Korean Job Discussion Forums

[TheTeacher..]

Leaving Korea for England on the 27th December..

We are intending to take the trans-siberian before getting a flight from Estonia back to England.

We are in a pickle right now regarding the Russian visa.. Kangsan Travel Agents have said for the last two weeks it will all be no problem, then today just as we send our passports to them we receive an email saying they need our alien cards. They then go on to say that our alien cards must be atleast 6 months from expiring...

Is this true? Are we well and truly f**ked?

We leave for China on 27th December, then hit Mongolia on the 4th Jan and into Russia by the 7th Jan..

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Cheers..

[soviet_man]

I would tend to dispute Kangsan's claim.

Quite plainly thousands of people have been issued Russian visas in Seoul at the ends of their contracts/ARCs.

You've always needed an ARC for a Russian visa, but I've never heard of any 6 month ARC rule.

So go to the Russian embassy in Seoul and deal with them direct over the counter. There is also a smaller Russian embassy in Pusan. If you offer the visa person there a "fee" (so to speak) they will, I'm sure, be able to magically organise it. Russian bureaucracy doesn't move on its own.

The two alternatives are to ask for a 7 day transit visa (can't see why that needs an ARC at all) or hang out in China for an extra week and get it done there.

If it is any consolation, it will be so dark and cold in siberia in January, you won't actually see anything on the Russian train anyway.