Caravanistan

Please read and post reports on the embassy of Russia in Almaty below.

We summarize all info on the Russia visa page.

See here if you are still in need of a letter of invitation for your Russian visa.

I can confirm that it's possible to get a Russian tourist visa in Almaty (Aug 2015), AT and DE passports, non-residents. It was not possible to get even a Russian transit visa in Bishkek (residency requirement = 3 month Kyrgyz visa).

Word of advice in addition to the embassy report page: the embassy wants the original LOI and it's impossible to find a copyshop in Almaty to print out the LOI pdf you get from your travel agency in color (LOI contains a stamp and a signature, there is a law in place to prevent forgery, so get your color printouts before coming to Kazakhstan unless you want to buy a printer or know someone with a color printer). We came with a black and white copy, but had to bring the original LOI within the week it took to process the visa (7200 Tenge).

Btw, we used Stantours.com to get us the LOI - they charge $30 and can email the LOI within 1-2 days.

Well, Stantours is located in Almaty so you could also go there to pick up the original (which is what I assume you did) if you go through them.

The invitation is issued by an agency in Russia with which they partner. So, the original is in Moscow.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for the correction.

Hi, we are 2 french guys and we are trying to do a russian visa in almaty. They are asking a proof of residence in kazakhstan for the last 90 days and a return ticket. Do anyone now about this?

Thank you for the update. That seems to be new, the rules change on a monthly or even weekly basis. Since you are a traveler, you will not be able to get such a proof of residence. 2 options: Try again and be insistent, or give up and try somewhere else (I cannot advise where, all options seem bad. Maybe call Astana and see what they say?).

Hi guys,

We've just got our RUSSIAN TRANSIT VISA in Almaty and it was super easy.

Supplied:

- Online visa form (completed online)
- 1 x Copy of Passport
- 1 x Copy of onward visa (if needed, Mongolia in our case)
- Printed reservations of all train tickets. We needed to book a reservation for a flight from Ulan Ude to Ulan Bator (which we later cancelled at no cost as the bus is loads cheaper though can not be booked online).
- Bookings of any accommodation


Told to come back in 7 days and it was ready.

Note: We had to pay the fee in Tenge, not USD.

The visa guy at window 3 is super friendly and helpful.

Hope this helps.

Hello

We just (August 2016) received our Russian 30-days TOURIST VISA in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Location of the consulate is in the center of Almaty at Zhandosov Street 4, near the corner with Manas Street.
Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/mqWH5vUnpe72
Opening times: Tuesday morning 9.30 to 12.30 and Friday afternoon 15.00 to 17.00

These documents each of us submitted:
- 1 Application form (filled out online and then printed: https://visa.kdmid.ru)
- Passport
- 1 Colorprint of the LOI
- 1 Colorcopy of passport (don’t know if needed in color)
- 1 4.5 by 3.5 photo, glued to the application form
- 1 copy of health insurance
- 1 copy of balance statement from bank account
- 1 Letter of Employment (just one of us, probably not needed, but they took it)

- We are non-residents in Kazakhstan, so no proof of residence was needed
- Be careful the visa is date specific (what we didn't know). We’ve got the dates as we've written them on the form, the same as in the LOI.

Costs for one visa:
261 USD express (apply on Fri, collect on Tue or opposite)
151 USD normal (1 week, Fri to Fri or Tue to Tue)
They tell the price in USD but you HAVE to pay in Tenge, it’s a bit confusing.
These prices are only for Swiss passports. At least for EU-Schengen passports it is much cheaper, around 70/35 Euro.


Here some more details:

About the consulate:
Entrance to the visa section is at the west side of the building (on the public parking site). Both times we went there about 20 minutes before opening and both times 20 to 30 people were already waiting. Once they open the first gate you have to put your bags in the lockers. Then join the crowd in front of the stairs. Applicants for visas wait on the left side of the stairs (there is no proper queue). Don’t worry, most people are there for other issues. Both times we had to wait about 1 hour until they let us in. First they checked our passport and then pointed us to desk 3 where we submitted our documents.

Check for contact details and fees: http://www.almaata.mid.ru/doc/visa/1.htm

Appointment not needed:
On the web we’ve read and also our agency told us, that we should make an appointment before we go to the consulate. We tried to do it by email one week in advance, without success. Once arrived in Almaty our hostel tried to call them, after one day of trying the consulate finally picked up the phone. They told us that we should just show up, so no appointment is needed.

Letter of invitation (LOI):
We’ve got our LOI through Stantours (35 USD each). Their office is in Almaty and they also provided a proper print. Though the officer recognized it as a copy - we acted the naive as we wouldn’t know. Finally he accepted it.

Printshop, Atm, Exchange around the consulate:
If you are in a hurry, this links might help, we needed all of them;-)
- Printshop, maybe there is also one closer to the consulate, but that's the one we found: https://goo.gl/maps/VKcGqxtN2uM2
- Atm, which accepts international cards, Tenge only: https://goo.gl/maps/kCqwd2wkn7C2
- Exchange: https://goo.gl/maps/sYyczuEWeQB2

A word to printshops: There are print/copyshops in Almaty. They are mostly located in malls and mostly they advertise just their photo print service. But of course they print all kind of documents on all kind of paper. Though we couldn’t find a single color-laser-printer - for color they are all using inkjet. Same situation as in Bishkek.

Hope this helps somebody!

Cheers
David

Just to confirm and add to the above:

We applied for the Transit Visa today. German passport.

Documents as CheeseNBickies mentioned, plus insurance confirmation. We called them the day before (4pm seems to be a good time to reach someone, English is spoken) and were told this is needed. Confirmed Tourist Visa would also be possible, though LOI will obviously be needed to do that.

Arrived around 10am, 15min wait, easy-peasy. When we were out everyone was gone, so save yourself the wait and don't come early!

Train tickets booked online on rzd.ru were fine. These tickets can indeed be cancelled online for about RUR 200/ticket - this may be of interest for those places where only a transit visa is possible in order to get some extra days or in case u plan to hitchhike / bus / cycle ...

Yes, they only open Tuesday morning and Friday afternoon. Wait 7 days for 35 Euro / 13500 KZT or pick up following Tue/Fri for twice that price.