Fear, Loathing, and Really Helpful People: a Russian Visa Odyssey

The Russian visa application process seems as though it were contrived to intimidate and repel. More than once while researching how to go about getting a visa, I woke up in sweat with bogus invitation letters, canceled hotel reservations, and laughing bureaucrats swimming through my head.

Why is a visa even required to travel to Russia, anyway? I don’t know… because they can? {shrug}

Really, I have no idea, nor any inside information of a political nature as to why some countries require a visa and some don’t. At a superficial and cynical level, I just attribute it to one country’s government not liking another’s. A trite analysis, perhaps, but it probably captures the essence of the truth.

Russian visas are particularly veiled in obfuscation. The process appears so off-putting that we had serious conversations about changing course and going somewhere else — before even beginning the process!

But we’re talking about a country of almost 150 million people, spanning ELEVEN time zones, and containing 28 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Did you know what 18% of the worlds fresh water resides in Lake Baikal? That it is three times deeper than the deepest lake in America? And the Tran-Siberian Railway! How many other countries have a Tran-Siberian Railway? {none}

Besides, we’ve traveled to a couple of countries that require a visa and have always been greeted warmly by the actual people. Visas are an abstract notion posed by governments and thankfully, we’ve never had any interactions with those governments outside of the visa application process. {relieved sigh}

So, we decided to put on our big-boy pants and apply for our visas. It turns out that after making a byzantine system that mocks and intimidates prospective applicants, the Russian government then turned around and created a company specifically to help people through the process! With about a half-dozen locations around the country — including one a hop, skip, and a jump from our home — ILS USA exists to help clueless tourists like us apply for visas to visit Russia.

We walked in one breezy and pleasant Wednesday morning to find a handful of windows staffed by welcoming folks who invited us to have a seat and offered to help. Our kind and cheerful teller walked through our applications, asked clarifying questions, corrected formatting errors, accepted our applications and sent us on our way in less than an hour, all while the kids read books in their comfortable waiting area. Boom!

Now I can sleep at night.

If all goes well we can pick up our passports — with their fancy new Russian tourist visas — later this week. They are going to give our passports back to us, right?

To be continued…