Visas for St Petersburg

[hoovey]

Will be on July 4th Regatta cruise, stopping in St Petersburg. Does anyone know the easiest, fastest (least expensive?) way to obtain visas? My wife and I have arranged for a private tour, but the company does not furnish visas.

[drwong]

Will be on July 4th Regatta cruise, stopping in St Petersburg. Does anyone know the easiest, fastest (least expensive?) way to obtain visas? My wife and I have arranged for a private tour, but the company does not furnish visas.

That's too bad - DenRus and Red October did for our tours, and it was a great convenience (in addition to the cost savings!). You can go to the Russian Embassy in Washington DC, or any of their local consulates and obtain a visa. Otherwise, you can pay a middleman to process one for you.

[willmschen]

We used Zierer Visa Service(www.zvs.com (http://www.zvs.com)) for our Russian visas in 2004. They were very helpful in filling out the complicated applications. You should allow at least a month processing time once you send them in.

Betty

[Sniktaw]

We just went through the process for Russian Visas and it is very easy and you don't have to do much more than if you go through Zierer and it only costs $100/person. First go to www.russianembassy.org and download an application. Next have your tour company in Russia send you an invitation/confirmation and voucher. Then fill out the form. Be sure to get your tour company's reference number so you can complete #16 on the form.
Attach the confirmation/voucher, passport photo and certified check for payment of the fees. Also an invoice from cruise line verifying trip and dates in Russia. Write a cover letter summarizing your plans then mail with passports via FedEx along with a return pre-paid FedEx envelope. The Consulate gives you instructions on what's needed and how to fill out the form, and for additional instructions you can go to zvs.com and read their instructions also.
For those of you who do NOT have a tour company in Russia and plan to go on your own, you can get the Invitation and Voucher from Oceania's Agent in Russia, Arctur Travel. www.arcturtravel.com/visa.php. They will only give it to you if you are not booked with a tour company or are booked on an Oceania tour. If you are booked on an independent tour they want you to get the voucher etc from that company not them.
If I can be of anymore help feel free to e-mail me at ddbdds@yahoo.com
Carolyn

[Sniktaw]

I forgot to mention that our tour company provides a "blanket visa" for us while on the tour, as does Denrus and Red October, but we wanted to have a visa so we could go back out on our own to eat or just poke around after the daily tours are over.
Carolyn

[hoovey]

Thanks so much to all who responded to my question, especially to Carolyn for providing additional step-by-step information. It seemed pretty intimidating before your responses. Not so much now. Thanks again. Hoovey

[Sniktaw]

We just received our Russian visas today. It took exactly 10 days from the day I sent everything off via FedEX. If I had it to do over and wanted to save $$, I would have had photos taken at Walmart and sent my FedEx via Express
Saver rate and marked the same for the return rather than standard Overnight. It would have taken longer but would have saved $. They require that you provide a pre-paid self-addressed return envelope that can be tracked so you need to use FedEx, DHL or Post Office Registered Mail. It was so easy I don't know why more people don't do it if you don't mind spending the extra $100 per person which really isn't that much based on what most people spend for their time in St. P. If Anyone needs more help you can e-mail me at ddbdds@yahoo.com.
Carolyn

[riverdale]

We just got our visas for St. Petersburg,,,, we're going on the May 21 Barcelona to Stockholm.......it was easy , no muss , no fuss..... you can find them on the web and it will explain everything you need to know . It's called Zierer passport . Just click on it and it will explain everything...
Good Luck

June