't true. But it is listed at a lot of websites, including waytorussia. It is definitely a rule that exists, and it is also being applied. But it is not being applied everywhere!
That is the simple reason why you guys are able to get a business visa without being in Russia in the past 12 months. Because your embassy/consulate is not applying this rule for whatever reason. Here in the Netherlands, they are applying this rule. So, if I want this kind of visa, I should apply for it in another country where they are not using this rule.
I spoke to a French couple, and for this reason, they are applying at the Swiss embassy.

As you can see, rule number 1 can be involved here. If you cannot get a mutliple entry business visa in your own country because of rule number 2, then rule number 1 may allow you to get it somewhere else depending on your nationality. This also means that there might be people having bad luck on both rules, and thus simply cannot apply for a multiple entry business visa at all.
For myself, I would like to investigate if I can get the long multiple entry business visa in UK or Switzerland for example. That would give more flexibility during the trip than a tourist visa, and getting another visa in Ulaanbator (tourist or transit)



So, hopefully, this will give some information on why you cannot simply say one thing is true. You cannot simply say that you "cannot get a tourist visa in Ulaanbaatar" and you can also not claim that you don't need to be in Russia before (in past 12 months) to get a long term multiple entry business visa.
It all depends where you are applying, and on your own nationality.

I think you have to do it the way where you think it is right,

Its your journey.

Yes that is true. We have not made a decision.

I just wanted to give some background info on what people run into, depending what passport they have or where they are.

We will make a decision when we know where to apply for a business visa (without rule number 2), and in a way that we can have the kids with the business visa as well. Probably there is a way.
It will be more hassle, but in the end cheaper and more flexible.

So, to get back to this old thread.

We got a Business visa through an agency that actually knew how to apply for a Russian business visa with kids. Most of them say it is not possible.
However, it was only 3 months as we have not been in Russia before. We used this to enter two times as expected, to end up in Mongolia.

Today we picked up our new Russian 30 day Tourist visa in Ulaanbataar, so we can do the last leg of our trip.
So everything worked as expected.

Well except for two things:
Should just have gotten a Fifa fan ID, you can enter the whole year multiple times for free!! What a waste of money.

Secondly, they were giving us bullshit over having a Business visa as a tourist. Got away with a warning but it was quite a discussion. This was at the border crossing in Tashanta, exiting Russia.