My husband and I are planning a trip th St Petersberg and Moscow. But we are very confused about the visa support letter(s) for our tourist visas. Do we need 2 support letters or only one? We'll be together the whole time, but obviously have 2 passports. Can we get a support letter from just one of the hotels we'll stay at, even though we'll stay at several different places? We aren't sure if the support letter has to cover our whole trip. Has anyone used Myrussianvisa.com? The seem to offer reasonable support letter fees, but we want to be sure they are legitimate. Can anyone suggest a way to get a support letter for not too much? Thanks so much! Becky
Posted by
New Paltz, NY
9110 posts
When you use a company like Myrussianvisa.com, they will provide the support letter and/or hotel invitation. They have prearrangements with hotels for the invitations. You are under no obligation to stay at the hotel where the invitation originates from. Even though it's pricey it is best to let one of the visa firms take care of all the formalities. Russia is a very bureaucratic place, it you make one mistake on the forms trying to do it yourself, you may get locked out of the country for a while.
Posted by
Washington, DC, USA
571 posts
Becky,
I've had some experience in my job booking people on visits to Russia. Since I work in DC and even studied a little Russian in college, I thought this would be a snap. But even my attempts to be complete and organized in my paperwork and friendly and/or respectful during my visits to the Russian consulate got me nothing but sneers and on a couple of occasions it was obvious they were purposefully making it more difficult for me. I can only echo Michael's advice that when dealing with Russian visas, it's worth the expense to have a professional agency working for you. Good luck and happy travels.
Posted by
OP
seattle
2134 posts
Thank you for your message. I will take it to heart. Luckily we have several months to get everything planned.
Posted by
London, UK
181 posts
We used an agency to get our visas - expensive but worth it. We were on an organized tour so the hotel acted as our agent. The whole visa process ended up costing a fair bit of money but it truly was the trip of a lifetime!