Embassy report: Russian visa in Almaty

[MakakaOnTheRun]

Hey guys, just wanted to give an update. We got a visa for my better half (he is German and it is his 5th Russian visa), to be exact tourist visa in Almaty. We are not residents in Kazakhstan, so we didnt have 90 day stay here Applied on Friday and received on Tuesday. We are traveling on a motorcycle, so we made copies of bike ownership papers and wrote an itinerary on A4 paper. We also needed an application form, insurance, hotel bookings (which I later cancelled on booking.com), passport copy and voucher from a Russian tourist company. Tourist and transit visa take the same time to process and tourist one has only one additional document (the voucher) which costs like EUR 10. And for us thats important, so we dont need to rush through Russia doing 500 km/day. Working hours of the consulate in Almaty are Tuesday 9.30-12.30, but visa pick up on Tuesday is only from 9.30-10.00 (at least this is what we saw at the consular info stand) and Friday 15.00-17.00. Good luck to you all and safe travels!

P.S.: we paid 27,000 KZT for express 1 month tourist visa

[Ceceted]

Bad update!
French Citizens we wanted to apply today for a tourist visa in almaty, didn't work.
We need a long term registration in Kazakhstan or we have to wait 20 working days (4 week s.. ). Not possible to apply for express visa without a long term registration.
We stay a long time at the embassy to speak quietely with the guy, but impossible to manage to get the visa. The guy behind window 3 was really friendly and sorry for us but couldn't do anything: rules are rules!
Wasn't possible either for german Citizen but a danish guy got it very easily!

[TomasS]

Yes, he just have some paper with countries in hand and behave according it

[nitlukoh]

Today we FAILED to get a visa for Russia in Almaty.

Our Nationality: Dutch
Visa type requested: Tourism 30 days.

Reason for failure: visa application process itself takes thirty days. We're only allowed to be in Kazachstan for thirty days as we're here on the visa waiver, already been here for seven days.

After being in the somewhat odd line (took only fifteen minutes though when we arrived at 15:00 on Friday) the guy in cubicle 3 just read it off his list. Would've been nice if that information would've been publicly available beforehand. Would've saved us some hoops and hopes.

Meh. Now let's make some new travel plans...

Ps. Alternatively we could've come back to apply for a transit visa but the maximum amount of days would've be been 4 or 5-ish. Seems too short for us. Australian guy behind us could also only get 4/5 days (don't know if he could've applied for a 30-tourist though).

[Dorenda]

In the end of August my mate (Polish) and I (Dutch) visited the Russian consulate in Almaty to apply for our 30 day tourist visas. Before that, we had had email contact with the consulate because we had some questions (we got prompt and accurate replies), so we knew it was possible.

We arrived 10 minutes after opening time and waited in line 15-20 minutes, when we left, there was no line anymore.

When the guy at the desk saw my Dutch passport, he told us that it's not possible for Dutch to apply. We told him that we had had email contact and that we had been told that it is possible to apply. It turned out that he only told us that it's not possible for the reason nitlukoh stated: it takes 30 days to get the visa (for me; my mate could get it in 7 days), and we could also stay in the country just for 30 days. We explained that we had thought about that and that we planned to leave the country and go to Kirgizstan in the meantime (also visum free). Then it was suddenly possible to apply.
We were assigned a pick-up date 28 days later and received the visums within a few minutes then.

[TomasS]

Great, so they gave you your passport back, didnt they? They used to let them, but it seems that just for shorter applications. But still crazy:)

[Cyrian]

Hello
Who did a transit visas not long ago to go to Ukraine.
How many days are needed; what papers and how much money?
Thank you for your answers.
CYRIAN

[Lottieandryan]

2 x British passport holders received 10 day transit visas.
Documents needed per person:
1 x application form completed online and printed
2 x passport photo
1 x copy health insurance
1 x copy motorbike documents
1 x copy passport
1 x copy Mongolian visa

Processing time: One week
Cost per person (pay with tenge in cash) £45

Very simple process:

Embassy open Tuesday and Friday 9:30-12:00

.Dont rush to be there at 9:30, there is no queue. When the gates open, you stand in the visa crowd which is on the left as you enter. The security guard will call out some names of people attending interview. Ignore this and wait for visa crowd to be invited inside one at a time.
When inside go to window 3. Great guy, speaks English. Drop off your paperwork then move to the payment window.
All being well the visa will take 4-7 days.
We were told to collect at 3pm, but others have collected in the morning. Check with the guy at window 3.

All in all a simple, pleasant process, who says the Russians and the British are on bad terms!!?

[Psik]

Transit visa without problem for czech and german citizens. Applied on Friday and ready on Tuesday - 70€. One week processing 35€.

Tourist visa for Czech citizen possible with invitationletter, for German citizen impossible to get ...

[Marijke&Jurjen]

@Psik @Lottieandryan; Thanks for your reports! What is your experience with the entry date of the Russian transit visa? Do you get to choose or does it have to be within a few days from collecting the visa?