Travel to Russia

[Mike20090622 45]

9 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

I can neither say nor judge.  Heed State Department travel advisories; rely on stories from members here; balance your wish to go against other known information.  Some threads in this forum have some excellent recent information, including financial considerations.

I am also planning to go, but with many considerations and high flights tickets, I am wondering if it is worth 

[Cheddy 788]

1 hour ago, JayFromTexas said:

That's a bit worrisome. Which airport? What time did you arrive? My flight is scheduled to arrive very late/early morning at VKO. Do you have any insight as to why they pulled you aside? 

 

My plan is to visit my girlfriend for 3 weeks, starting July 21st.

 

Anyone else have recent experiences visiting Russia, especially if American? Are the risks too high?

I'm an American who just went this earlier this month and I had no problems. It looks like the accounts from Americans who were pulled aside and questioned, it was their first time in Russia. If you have previous visits, it shouldn't be a problem. 

 

I flew in at around 4pm at VKO and had absolutely no issues.

[JayFromTexas 69]

3 hours ago, Mike20090622 said:

I am also planning to go, but with many considerations and high flights tickets, I am wondering if it is worth 

Mike-

 

I'm still planning on going in July. I found that if I buy my airline tickets separately, a r/t ticket DFW - IST and a separate r/r ticket from IST to VKO, the cost is a lot less. How far in advance you buy has a big impact on the price too. When are you planning on going?

[HashWad 19]

9 hours ago, Cheddy said:

I'm an American who just went this earlier this month and I had no problems. It looks like the accounts from Americans who were pulled aside and questioned, it was their first time in Russia. If you have previous visits, it shouldn't be a problem. 

 

I flew in at around 4pm at VKO and had absolutely no issues.

This is probably my tenth trip to Russian. It's was a new passport with a new Visa though. 

I flew Air Serbia, I had a 12 hr layover where I did enter the country to do a little sight seeing. 

My flight landed at SVO at 01:00. I'm pretty sure I was the only US citizen on the flight

Edited June 19, 2022 by HashWad

[Mike20090622 45]

6 hours ago, JayFromTexas said:

Mike-

 

I'm still planning on going in July. I found that if I buy my airline tickets separately, a r/t ticket DFW - IST and a separate r/r ticket from IST to VKO, the cost is a lot less. How far in advance you buy has a big impact on the price too. When are you planning on going?

I am still planning, even you buy separately, nothing less than 3000$ altogether I think, they change 1200$ from Istanbul to Moscow, more than tripled, 3300$ By Turkish airlines cheapest, also PCR test still needed?

[Mike20090622 45]

1 hour ago, HashWad said:

This is probably my tenth trip to Russian. It's was a new passport with a new Visa though. 

I flew Air Serbia, I had a 12 hr layover where I did enter the country to do a little sight seeing. 

My flight landed at SVO at 01:00. I'm pretty sure I was the only US citizen on the flight

Very beautiful lady and kids. How long have you been in relationship with her for 10 trips? Or trips to see other girls? It’s so hard for Russian fiancé at this time

 

[HashWad 19]

1 hour ago, Mike20090622 said:

Very beautiful lady and kids. How long have you been in relationship with her for 10 trips? Or trips to see other girls? It’s so hard for Russian fiancé at this time

 

Just her and we have been married for ten years now

[Mike20090622 45]

1 minute ago, HashWad said:

Just her and we have been married for ten years now

Wow, you didn’t try to bring them to America?

[HashWad 19]

1 hour ago, Mike20090622 said:

I am still planning, even you buy separately, nothing less than 3000$ altogether I think, they change 1200$ from Istanbul to Moscow, more than tripled, 3300$ By Turkish airlines cheapest, also PCR test still needed?

Air Serbia is the cheapest bet. As of a couple days ago, pcr test is still required to enter russia. But the only people who wanted to see the test were the airline gate attendance. Nobody at passport control asked to see it. 

[HashWad 19]

1 hour ago, Mike20090622 said:

Wow, you didn’t try to bring them to America?

Oh no)) she has been in the US with me for 10 years. We just make frequent trips to visit. She came out 3 weeks ahead of me

Edited June 19, 2022 by HashWad

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,093]

I think if it still seems safe we're likely to visit next year some time even if it's expensive and takes sub-optimal routing.

 

I was only in Russia once before (visited Anastasia in May of 2018; we'd met twice before that but it wasn't in Russia); Anastasia hasn't been back since arriving on a K-1 in 2019.

First she couldn't (no AP or green card).

Then in 2020 even without Covid we had a newborn and probably wouldn't have taken a few-months-old baby on a transatlantic flight from the west coast.

In 2021 Covid was still a big deal, and we'd just bought a new place so finances were a bit tight.

And then Russia invade Ukraine, and my wife hasn't started working yet.

So we're hoping to once she gets a job.

 

My sister-in-law would rather meet in a third country somewhere and we could probably convince my mother-in-law to do that, but my wife still has some living grandparents and they're unlikely to travel very far from her hometown and we'd like them to see our son at least once in person.

[Simplytex 387]

On 6/19/2022 at 6:21 AM, HashWad said:

Air Serbia is the cheapest bet. As of a couple days ago, pcr test is still required to enter russia. But the only people who wanted to see the test were the airline gate attendance. Nobody at passport control asked to see it. 

I went 3 times in the last 12 mo, and each time they had some booths set up after passport control where you turned in a form which basically self-attested to the fact that you had a PCR test done, and only once did they even glance at the test itself (I could have just whited-out the date and changed it, for all they really cared...)

 

I guess routing depends on where you fly from in the US. For me, I can take a direct flight to Istanbul and then to Moscow... but right now its Turkish tourist season so the rates are hiked for any flights to/from Istanbul. But all the airlines (namely, Air Serbia, Turkish, and Emirates) going to Moscow "from the West" know they have a monopoly and rates are jacked up I'd say at least 25-50% higher than normal. For reference, last year in July, I bought a flight literally 2 days before travel, end of July, on Aeroflot NYC to Moscow and it was $850. Right now, the cheapest Houston to Moscow flights I can find are $2000+, even months out.

 

Honestly, it might be cheaper to meet in the middle somewhere in Turkey, or if your SO can get a Schengen visa (apparently Spain and Italy are accessible to Russians pretty readily, since most people are focused on Hungary and Greece those are booked up.)

 

I would be on the fence travelling myself into the country... But I'm thinking that once my wife gets the IR1, enters the US and gets the I-551 stamp, we will travel together back to Russia, enter, and do some final packing for her at that point, so probably Q1/2 of 2023. Hopefully by then the prices and politics will have calmed a bit...

[smoothoperaytor 40]

I had a friend recently take a trip to Russia and he was given a lie detector test at the airport. The purpose of his trip was to see his son who is living with his Russian ex-wife. I'm guessing the test was because he didn't have the correct documentation - but I haven't confirmed that. He passed the test and they called his ex-wife to confirm their relationship. Everything was okay and he was allowed in.

[smoothoperaytor 40]

On 6/7/2022 at 2:45 AM, Mike20090622 said:

You mean you can take my dollars and send rubles to my fiancé Russian bank account?

This is possible with crypto. I have a method I use to send USD to RU - from my bank account to hers. It takes about 10 minutes.

[Mike20090622 45]

On 6/18/2022 at 11:42 PM, JayFromTexas said:

Mike-

 

I'm still planning on going in July. I found that if I buy my airline tickets separately, a r/t ticket DFW - IST and a separate r/r ticket from IST to VKO, the cost is a lot less. How far in advance you buy has a big impact on the price too. When are you planning on going?

Just booked flights from July 20 to August 10, total is 2100$, layover 9 hours in Dubai, not bad, return flights is only 14 hours