Russian Visa Help!
 

Hi all,
We're 2 Australians currently in Almaty, Kazakhstan. We're looking at crossing Russia to head to Finland, possibly with a detour to Georgia for a week or so. We've been operating on the advice that the best way to go is a transit visa for Russia (because we couldn't apply for a tourist visa outside Australia). With this in mind, we downloaded forms, got all our paperwork in order and went to the consulate this morning in Almaty (apparently Tuesdays are the only day they will look at visa applications).
We were met with a brick wall in the form of a woman who said that we weren't able to get a transit visa (even if we were to forego Georgia) and that we must come back next Tuesday with different forms, hotels booked for every night in Russia (we'd been planning on camping) and then be prepared for a further 2 week wait while the visa was processed.
We're now pretty concerned, because we don't want to be in Kazakhstan for another 3 weeks.
We're wondering if anyone has any experience with the embassy/consulate in Astana? We were thinking that perhaps we should just go to Astana with all of our paperwork and try for a transit visa there, going straight to Finland, via Moscow and St. P'berg, not heading to Georgia. Does anybody know if there is a particular day at the Astana consulate that allows visa applications?
We've emailed David from stantours, but haven't been able to get much info from him, so we're keen to see if anyone here can come up with some advice, because we really need to get some form of Russian visa!
Thanks in advance,
Angus

Angus:

I travel through Russia several times a year (delivering aircraft, my day job), and I can tell you that it is a MASSIVE pain in the arse to obtain Russian visas. Heck, I can get a visa for North Korea easier than I can get a visa for Russia.

Pretty much everything that the lady told you is true, except that the waiting period of 2 weeks seems a bit short (a bit optimistic) to me. I have my office obtain my Russian visas, and it takes about 8 weeks from start to finish of the process every year. Don't be surprised if they tell you that you have to get a HIV test as well, and submit the results with the visa application.

I cannot comment on your plan to try and get a visa in Astana, I have always applied for my visas in Canada (where I live, and my country of citizenship). But, honestly, I think you are screwed - I have never heard of anyone being able to short-cut the Russian visa process, no matter how much money they are willing to throw into the process.

Note also that to the best of my knowledge, a Russian transit visa is only valid for 96 hours (Edward Snowden excepted).

Michael

While I'm sure there are different rules for different nationalities/embassies, in Washington DC US citizens can get a Russian visa overnight if you pay an official fee for expedited service.

I also think that a transit visa is a total non-starter for what you want to do.

Update:
We went to Astana to apply and have been issued transit visas with minimal fuss. Initially applied for 5 days, so we could get through quickly, but they extended to 9 days without us asking.
All good!

HI,

If you end up central Finland before 23th August (when i will be going to Georgia) and you need someone to show Jyväskylä city, any advices, information or place to sleep in my living room send me PM to get my contact information (you wouldnt be first aussies sleeping in my living room :) )

Sami

DHL your passports back to an agent in Australia, get them to get you a 1 month tourist visa on a 24 hour service, then DHL the passports back to you in Almaty.

Its been done before often with Brits who for whatever reason didnt get Russian visas before travel. So its tested and it works.

Getting tourist visas is fast and easy. Its only business visas that are a lot more of a process.

You should have your passports back in a week, with Russian visas.