Hi Nick, In accordance with the current directives that the Russian Foreign Ministry has disseminated throughout their Consulates, if you are a US citizen and do not hold a residency permit in a 3rd country, then going back to the States is the best and fastest option at the moment. If you go to Helsinki, Riga, Tallinn, or Vilnius, they will process the visa for you, but they will make you wait a minimum of about 2 weeks before they give you the visa, so you get stuck in one of these places and cannot move. In Kiev it possible to get a visa in a day or two, but it usually requires "intervention" from somebody in Moscow with enough clout to make it happen, or alternatively, by writing a "zayavlenie" in Russian at the Russian Consulate on Kutuzova Street addressed to Ambassador Zurabov, then running across town to the Russian Embassy on Povitroflotski prospekt, passing the zayavlenie to the "Kommendant" and asking him to deliver it to the Ambassador's secretary (be sure to write your mobile number at the bottom). The Russian diplomatic mission in Ukraine is usually quite professional and reasonable and if you do the above, they will usually do a quick turn around visa in one day if they know that you are a business person and must get back to Moscow. However, when they do this, they politely remind you that they are making an exception to the rule and in the future you should return to the States and obtain your visa there. Regards, Tony
Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2010 12:44:30 +0400 Subject: Expat List Visa runs for US citzens From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Hi all, Where are US citizens heading these days for visa runs? Or so they have to return to the States? Thanks BR Nick _______________________________________________ Expat mailing list [email protected] http://www.lists.ru/mailman/listinfo/expat http://www.expat.ru/forum/
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