Russian visa woes, or how I learned to stop worrying only to realize I should have worried more

Greetings, friends. Long time no post!

I would traditionally be posting on June 28 to reminisce about my extended time abroad and share with you any upcoming travel plans, but I will already be a week and a half in to my next adventure.

A brief update before I launch into my most recent experience: after two very full years I have officially completed my Masters in Public Policy and Masters in Public Health degrees at the University of Minnesota. It was an awesome experience but I am happy to be done with classes and homework.

I also have a new job! I’m currently working with a badass healthcare lobbyist at the Minnesota State Capitol. We have a lot of interesting clients, all focused on helping other people. It feels good to be doing such meaningful work.

This post will not have too many details about my upcoming voyage, but I’ll say briefly that in late February I decided to go to Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Russia this summer. Since then I have been planning, scheming, and recently decided to extend my trip- instead of traveling for five weeks I plan to be out of the country for eight!

So I hope this trip will be long enough to give me some down time to update my blog more regularly. The last couple of trips have seemed packed from end to end, with mad dashes to fill my time with as much exploring, socializing, and eating as possible. So hopefully this will be an opportunity to slow down a little bit and enjoy my time in these new countries.

My many travel guides

Now, on to Russia

You might know that it can be cumbersome to get a visa to Russia if you are a U.S. citizen. I am here to confirm that, and to share my unfinished story with you.

In March I booked my flight to fly into Yerevan, Armenia, and out of Moscow, thinking that I would plan to spend 2ish weeks in Russia before flying home. I began doing research on the visa process right away, knowing that I would need to pay close attention to the materials I send in.

The Russian Consulate contracts with a visa processing center for individuals who are unable to go in person. I opted for this as the mail-in processing fee ($85) was significantly cheaper than buying a flight to New York or Houston and getting the visa in person.

In late March I realized that I probably needed a new passport. My passport was set to expire in February 2020, which is plenty of time for a 30-day, single entry visa, but the cost was the same if I applied for a 3-year, multi entry visa. So I made an appointment to the Minneapolis passport agency, filled out an application, and went to Walgreens to get a couple of passport photos taken. I arrived early on a Thursday morning, went through the renewal process with no problem, paid the $170 fee, which included $60 extra for the expedited process.

And wow, was it expedited! That next Tuesday, in early April, I received my brand new passport in the mail. I then began the process of gathering all of my materials, filling out the visa application, and making sure I was providing all the information necessary.

How motivated do you have to be to apply for a Russian visa? Answer: very.

The Russian visa application is...detailed. Not only was I expected to list my recent employment and education, including supervisors and phone numbers, but also every single country I had visited in the last 10 years, including date of entry. This is where my food diary came in handy, as well as my Google Maps Timeline, as it could tell me exactly when I entered specific countries. When I was bopping through the Balkans a few years ago, I was sometimes in countries for only a couple of days.

In mid-April, I sent in my visa application, paperwork for the visa processing center, an official “invitation letter” to Russia (easily bought online for about $20), my passport, and a whopping $316 in a USPS money order to pay for the entire shebang.

The Invisa Logistic Services (ILS) website said that the average processing time was 2-4 weeks. It was a little unnerving to pack your passport and so much money into an envelope and ship it away, not knowing when I would hear anything back. ILS provides a text-notification service to tell you when you application was accepted, but I thought that was unnecessary for the extra cost and decided not to use it.

The post office where it all went down

Waiting...and waiting...

I relaxed for a while, knowing the situation was literally out of my hands, and became pretty busy with school and work to even think about traveling at all. It wasn’t until mid-May that I started thinking, “it’s about time!” and would check my mailbox constantly for any sign of my passport. Two weeks had passed, and then four. I was a little concerned, but figured if it was taking so long, it wouldn’t get rejected, right?

Two weeks ago, I decided to check the ILS page for any updates. What I found made me feel both better and worse.

This news update was posted on May 17:

Update to visa processing time by mail beginning March 11, 2019

Dear clients,

Due to an increase in the volume of visa applications during the spring months, the processing time when applying by mail can take up to 5-7 weeks .

Due to the excess volume of applicants in Washington D.C., you can apply for a visa by mail to any office of our company (except San Francisco),  regardless of jurisdiction.

I thought to myself, “wow, if I had only known in March that the processing time would take up to 7 weeks, I would have applied earlier.” On the bright side, now I thought I knew what was taking so long. However, 7 weeks of time after I submitted my application would be about a week before I left. So I was cutting it close. Visa or no, I need my passport back!

I already had been thinking about Plan B. I decided in early May to extend my trip, but was waiting on the visa decision. Regardless, I will need to change my outbound flight from Europe to Minneapolis, but if I don’t get the Russian visa I can’t fly out of Moscow. So I’ve been bouncing around ideas in my head of where else to fly out of- Amsterdam, Kiev, Bucharest, for example- but haven’t made an executive decision.

Two days ago, my anxiety took over. And I’m glad it did.

Despite knowing the process would take longer, at this point my visa anxiety was pretty rampant. So a couple of days ago I started looking into things a little bit more, and I’m glad I did because I learned A LOT.

The Google Maps reviews for ILS have gone from pretty standard as of a few months ago, to straight up bad in the last couple of weeks. For example:

This office accepted my passport and fees and is completely non-responsive to phone calls or emails.  Currently there is no indication they have even begun processing my visa applications even though they have had my documents for three weeks and I paid extra for them to start the day they received my documents.

I have even called the company's Washington DC office and workers there have no ability to get in contact with the Houston office.  Never use them, use any one else.

And…

They should be closed down. Do not make my mistake.  Sent extra money and family of 4 passports over a month ago.   Showed proof of delivery from postal service, called and email.  Have spent days working this issue. Get no response and now have no passports! Would give negative stars.  Do not use them!!!!

At this point I’m like, omg, I’ve made a terrible mistake, what is going on and how did I not know about this already. And then I found this gem on the Russian Consulate’s website:

New Russian visa center in Houston

Dear visitors,

Starting April 11, 2019, VFS Global assumes the responsibilities of the Russian visa center in Houston. Invisa Logistic Services LLC will no longer be authorized to process visa applications on behalf of the Consulate.

So there you have it, folks. Less than a week before I sent in my full application, the Russian consulate changed their preferred visa service. I would have known had I been constantly checking the Consulate’s website. But I thought I was fine. I sent everything to a center that didn’t even have the authority to process visas. And me, trying to relax and not worry about it, only found out almost two months later after letting my anxiety take over. Hahahahahaha.

Kicking into “ohmygod what do I do next” mode

So I went into Plan B mode, assuming that I won’t get my passport back and that I need to change my flight. That night I called Travel Guard to see if getting a new passport is covered under my insurance (TBD). I also called Delta to see what the process would be to change my flight because of visa issues. It’s looking like they will give me some discount on the change fee, which is great.

Yesterday I called the U.S. passport agency hotline and set up an appointment for what’s called a “secondary passport”, which lasts only two years but can serve in a pinch while I travel this time around. My other passport isn’t officially lost/stolen yet, and there’s still a chance I can get it back. The USPS also has a way to inquire about a money order and report it lost or stolen, and I can possibly get that whopping $316 back.

I also tried calling ILS to no avail. Like some of the reviews said, their voicemail box was full. I then called the Russian Consulate in Houston to see if I could get any information from them. After speaking to someone appropriately named Vladimir, he asked me to send an email explaining my situation, and said that there was still a possibility that ILS would process my application. This was not the sentiment I got from their website.

Vladimir replied rather quickly, to say he had “asked the ILS to investigate the issue,” and gave me a direct line. So I will try to contact them on Monday and see what I can find out. There’s still a possibility that I could get my visa back. Will it be before I leave? Probably not. Will I get the visa this time? Probably not. But what an experience!

In sum….stuff like this happens, and I'm constantly learning to be okay with it

In my mind, I did everything I could to navigate this process efficiently. I then forced myself to relax and not think about it constantly (“That’s what Americans do! Overthink everything!”) and then when my anxiety finally got the best of me, I figured out that everything is a mess.

I may not get to Russia this summer, but this won’t stop me from applying again in the future. I might just fly to Houston next time and pay the price to avoid this chaotic experience.