Korean Job Discussion Forums

dbmctague · Joined: 12 Oct 2008

For a tourist visa in russia a hotel/hostel arrangement is required. My question is, how accurate must these arrangements be? I'll be takin the transsiberian starting in Beijing and I've got no clear date when I'd actually enter Russia, as I'll be getting on and off on a whim depending on how interesting the cities are leading up to Russia.
The hostel I would like to book is all the way in Moscow, despite the fact that I'll be spending my first nights in Russia in Irkutsk.

Is there any problem with me booking a hostel in Moscow, lets say for the night of March 22nd, when the time frame of me entering Russia through Irkutsk can be anywhere from March 12th to March 20th.

Is all the embassy want just one hotel/hostel arrangement form, doesn't really matter when, where, and how long, just as long as it falls within the validity of my issued visa?

Thanks in advance

Surprised

rocket_scientist · Joined: 23 Nov 2009 Location: Prague

The reservations are completely phoney. Your invite letter company should handle that.

VanIslander · Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 2:53 am Post subject:

a mickey of vodka clears the paperwork, trust me

Ninjaniki · Joined: 05 Jul 2008

Brooks · Joined: 08 Apr 2003

I guess the train goes to Mongolia and then up to Irkutsk.
A travel agent should take care of the hotel reservation, and the dates.
I think Irkutsk to Moscow takes four days.

In Irkutsk, bet bet would be to take a tram to the hotel.
The train station is by a tram stop.
You can buy a ticket on the tram from the ticket taker (controller in Russian).
Maybe the hotel would be across the river, where the center of the city is located.

Spud10 · Joined: 26 Sep 2009

Before I go any further, let me say I could be wrong, b/c its been a while since I last looked in this.

Aside from the Chinese and Mongolian Visas, which are fairly easy to get and work with, I've heard the Russian Visa is a PAIN to travel with.

This is what I remember. Normal Russian travel visas require an Invitation. However, you can get a Russian Transit Visa in Beijing, but its only valid for 10 days, starting when you get it. And you have to register in Russia with in 2 (or maybe 3) days.

Problem is, if you take the TSR straight thru Russia, NO STOPS at all. By the time you get to Moscow, it leaves you with just 4 days before you gotta get out of country or get in trouble with the Russki Man.

So, if you want to stop at random cities/towns on the way. You might be in trouble, especially as I think the Train doesn't run every day. So if you get off in some Siberian outpost. It my take a few days till the next train rolls thru,

Then again, this may have all changed. But its what I remember.

dbmctague · Joined: 12 Oct 2008

Thanks for the advice guys.

I don't think it's going to pose any problems. I found out the dates of intitial entry on the application form just basically signify when the russian visa will become valid.

Capo · Joined: 09 Sep 2007

http://www.realrussia.co.uk/visa/visa_support2_tourist.asp

They will provide you will with an letter of invitation along with phoney hotel bookings, its just a hoop u have to jump through to get the visa. beyond that it doesn't matter, u don't have to stay at those hotels. The only thing is that if you stay at any place for more than 3 working days u will have to register in that city, if u move around alot it won't be a problem, but be sure to keep all your train/bus tickets incase you are asked 'documenti projalistar' by the militsia.

Now with regard to the visa you may run into problems applying in Korea because to apply for the russian visa you must have 3 months of validity left on your foreign residency, but you cannot apply for the until 3 months before your entry date....I'm know what i'm talking about because i got a 'neht' from the russian embassy here and had to fly home to apply, but my friend who worked illegally for a bit before getting legit had plenty of spare days on his residency to apply here.

chris_J2 · Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Location: From Brisbane, Au.

ajgeddes · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Location: Yongsan

Brooks · Joined: 08 Apr 2003

39 hours from Ulan Bator to Irkutsk?
Really? I will ask my Mongolian student. I can't believe it is that far.

soviet_man · Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Location: Seoul

I think Ulan Bator to Irkutsk is about 18-19 hours travel including the border crossing on the international trains.

Perhaps the 39 hours is on the plaskartny Mongolian local train.

chris_J2 · Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Location: From Brisbane, Au.

No, it was 39 hours from UB to Irkutsk, on the international train, in 2007, including the stop at the border for an hour or so at midnight. It may have even been 4 hours? I just remember it was a fair while, before the train left Naushki. It started in UB late afternoon/early evening, & went through Ulan Ude about 7am the following morning.

'Legend Tour' has it at 35 hours 37 minutes (1d, 11h 37m), but the trains are rarely on time, and perhaps this doesn't include the 1-4 hour border stop at Naushki?

Train 263 Ulaanbaatar - Irkutsk (daily in high season)

ULAANBAATAR
- 19:35 0d 00h 00m - - -
Darkhan
- -
Sukhe-Bator
- -
Naushki
14:15 14:40 0d 18h 25m - -
Ulan-Ude
21:10 21:50 1d 01h 20m - 90$ -
Sljudyanka - 1
04:45 04:47 - -
IRKUTSK
10:27 - 1d 11h 37m - 115$

http://www.legendtour.ru/eng/train-ticket/train-263-ulaanbaatar-irkutsk.shtml

So UB to Ulan Ude alone, is over 25 hours.

Train 005 is also over 24 hours, & spends 4 hours ar Naushki on the border:

http://www.legendtour.ru/eng/train-ticket/train-005-ulaanbaatar-moscow.shtml

Irkutsk to Ulan Ude is 456 kilometres. The average speed of the train is only around 45-60 km per hour. This is NOT the KTX!

http://www.legendtour.ru/eng/russia/trans-siberian-railway/trans-siberian-route.shtml

dbmctague · Joined: 12 Oct 2008

Well applied for my Russian visa today and expect to get it by the 11th of January.
157,000 Won for Americans, that's insane, even more than China.

Anyways, the service was terrible as there was only one guy working a desk and about 5 Russians sitting in the back room doing nothing. I waited in a line (well, more like a cluster of applicants) for 30 minutes, of which most time was spent due to a guy getting visas for about 15 people. There wasn't anyone behind me so he could've been nice and let me go ahead, but he didn't. Then during the entire time his visa was being processed, he looked at himself in the mirror and played incessantly with his hair. The man looked utterly sleazy.

The glass bulletproof teller window has no holes so the man doing the processing, despite speaking great english, was barely audible. He said something to me, hinting that something was wrong with my application. Before I was able to ask, he got a phone call and proceeded to talk for about 5-7 minutes so I couldn't ask him what he had just told me. I didn't want to bang on the window out of frustration, for these are the people that are handling my visa and I assume on a whim, could reject me if they wanted to.

All in all, it took me about an hour to turn in and pay for my visa application.

On a side note, I'm an F-4 visa holder and he did take a good long look at my ARC card. Had my card expired by March 2010, and not March 2011, I think there may have been problems. He also took a much longer look at my application than all of the korean's applications.