Russian visa problem

[Josh Wilson]

Maksim, 

Perhaps this pointing out the obvious - but have you asked them what document would serve their purposes of proving that you don't have citizenship? That would probably be the fastest way of resolving this. 

Good Luck! 


Josh Wilson
Assistant Director
The School of Russian and Asian Studies
Editor in Chief
Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
SRAS.org 
jwilson at sras.org



-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Maksim Hanukai
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2013 1:07 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] Russian visa problem

Dear colleagues,

I'm having some trouble receiving a tourist visa to travel to Russia and was wondering if anyone can offer advice. I emigrated to the US from Baku in 1990 (I was 10 at the time). My family had refugee status and we all eventually became US citizens. I received tourist visas 3 times in the last 5 years without any problems. Now, for some reason, the Russian embassy rejected my 3-year Tourist Visa application because they want to see proof that I don't have Russian citizenship. I was never a Russian citizen in the first place, and have, moreover, provided them with copies of my US naturalization and refugee travel documents, but this does not seem like it's enough.

Has anyone had a similar problem before? Any suggestions about how to resolve it? I already have my flight booked for June 1 so this is a matter of some urgency.

Thank you,
Maksim Hanukai
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures Columbia University mh2623 at columbia.edu

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