Internet visas

[Tatyana Buzina]

Russia isn't entirely alone in difficult visa requirements even for tourists. I routinely collect an insane number of "spravki" certifying my property holdings, my financial situation (if I submit an account statement the account has to be more than three months old), I have to confirm that I have a job, and if I am a tourist I have to bring a piece of paper certifying that I am on official vacation for the time of my trip, and if I want to go to Germany and I am not married, I have to write an essay in German on the subject of why I am not married (I hope they have cancelled that requirement). I have to buy my ticket and book (ideally, prepay) hotel accommodation before I get my visa, and, naturally, having a ticket and a prepaid accommodation is no guarantee of being given a visa. Some embassies just don't answer the phone or email claiming that that's their specifics. And if I go to the US I will have to be fingerprinted. Getting into some embassies involves standing in huge and sometimes violent lines as people almost literally try to take the embassy by storm. Most Russians routinely use similar semi-legal agencies just because getting a visa on your own is an ordeal not many people would like to go through. That's also a cry of the soul :). 
Tatyana


>Russia seems to do lots of things that aren't in its own interests. If not
>dropping the visa, at least they could skip all the other hassles like the
>registration. I found that obtaining a Chinese visa and even staying there
>for a year and working was much easier than doing the same in Russia.
>
>Sarah Hurst
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
>[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Nicole Monnier
>Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2007 12:13 PM
>To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
>Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Internet visas
>
>Dear SEELANGTSY!
>
>MANY thanks for the 20+ responses regarding the
>vaguely-unsavory-but-otherwise-viable world of online Russian invitation +v
>isa services. I've taken the plunge and hope to be able to report back
>successfully on my adventures, or lack thereof (tfu, tfu!).
>
>But this whole issue begs the question (if I'm using that phrase correctly):
>why the heck doesn't Russia just drop the whole visa requirement thing, if
>only for reasons of tourism, if not sanity?
>
>That's a rhetorical cry of the soul; I don't really expect any answers . . .
>
>Gratefully,
>
>Nicole
>
>****************************
>Dr. Nicole Monnier
>Assistant Professor of Instruction
>Director of Undergraduate Studies (Russian)
>German & Russian Studies
>415 GCB
>University of Missouri
>Columbia, MO 65211
>
>phone: 573.882.3370
>
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