I’ve been talking about going to Russia for a long time. The trouble is, there’s a huge obstacle to getting there from the UK: how to get a Russian visa?
You need a visa for lots of countries. I’ve done the forms and letters for people at work for Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Sierra Leone and Libya. They don’t particularly scare me. But I’ve never done one for myself because I’ve never been to a country that requires a visa. That was the appeal of Ukraine last year; a flavour of Russia with no visa. Did get my first real passport stamps though.
And applying for my own visa was terrifying! For one thing, I need to apply for the dates I’m going for. That means I need to book flights. Then I need an invitation voucher. That means I need to book accommodation. And the Russian Visa Application says to book nothing that can’t be cancelled before you definitely receive the visa.
The voucher was the first problem. Some hotels provide them for free. Most charge for them, which they’re not supposed to. Of the six hotels/apartments I booked, only one even mentioned the voucher.
The internet recommended buying one from a tour company. This is a legitimate service a lot of them offer and while you have to pay for it, I reckoned it worked out cheaper – and it was definitely easier – than requesting six individual vouchers.
Not without its worry, though. It didn’t have space for all six of my accommodations. It didn’t have two of them on its drop-down selection box and I had to choose two with similar names. I don’t know anything about this company – and if you can get a voucher this easily and yes, kind of fraudulently, then what’s the point?
And then there was the form. It took two evenings to fill in the whole thing. It wanted everything. My entire autobiography. My parents’ passport numbers. Details of all my previous passports – both still in the passport drawer, fortunately. Dates of every country I’ve been to in the last ten years. The ten boxes provided just about covered the end of 2017 to now. The important one was Ukraine, because it said it would check this against my passport. Ukraine is the only one you’ll find in my passport. It just about stopped short at requesting my blood type and eye colour.
Now I have to take it in person to the Russian Visa Application Centre in London (or Manchester or Edinburgh but London’s closest), along with a passport photo. I’d seen people mention travel insurance certificate so I renewed mine a month early and took that. It wasn’t listed on the required documents but it’s just plain stupidity not to take it if you’ve seen a suggestion you need it. Spoiler: you don’t, not for a UK tourist visa.
So, to London. It’s an unassuming building halfway between Barbican and Old Street stations and like Argos, you sit on a plastic chair and wait for your number to be called. The difference is that you’re given that number by a security guard as you go in and you won’t necessarily be called in order. Some services are higher up the priority list than others and visa application is at the bottom, which is why the screen will suddenly skip sixty before returning to its usual pattern.
I didn’t note what time I went in but it was around lunchtime and I sat there for about an hour. That seems consistent with the RVAC’s Google Maps reviews. They have a computer and printer for adjusting and reprinting your form if you messed up and there was a bit of a queue for that. Reviews say reprinting costs £6 a go so proofread your form before you get to London.
My number was called. Desk two please. I handed over my documents and the nice Russian lady shuffled through it, checked my passport number, my invitation number and my dates and that was it. Nearly it. They also took my fingerprints using a little green-lit glass box to my left which was at a really bad angle for putting my thumbs on.
I opted for my visa to be couriered to me rather than going through this again to collect it in a month, I scribbled my name and address on a plastic envelope and the whole lot was put in a bag and thrown in a crate, where it sat untouched for at least three weeks. You can pay extra to have it done in three days but standard processing time is a month and if I paid even more money, it would only sit untouched in a drawer at home. And it’s already expensive! It works out at £100+ not including postage. That’s why I need to make the most of Russia – it’s more expensive than my entire Malta trip in January before I’ve even left my house. Total waste of money to just do a long weekend in Moscow.
Then there’s a month to worry about it. Is the voucher genuine? Should I have listed all countries I’ve been to on an extra bit of paper? Should I have put something more detailed than “Yes, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram” in the “are you on social media?” boxes? Have I got time to try again if I get rejected? Am I allowed to try again?
And now it’s here! I’m going to Russia! My new visa is prettier than the one my school arranged in 2002. Got my name on it in Cyrillic letters. Hi, I’m Джули now. Back in 2002 they didn’t need biometric data. I don’t think I filled in any forms. By the way, if you can’t get to a RVAC, they can send a mobile biometric desk to you. I bet this costs an absolute fortune.
So that’s how to get a Russian visa in the UK. Tedious paperwork, a visit to London and an expensive gamble on flights and hotels. Good luck. Any questions, drop them right here.