Job Discussion Forums

[tbarnes]

Hi all, I'm going to do a certification in Prague at ITC in AUgust, then I wanted to go to Russia to find work. well, I only got myself a tourist visa to enter for the month of Sept. I'm sort of mystified as to how I'm supposed to work out the whole visa issue (without having to trek gruellingly back to the states). Do I pray to every deity that i get a job in short order and then hot foot it to some third country (estonia, latvia? any suggestions?) to get the longer term visa once I have the job and the visa support letters? ITC has been most unhelpful, although not for lack of trying, on this.

Anyone been through this process (ie, gone to Russia on only a tourist visa without a job & looking for work) and can tell me about what they did? Or send me a PM. Thanks a million

Tania

[rusmeister]

There are a whole bunch of companies that offer support in getting 3-month business visas for $$$ - in some cases you can get 6-month visas - they used to have 1 year multi-entry visas, but now I don't know.

You can come to Moscow and go to one of the dozens of companies advertising to do this for you in Moscow, or find them on the Internet.
A number of them are as legit as they can be (given the legal climate here), but caveat emptor anyway!

Here's one that I found online.

http://www.visatorussia.com/

[tbarnes]

thanks Rusmeister. I guess I'm concerned about how difficult it will be to actually get the longer visa once I'm already in Russia. I don't have any more time to get it now before I leave for my training course (like i said, I got a tourist visa only). I assume I'll have to leave the country when my 30 days is up to get a longer visa though right? And go on a "visa run" to some third country like Latvia or Estonia with all the visa support letters etc? Is this done easily enough? I don't particularly want to have to mail my passport anywhere in case it goes missing.

[canucktechie]

It is standard practice for foreigners in Russia to head out to Lithuania or Latvia to get a new visa when the old one expires. You can get a new visa in a matter of days, but it will cost you.

However, the vast majority of new teachers in Russia don't find jobs in-country. They find a job over the Internet and telephone, the school sponsors them for a visa, and they get the visa in their home country.

www.expat.ru has a whole forum for visa issues and I suggest you check it out.

[rusmeister]

In the beginning of September, and throughout September, I believe, demand is high. It should be possible to get accepted on a walk-in if you have any credentials at all. It is best, of course, to have an offer before you travel.
Otherwise, canucktechie is right.
Good luck!

[tbarnes]

bolshoe spasibo, you guys are ochen' helpful. well, it was all a bit of a failure of planning on my part, but we'll see what happens!

One more thing: do you think it will be a problem if I don't use my tourist visa and return home instead to get a longer visa in September? Do they frown on this sort of thing, and should I just rip the visa out of my passport?

[spiral78]

Don't rip!!
Any signs of alteration on a passport can get you detained on many borders.....I know a guy who spent two days in a Polish border jail for an unexplainable rip in his passport. Makes the guys immediately suspicious that you've been somewhere you don't want them to know about.
Better to explain the visa, even if the explanation is long and complicated!

[rusmeister]

Yeah, and don't remove the Russian sticky visas, either.

You used to be able to throw old visas away... (sigh)

You should be able to ask the Russian embassy back home to invalidate the tourist visa when you apply for the longer one.
(Although I don't know how curious they would be about a request for such a change.)