changes in visa process
Park, Lynda
lypark at PITT.EDU
Wed Jul 13 20:04:39 UTC 2011
As ASEEES has been writing many advocacy letters of late, we would be willing to take the lead in writing a letter to the Russian embassy as well as other relevant Russian administrative offices.
If you could send me clear descriptions of the issues, I can issue a letter of concern quickly.
Regards,
Lynda Park, Executive Director
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
(formerly AAASS)
203C Bellefield Hall
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260-6424
USA
(412) 648-9788 (direct), 648-9911 (main)
(412) 648-9815 (fax)
www.aseees.org
Find us on Facebook
Join us on LinkedIn
Follow us on Twitter
-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Jane Costlow
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 1:45 PM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] changes in visa process
Just so everyone knows, here's Travisa's response to my inquiry of how
to proceed (since the Russian Embassy site is down):
Good afternoon, there is an issue with the Russia web site, may I
suggest that you try again later.
Several people mentioned good agencies to work with - it does seem the
issue here isn't the agencies, but the Russian Embassy webpage.
Might this be a time to ask our professional organizations to raise the
issue?
Jane
On 7/13/11 12:17 PM, Josh Wilson wrote:
> It is, simply put, a disaster right now.
>
> The server the site is hosted on is slow and crashes. The site itself is
> ugly and clumsy and apparently doesn't even have all the fields that are
> needed at last check.
>
> The site is being used on the directive of the Russian Ministry of the
> Interior, but against the will of the consulates that are actually
> encouraging people to go to the media and complain so that maybe Medvedev
> will hear something about it and get it taken care of.
>
> The site has bee in use in London for about a year now - apparently visa
> processing companies there have adapted to it by slogging through each
> online application (which apparently takes an hour now instead of a few
> minutes for the old paper kind) and charging clients a new "online
> application fee" of $35-50. You can go through a number of visa processing
> agencies in the US that can help you - not sure if they have increased their
> fees yet to reflect this - but one we've used often in the past is
> http://www.traveldocs.com/ .
>
> There are some very hopeful visa reforms on the horizon: 3 year
> tourist/business visas with the US that will not require invitations; five
> year professional visas with the EU... but as with all things, this is one
> step forward and at least a stumble back.
>
> Not sure if this particularly helps you - but hopefully it at least explains
> the situation a bit more.
>
>
> 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 bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Jane Costlow
> Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 7:49 PM
> To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
> Subject: [SEELANGS] changes in visa process
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> I'm in the process of attempting to get a visa for travel to Russia
> later this month. I had submitted everything and then got it returned
> because beginning July 1 all applications must be done on line.
> Currently the Embassy form is unavailable - the website is down - and
> the visa service they refer you to is not answering their phone. Any
> suggestions? Is anyone else in the middle of this?
>
>
> Jane Costlow
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
> http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
> options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
> http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
More information about the SEELANG
mailing list