Well, yesterday's question of who was right remains unresolved as today the agency wasn't even able to get my application INTO the embassy at all! Without the required form they wouldn't take it in with their other applications afraid that it might damage their reputation with the embassy. Instead, they sent a courier to go stand in the regular queue for mere mortals. The same 25 metre long queue that was my reason for asking them to do it for me in the first place indeed. I don't know if I should be reassured by the fact that evidently I am not the only one stuck on the wrong side of the iron gate or not but the result is that I still do not have a visa. We'll give it one more try on Monday but if that doesn't work the whole trip is off. Again. To be continued...
Friday, May 30, 2008
Aaaaaargh
Well, yesterday's question of who was right remains unresolved as today the agency wasn't even able to get my application INTO the embassy at all! Without the required form they wouldn't take it in with their other applications afraid that it might damage their reputation with the embassy. Instead, they sent a courier to go stand in the regular queue for mere mortals. The same 25 metre long queue that was my reason for asking them to do it for me in the first place indeed. I don't know if I should be reassured by the fact that evidently I am not the only one stuck on the wrong side of the iron gate or not but the result is that I still do not have a visa. We'll give it one more try on Monday but if that doesn't work the whole trip is off. Again. To be continued...
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8 comments:
Is this about the invitation or about an official confirmation/endorsement of the invitation? No doubt you've thought about this, but: is there any way to obtain such a document (by fax or something) before Monday?
I've applied for a Russian visa only once, and a few years have passed since then so it may be different now, but I remember they were very strict about invitations. :-( (And they had insane queues in The Hague as well! Russian tradition perhaps.)
Good luck!!
It's about the confirmation of the invitation. I have the actual letter of invitation as well as the reference NUMBER with the confirmation of that invitation. The problem is that that number was issued over the phone and apparently that is no longer good enough; they need an official document instead. Nothing can be done between now and Monday as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who need to issue that do not work on weekends and since Moscow is 3 hours ahead of the UK everything is closed already...
What also does not help is that the relationship between Russia and the UK is at an all-time low so the embassy here is not inclined to do anybody any favours. :-( I'm stuck basically.
argh argh argh. big hug from us in oslo! do you think that will help with the embassy officials? the two minis
Thanks minis, but given your own bad luck in dealing with bureaucracy I don't think even the mini-charm will work on this one...
Maybe you can try and get in touch with some smugglers who can get you into Russia hidden in a container filled with frozen meat! ;-)
Anyway, it may be some relief for you to know that it is probably just as hard for the Ruskies to get into Europe as it is for you to get into Russia. At least, it's that way for the Chinese. My company has been trying to arrange a trip to Europe for a couple of people from China, and they can't get into a single European country without a written invitation endorsed by 7 different agencies and the Easter bunny!
Argh indeed. And argh again. Fingers crossed for Monday.
Yeah, I know. We had the same problem last year with a Chinese classmate of mine when we took our trip to the Netherlands. Also, one of my non-EU colleagues is trying to get a visa for Italy: 8 weeks before she can even get an appointment at the embassy. There is a lot of tit-for-tat going on I think. I just wish I wasn't caught in the middle of it... Getting the Russians to join the EU might be quicker and easier.
They're already part of the Eurovision Song Contest, so it should be a small step.
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