Sometimes it makes sense to use a travel agency to apply for a Russian visa. If you
get your visa support (invitation) through this site you can then contact one of the agencies below, so that they do the rest. Normally it will involve helping you filling out the
Russian visa application form and bringing your documents to the consulate, so you don't have to deal with the bureaucrats or spend hours in the queues. They charge from $50 to $100 US for their services in addition to the consulate's fee, so see how you feel about it: once you have the
Russian visa support and the
application, it's easy to do it yourself and usually takes about 2 hours when you apply and half an hour when you get your visa back.
Here's some travel agencies we know about that will do a good job with your visa:
UK:
Real Russia
A specialist agency with offices in London, Moscow and St. Petersburg, has extensive knowledge on Russian visa application process and a very easy application process. They charge about £50 on top of the consular fee for their services.
3, The Ivories, Northampton Street, Islington, London
+44 (0) 207 100 7370
www.realrussia.co.uk
info@realrussia.co.uk
If you don't have an invitation yet, you can use this form to
apply for full Russian visa processing.
USA:
The consular fees are very high in the US, but you can try to apply through Real Russia in UK (although you won't be able to get express service).
CIBT - The Global Visa and Passport Professionals
One of the major visa agencies, expedites visa applications for many countries around the world. The prices are a bit high though – they charge about $89 US on top of the consular fee for expedited visa service.
CIBT New York
60 E. 42nd Street, Suite 1250, New York, NY 10165
Phone: 800-929-2428
Walk In Hours: 8:30 am to 5:30 pm PST
CIBT Los Angeles
6300 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1520, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Phone: 800-929-2428
Walk In Hours: 8:30 am to 5:00 pm PST
CIBT Miami
169 E. Flager Street, Suite 1522, Maimi, FL 33132
Phone: 800-929-2428
us.cibt.com
customerservice@cibt.com
TraVisa
A smaller agency with offices in major US cities. Charges $55 for expedited service on top of the consular fee.
Central office: Washington DC
1731 21st. St. NW Washington, DC 20009
Tel: (202) 463-6166
russia.travisa.com
washington@travisa.com
Germany:
Vostok Reisen
A specialist travel agency with a focus on Russia and China. They charge about €35 to submit your documents to the consulate on top of the consulate's fee, but don't get visa support through them – too expensive (€45 vs standard €25).
Address: Weinbergsweg 2, D-10119 (Mitte) Berlin
Öffnungszeiten: Mo - Fr: 10 - 13 und 14 - 18 Uhr
Telefon: +49 (0)30 30 87 10 20
mail@vostok-reisen.de
www.vostok.de
PRO Visa
A small agency specializing in visa services. They have quite low fees and two offices: one in Berlin and one in Frankfurt-Am-Main.
Professional Visa & Consular
Consulting GmbH
Ferdinand-Scholling-Ring 62
D-65934 Frankfurt/Main
Tel.: (069) 138 25 200
Fax.:(069) 138 25 199
www.pro-visa.de
frankfurt@pro-visa.de
France:
Visas Express
54 Rue de l'Ouest, 75014, Paris
Telefon: 08 25 08 10 20 (indigo, 15c/min)
www.visas-express.fr
All other countries:
There's a good website that lists visa agencies around the world –
www.russianvisa.net – where you can find the visa expediting agency in your country.
Comments, Questions, Feedback?
