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	Create New Topic   My Posts   My forum buddies   Invite friends   Private messages Russian brides > Main Forum > Good News!!! Author Post blu_craze Member send PM   block PM add to buddies Send: 9/2/2012 11:18:42 AM   http://www.lexisnexis.com/community/immigration-law/blogs/inside/archive/2012/08 /30/historic-u-s-russia-visa-agreement-enters-into-force-september-9-2012.aspx < br> I was talking to my friend from Russia, my hopeful Russian counterpart and learned about this!!! New Russian and American relations have created new visa requirements between the two countries. In September U.S. and Russian citizens can travel to and from are countries with a 3 year visa and be able to stay for up to 6 months at a time!!! Wow!!! She is planning to come visit me here in January for 3 weeks!!! Then in a year or so I will go there!!! durak Member send PM   block PM add to buddies Send: 9/2/2012 12:39:33 PM   Thanks for posting this, blu. Folks wanting to read the link must delete the space between "08" and "/30" (the forum software likes to add spaces to "long words"). I first heard about this a few months ago, but it was something in the indefinite future. Actually, the US visa terms have been fairly friendly for some time -- that is to say, if an FSU citizen could get a visa at all, it would be multi-year and allow long visits. So most of this reform is Russia catching up to the US terms. As often happens with Russian visa agreements, it is based on reciprocity between Russia and another country. Russia is very resentful of the obstacles Russian citizens face when traveling abroad, so if a country is "nice" to their citizens, their policy is to match that. For example, to reward Argentina for allowing Russians to visit without a visa, Russia allowed Argentinians to come to Russia with no visa. durak Member send PM   block PM add to buddies Send: 9/2/2012 12:56:16 PM   As someone who visits Russia often, there are parts of the new agreement that are even more exciting than the longer terms (I use 12-month multi-entry visas). Under existing rules, your Russian visa is required in order to EXIT as well as to enter. This means a nightmare for someone whose passport is lost (or more likely stolen): after getting a new emergency passport, it has been necessary to get an exit visa before going back home, a process which could take weeks. Even worse, in principle a person can't stay in a Russian hotel without a passport. Under the new rules, Russia will no longer require exit visas for US citizens, so loss of passport wouldn't be any more of an inconvenience than in most countries. But it gets better! Official invitations are no longer required, and both fees and standard processing times are being reduced. My 12-month visas have been costing about $500 and taking well over a month -- the new 3-year visas will be cheap, and take less than 3 weeks with standard processing (you can get quicker processing by paying more). Travelers on tourist visas will still need vouchers from a hotel or travel agency in Russia. And you can apply starting 8 days from now (I don't know why Russia said 9 September, their consular services don't work Sundays). Finally -- I haven't been able to confirm this, but it looks POSSIBLE that the 50% rule (currently a maximum of 90 days stay out of any consecutive 180) may be over. If this turns out to be the case, one could stay almost continuously, just by popping out of the country a couple of times a year. I may have read too much between the lines, so I will post back when my understanding of the rules become clear. Our friends in the UK, Australia, Schengen area etc. aren't included in this agreement, so their usual Russian visa rules are still in effect. durak Member send PM   block PM add to buddies Send: 4/24/2013 9:57:37 AM   UPDATE ON RUSSIAN VISAS FOR USA CITIZENS In about 2 weeks, I expect to receive my first-ever 3 year visa to Russia. I'm a bit chuffed :) To revisit my post from last autumn: 1. I read from multiple sources, that USA citizens who lose a passport in Russia will NOT need an exit visa. The USA/Russia agreement is based on reciprocity: Russian citizens don't need an exit visa to leave the USA. 2. Although official invitations are not required for the new visas, other documentation (for example, travel vouchers) are. Although you can try to deal with this yourself, I ALWAYS use travel service companies (for a long time now, gotorussia.net) that both provide the supporting paperwork AND walk my passport and application through the visa process. It's a little more money, but a big savings of time and effort, and protection against clerical mistakes I might make that could lead to big difficulties. 3. Normal processing time is less than 3 calendar weeks. The Russian consulate does reserve the right to take longer in individual cases (for example, if there is a problem or question with the application). Also, the consulates are closed on both US holidays and Russian holidays. Early May and around the new year, this could add about a week. 4. It remains my understanding, without direct confirmation, that it is now possible to stay ALMOST continuously in Russia using such a visa, though one must exit within 6 months of each entry. 5. The older types of visas (30 day tourist, 90 day business, 12 month business) seem to still be available, though I don't have any details on them. In any case, for a USA citizen, it takes only 4 more consular working days, and less than $100 more fees, to get the 3 year visa compared to the 30 day! ________________________________________________________________ AD DITIONAL INFORMATION 1. My travel service company (gotorussia.net) DOES require that I send along a little form letter specially requesting the 3 year visa. 2. As common sense might suggest, your passport should have at least 3 1/2 years before expiration, if you want to go for a 3 year visa. Mine had about a year left, so I also renewed my passport (more about that below). 3. Important: if you were born in the Russia, or in any other part of the Soviet Union, there are extra requirements you must fulfill to get a visa, even if you have become a USA citizen. 4. Regardless of what type of visa you have in mind, all Russian visa applications for US citizens MUST BE FILLED OUT ON A RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT WEBSITE (visa.kdmid.ru). This may also apply to citizens of other countries, I don't know. This website is more than a little clunky. If you have problems using it, please post here, I'll try to help if possible. Setting to one side the website itself, Russia has increased their already unreasonable amount of information on the application form. They now want details of ALL PREVIOUS RUSSIAN VISAS, and EVERY ENTRANCE TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY IN THE PREVIOUS 10 YEARS. Now, I made a tactical mistake: I asked the visa service company to renew my passport AND handle the Russian visa in one go (about 5 weeks altogether), and was filling out the visa application AFTER I shipped my old passport away. Luckily, in 2010 (just to make some record of my travels) I went through my giant passport page by page, and made notes of all of the visas and stamps. Luckily, I have photocopies of my visas since 2010 (before the new visa regime, it was recommended to make photocopies of your visa in case of a lost passport while in Russia). Luckily, I have records of my travel itineraries since 2010. Putting all of that data together, I was able to compile a record of 10 previous Russian visas, and 42 entries to foreign countries. Oy! This consumed hours, I can tell you. It took a couple of hours more to put this stuff into the kdmid.ru webpage. THEN I learned that it can't hold 42 entries, so I deleted second and third entries to a country within a calendar year, starting from the oldest. Having gone through all that, I'm damn glad that it will be 3 years, before I expect to deal with this process again. 5. Having gotten through the online application form, my total cost for the visa is $319 (consular fees plus gotorussia service charge), plus Fedex both ways, plus about $10 for passport photos. (Doing it yourself, the fees are $190 plus whatever you spend to get the necessary document from a Russian travel agency or hotel.) 6. Another old thread where we talked about 3-year visas: http://tinyurl.com/b8w4nmb Your Reply: Your name:   New Registration Password:   Forgot password?   refresh Code:   Russian brides > Main Forum > Good News!!!
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