Planning for the Russian visa for such a long trip was not easy although the application itself was pretty straight forward as long as you have the Letter of Invitation/Tourist Voucher.
Some info to be mindful about are:
1) Russia visa, regardless of single or double entry, allows one to be in Russia for a maximum of 30 days only. No such thing as a 60 days or 90 days tourist visa.
2) The first date is the entry date (blue box) - one is permitted to enter only on or after this specific date. If you decide to enter later,
you will have a shorter time to spend in Russia.
3) The second date is the exit date (red box) - Russia visa is very strict in that you have to exit Russia on the last date stamped on the visa even if you have spent less than 30 days in Russia (this happens when you enter on a date later than the entry date mentioned on the visa)
Now, the distance from Vladivostok to the Latvia border is around 10,000km. If we only had 30 days, we will need to cover 333km per day, which means we have to zoom through every single place along the way with not much time to spend at each place. It also doesn't give us much leeway if we encounter unforeseen circumstances / breakdowns along the way.
Fortunately, the Russian Embassy in Mongolia responded to our e-mail and informed us that we were allowed to apply for another Russian tourist visa in Mongolia.
(Note: it is important to check before hand if you are allowed to apply for visas outside of your home country! Some countries are super strict and others sometimes accommodate if you have a good enough reason for not applying in your home country)
With that, we decided to go for two single entry visas of 30 days each as follows:
1) The first one we applied for in KL, Malaysia and used it to cover East Russia from Valdivostok to Lake Baikal and thereafter cross into Mongolia at Khyagt/Altanbulag.
2) The second 30 days single entry visa was obtained from the Russian Embassy at Ulanbator, Mongolia. The process was also easy and you also need the Letter of Invitation. This we used to cover the trip from the Russian Altai border to the border with Latvia.
The E-mail from Russian Embassy in Mongolia setting out the requirements:
(Note: this is good at the time we applied for it. Visa requirements can change at any time. Please check back with the Embassy's official website for latest requirement. Another good place to check is the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website)
Some info to be mindful about are:
1) Russia visa, regardless of single or double entry, allows one to be in Russia for a maximum of 30 days only. No such thing as a 60 days or 90 days tourist visa.
2) The first date is the entry date (blue box) - one is permitted to enter only on or after this specific date. If you decide to enter later,
you will have a shorter time to spend in Russia.
3) The second date is the exit date (red box) - Russia visa is very strict in that you have to exit Russia on the last date stamped on the visa even if you have spent less than 30 days in Russia (this happens when you enter on a date later than the entry date mentioned on the visa)
Now, the distance from Vladivostok to the Latvia border is around 10,000km. If we only had 30 days, we will need to cover 333km per day, which means we have to zoom through every single place along the way with not much time to spend at each place. It also doesn't give us much leeway if we encounter unforeseen circumstances / breakdowns along the way.
Fortunately, the Russian Embassy in Mongolia responded to our e-mail and informed us that we were allowed to apply for another Russian tourist visa in Mongolia.
(Note: it is important to check before hand if you are allowed to apply for visas outside of your home country! Some countries are super strict and others sometimes accommodate if you have a good enough reason for not applying in your home country)
With that, we decided to go for two single entry visas of 30 days each as follows:
1) The first one we applied for in KL, Malaysia and used it to cover East Russia from Valdivostok to Lake Baikal and thereafter cross into Mongolia at Khyagt/Altanbulag.
2) The second 30 days single entry visa was obtained from the Russian Embassy at Ulanbator, Mongolia. The process was also easy and you also need the Letter of Invitation. This we used to cover the trip from the Russian Altai border to the border with Latvia.
The E-mail from Russian Embassy in Mongolia setting out the requirements:
(Note: this is good at the time we applied for it. Visa requirements can change at any time. Please check back with the Embassy's official website for latest requirement. Another good place to check is the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website)
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