Russian passport renewal in US?

[kefir10 3]

The big pain with the Russian visa is getting an 'invitation'. If you want to do it by the book then your fiancé can apply for the invitation (in which case he can also state for multiple entry visa -- though officials probably will not want to give multiple entry because they are unaware of the recent changes as was in my case). Once you have the invitation its straight forward to apply. I think that unless you do it in person at the embassy, you will have to go through an agency (i.e. you cannot mail the embassy directly anymore).

There are other ways of getting the 'invitation'... there are services that basically sell and expedite it online since getting it by the book takes a long time.

[Al422 221]

Her internal passport will be fine on the streets of Russia, but if she wants to return to USA and experiences slow motion in Russia on the passport renewal, it could be a longer vacation than she planned on. Sounds safer to do it here in the US.

[Texasav8r 183]

The big pain with the Russian visa is getting an 'invitation'. If you want to do it by the book then your fiancé can apply for the invitation (in which case he can also state for multiple entry visa -- though officials probably will not want to give multiple entry because they are unaware of the recent changes as was in my case). Once you have the invitation its straight forward to apply. I think that unless you do it in person at the embassy, you will have to go through an agency (i.e. you cannot mail the embassy directly anymore).

There are other ways of getting the 'invitation'... there are services that basically sell and expedite it online since getting it by the book takes a long time.

The agency I listed upthread takes care of the invitation for you, so I have never had to worry about that. Just don't forget to get the visa registered in Russia if you will be there more than 7 business (working) days.

[Meghan&Andrey 51]

Hey I'm from Texas too! (:

Well, I certainly don't want to do anything that could

Potentially get me banned from ever going back. Or for a certain amount of time, at least. But I reeeeally need to be there with him. And ideally, I would love to get the 3 year visa. Our plan is for me to go back to Russia in Deember after the interview (projected to be in August) so that I can meet his dad & then he would come back to the US with me. We're not selling his home or anything so I really want to be able to go back to Russia often without having to do the whole visa thing all over again each time. If you use an agency & you get the invitation, is that it? No interview? That hardly seems legit. It would be amazing if that's all there is to it!

Well just noticed you're actually from Oklahoma. Oops! Saw Texasav8r & jumped to conclusions! :$

[Texasav8r 183]

Hey I'm from Texas too! (:

Well, I certainly don't want to do anything that could

Potentially get me banned from ever going back. Or for a certain amount of time, at least. But I reeeeally need to be there with him. And ideally, I would love to get the 3 year visa. Our plan is for me to go back to Russia in Deember after the interview (projected to be in August) so that I can meet his dad & then he would come back to the US with me. We're not selling his home or anything so I really want to be able to go back to Russia often without having to do the whole visa thing all over again each time. If you use an agency & you get the invitation, is that it? No interview? That hardly seems legit. It would be amazing if that's all there is to it!

Well just noticed you're actually from Oklahoma. Oops! Saw Texasav8r & jumped to conclusions! :$

Howdy.....I am actually from Texas...just moved to Oklahoma (not by choice ) from Austin as my office was closed there.

It is totally legit and I have used the agency many times. They are very nice to work with and they make it a breeze. You do not have to attend an interview (although they do say that there is a remote possibility if they need to call you in for some reason, but that is extremely rare). Like I mentioned, fill out a form, send a couple of photos and your passport (I always use Fedex Ground) and they will handle the rest.

They forward your paperwork and passport to the Russian Embassy in San Fran or Wash DC after they review it and you specify how you want it returned to you (I always pick the standard 2 day Fedex). The invitation is handled by them and the Visa will be in your passport when it is returned to you. It really is very simple and worth the price. The 3 year is a good idea and only costs a little more. You will need to provide additional documents (w-2's, bank statements, etc.) for the 3 year though and it requires a little more effort, but again, very much worth it IMO.

[Snipe 21]

that waytorussia works. i personally used a local agency in my city that says they do all russian related documents including passport renewal and some tax stuff and visas. i got a russian visa for the first time actually a year ago (april 25. 2013) and they got it to me near end of may but called me the day visa was approved (about mid may) so I could buy ticket asap (wifes vacations started june 6). it was a 3 year multiple entry too. but pricey. prob would be faster had it not been for may celebrations too. their site is www.russerv.com i think.

why not call them and ask for how long they take to do passport renewals and if so maybr you can mail them passport and for visa the same. (speaking to 2 persons in thread)

also i think they are part of a bigger network so maybe they know someone in your city

PS: wait I just remembered, to OP, cant you also renew passport in gosuslugi? i know for sure you can apply but you may have to be living in russia

sorry for disorganized post, im on a phone :/

udate: just read texas post and yeah i agree with him except i didnt need to do anything they filled form and didnt ask me for any documentation other than photos and passport. 3 year visa was like 400 something. they did ask me question while they filled it but no documentation.

btw my visa didnt have an invitation although they did make up a random one with some random hotel i didnt use. I was worried about that but at poe guy made a call and boom. i was in. i did register everywhere I went

Kind of side tracked, but what visa agency? And does this work for US citizens? I'll hopefully be traveling to go to the interview with my fiancé' & I'm kinda terrified of having to interview for the visa. Not to mention that I don't know which one to apply for to get there.

My fiancé' just got his foreign passport in November. Applied for it in July. Took 4 months. He said that renewals are faster. I've read that people have entered Russia with about a week left before expiration then they renewed it there. Even four months is better than six. And if I'm not mistaken, since you're already married, if she has a US passport now, she can leave Russia before her Russian passport is finished because she uses that to enter the US anyway, not the Russian passport. Just a thought.

Edited April 30, 2014 by Snipe

[Meghan&Andrey 51]

PS: wait I just remembered, to OP, cant you also renew passport in gosuslugi? i know for sure you can apply but you may have to be living in russia

sorry for disorganized post, im on a phone :/

Haha Snipe loves gosuslugi! He suggested it to me for my fiancé to get his police certificates. We're currently going through registering on there to be able to. He's done as much as he can online, now just has to take his documents to a office in Central Sochi to verify.

Howdy fellow Texan! Thank you soooo much for the info! I am SO thankful I asked on here. I've been dreading the day I had to start the process for this visa. My fiancé was denied a tourist visa back in December to come here & from that experience, I just never wanted to have to apply for a visa. Russian government scares me! This puts me so at ease. Again, thank you!

[Texasav8r 183]

Haha Snipe loves gosuslugi! He suggested it to me for my fiancé to get his police certificates. We're currently going through registering on there to be able to. He's done as much as he can online, now just has to take his documents to a office in Central Sochi to verify.

Howdy fellow Texan! Thank you soooo much for the info! I am SO thankful I asked on here. I've been dreading the day I had to start the process for this visa. My fiancé was denied a tourist visa back in December to come here & from that experience, I just never wanted to have to apply for a visa. Russian government scares me! This puts me so at ease. Again, thank you!

Anything for a fellow Texan . Don't worry about the Russian government, they are fine. The first visit will be a bit of a culture shock and there are many aspects of the culture that you will notice a big difference in within minutes of your arrival, but do not worry. They are quite different in their approach to daily life and customer service is virtually non-existent so don't look for friendly smiles around every corner, however, they are a very friendly and loving family-oriented people and once they know you, there is a huge difference in how they interact with you. I could go on for pages about what to expect and look out for but do not wish to derail this thread.

I highly recommend a book by Walter Parchomenko called "A Weak American in Russia and Ukraine" http://www.amazon.com/Weak-American-Russia-Ukraine-Misadventures/dp/147833634X

It has a great deal of valuable information regarding the country and culture and is quite humorous too .

Sorry for going Off Topic OP. FWIW, my fiance' just made a 7 hour drive to Kazan to renew her passport 3 weeks ago and was told to expect it in a month. I will update the exact amount of time it took when she receives it.

Edited April 30, 2014 by Texasav8r

[Texasav8r 183]

Dual post...ooops.

Edited May 1, 2014 by Texasav8r

[Snipe 21]

you know, gosuslugi is probably the only thing that works properly in russia when it comes to government. probably because you cant bribe a computer or it cant blackmail you into submitting obscure documents and then after asking for more in attempt to just make you ask for a bribe.

so yeah its probably why its sp efficient and useful. I know for sure you can apply for international passport through there because thats how my wife got hers but dont know about renwal since eitherway they are 10 year passports.

[Dashinka 24,110]

This is a very helpful thread, thanks to all that have contributed as I will soon be going through the three year visa application. On my first three visa applications, the service I used (a local visa/passport service) told me I would need to demonstrate a need for the three year version with multiple single or dual entry visas. Hopefully, three so far will be enough.

Meghan, enjoy your time at the interview. If you need a great place to stay in Moscow about six blocks from the consulate send me a note, or look at my thread about hotels in Moscow. We found a very modern apartment on the same road as the consulate called Apartments on Sadoskaya-Kudrinskaya Street. Booked it through Booking.com, and it was very reasonable (four days, three nights for around $700). They only take cash (rubles), but the convenience was worth it along with the flexibility for checking in and checking out.

[Snipe 21]

$700 sounds a bit pricey for 3 nights especially if you are really just going to be sleeping there. Izmaelova area there are a few hotels, gamma, delta and they are under $100 dollars and they are really nice. Definitely better than a holiday inn or something of the sort in the States. They are more of the type of the chocolate in the pillow and shoe shinning stuff in the closet type. they even have towel robes for when you shower. It was about 3 min from metro (basically to exit complex of hotels since metro is right there) and I think you dont need to to transfer more than once to get to embassy, about 20 min max. 15 to red square. They dont charge extra for registration and everyone speaks English. The only thing is you should order ahead of time, for my 2nd trip to Moscow I didn't order in time and while there were rooms, they were pricier. You gotta order like 2 weeks ahead probably to get good price, kind of how you can get Kupe for the price of platzcard in RZD if you buy a month ahead

They also take American credit cards so no need to be carrying that much cash with you. oh and have good exchange rate. oh and everything is safe or at least looks safe. even night.

lol my post sounds like an ad for them but frankly I was impressed.

PS: you dont need to demonstrate nothing for 3 year multi entry. If they refuse to do it, go to another agency. I got mine on the first trip without issues.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Snipe

[kefir10 3]

Also consider airbnb, you can find much cheaper places there (hotels are very expensive in moscow!)

[Meghan&Andrey 51]

This is a very helpful thread, thanks to all that have contributed as I will soon be going through the three year visa application. On my first three visa applications, the service I used (a local visa/passport service) told me I would need to demonstrate a need for the three year version with multiple single or dual entry visas. Hopefully, three so far will be enough.

Meghan, enjoy your time at the interview. If you need a great place to stay in Moscow about six blocks from the consulate send me a note, or look at my thread about hotels in Moscow. We found a very modern apartment on the same road as the consulate called Apartments on Sadoskaya-Kudrinskaya Street. Booked it through Booking.com, and it was very reasonable (four days, three nights for around $700). They only take cash (rubles), but the convenience was worth it along with the flexibility for checking in and checking out.

We love booking.com! We only discovered it when we were planning our trip to Turkey and he spoke to a travel agent about what hotels were best. I can totally understand paying more because of the convenience. That really is close! But since its going to cost me close to $1,500 to get there myself, that's waaaay out of price range

$700 sounds a bit pricey for 3 nights especially if you are really just going to be sleeping there. Izmaelova area there are a few hotels, gamma, delta and they are under $100 dollars and they are really nice. Definitely better than a holiday inn or something of the sort in the States. They are more of the type of the chocolate in the pillow and shoe shinning stuff in the closet type. they even have towel robes for when you shower. It was about 3 min from metro (basically to exit complex of hotels since metro is right there) and I think you dont need to to transfer more than once to get to embassy, about 20 min max. 15 to red square. They dont charge extra for registration and everyone speaks English. The only thing is you should order ahead of time, for my 2nd trip to Moscow I didn't order in time and while there were rooms, they were pricier. You gotta order like 2 weeks ahead probably to get good price, kind of how you can get Kupe for the price of platzcard in RZD if you buy a month ahead

They also take American credit cards so no need to be carrying that much cash with you. oh and have good exchange rate. oh and everything is safe or at least looks safe. even night.

lol my post sounds like an ad for them but frankly I was impressed.

PS: you dont need to demonstrate nothing for 3 year multi entry. If they refuse to do it, go to another agency. I got mine on the first trip without issues.

We will look into those because that's a lot more reasonable. Its just going to cost us too much to get there in the first place to then spend so much on a hotel. Did you use an online agency or visit an actual office? One of the other members gave me the link to an online agency that he uses but it worries me a little. I mean, he uses it so I shouldn't worry too much. But I'm just a little worried about mailing off my passport and that much money.

Also consider airbnb, you can find much cheaper places there (hotels are very expensive in moscow!)

Is that a website or something where you find hotels? Yes, we're starting to realize just how expensive!

[kefir10 3]

Is that a website or something where you find hotels? Yes, we're starting to realize just how expensive!

Its a website where people can rent out their apartment or a room in their apartment. I just started using it (a friend recommended it to me) and so far its been great. The way it works is: search for an apartment or room. Each listing has a profile with pictures, information and reviews (I usually try to go to those that have been reviewed the most to make sure they are legit -- and positively reviewed!). Before booking its a good idea writing the owner a message introducing yourself and asking about availability since many times they have to decide whether or not they take you (you will need a profile and can opt to cross-verify your identity with Facebook/linkedin etc.

I suggest you just look at the listings around moscow and the prices (don't focus on the area near the embassy since moving around in metro is quite easy and cheap... just make sure you have good access to metro). If it looks good give it a try!