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Hello Jonners,
IF you read this. Be aware of that your PM space have overflowed, so you can't receive any more PM from fellows like me and others here at the forum.
(I did post this in the most applicable folder in the Russian part of the Forum, where you seems to most active in.).
[QUOTE=LoopTackle;1701706]Hello Jonners,
IF you read this. Be aware of that your PM space have overflowed, so you can't receive any more PM from fellows like me and others here at the forum.
(I did post this in the most applicable folder in the Russian part of the Forum, where you seems to most active in.).[/QUOTE]Please clear, thanks.
[URL]http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-women--theyre-just-not-that-into-you/559233.html[/URL]
[QUOTE=Cucumber;1838603][URL]http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-women--theyre-just-not-that-into-you/559233.html[/URL][/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]Greek economic troubles and Syrian migrant crisis receiving broad coverage.
"Who wants to go to Europe anyway, with all the chaos that's going on there?[/QUOTE]I think that sums up what a lot of people think of europe right now. It's a fucking disaster, every day front page news about refugees, migrants, crisis, economy.
In my opinion, it's only going to get worse. There's a huge culture clash between who's coming and who's already here.
You either need to stop it completely (not going to happen) or just wait it out. Waiting it out is going to take generations for everyone to mix properly.
Thinking of returning to SPB after an absence of several years. When I was there previously I was on business visa. This time I would need to go the tourist visa route. I see the Russian embassy recommends applying for a 3 year multi-entry visa. But the required documentation is potentially onerous. Anybody apply recently and did they really require all that much?
In particular, I was thinking of renting an apt via [URL]airbnb.com[/URL] , but what does that mean for the visa application criteria of demonstrating a hotel reservation? Does the airbnb proprietor provide a letter of confirmation or can I just provide my airbnb confirmation or something like that?
[QUOTE=Rovnak;1844270]I need to go the tourist visa route. I see the Russian embassy recommends applying for a 3 year multi-entry visa. But the required documentation is potentially onerous. Anybody apply recently and did they really require all that much?[/QUOTE]We had a lengthy debate here a couple of years ago about whether it was actually the consulate that was requiring some of the items, or if it was just the agency processing the applications.
Those on the side of the debate that disputed that it wasn't really the consulate that ever required these documents, but instead it was just the processing agency, never offered an answer to the main question. Why?
If it wasn't really the consulate that was requiring the letter from your bank confirming your balance was minimum $10,000, plus a copy of your mortgage or deed or your property tax bill to prove you own your home, plus a letter from your employer confirming that you work and what your job title is, then what is the real reason why the agency that processes your application wants all of that? Why would a visa processing agency stipulate those are all requirements for a 3 year tourist visa, if the consulate doesn't require ANY of those?
Nobody here ever offered an explanation for that, but several insisted those requirements were created by the processing agency. If they are not required by the consulate, would the processing agency add those without having ANY reason?
Another unanswered question was why are these items required for a 3 year multi-entry tourist visa, but not for a single entry tourist visa?
As far as producing these items, there's absolutely nothing onerous to contend with. Printing a property tax bill takes one computer click, and my bank and my employer were perfectly happy to provide letters. Go for it.
[QUOTE=Cucumber;1838603][URL]http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-women--theyre-just-not-that-into-you/559233.html[/URL][/QUOTE]Quite sobering. One more proof that the golden&wild 90ies are definitively over and it might not come back. At least not in our lifetime.
There has been discussion of this here on the forum and elsewhere on the net. I think there is decent info out there, however I just got the visa and thought I would try to put all the info in one place for people.
I could see no advantage to getting the business visa as opposed to the tourist visa, so I got the tourist visa.
Documents ETC. That you need to prepare.
Invitation. For those not familiar, there are tons of companies that offer this over the web. You just go to their website, enter in some info and they email you the invitation in 24 hours or less.
The Visa application. You fill it in and save it to the Russian embassy website, but you also print off a hard copy of it to submit along with your other materials.
A photograph. Passport-sized is the size, or in any case works.
Your passport obviously.
The fee.
If you do not live in a city with a Russian embassy or consulate, then you can use a visa assistance company (it might be the case that you have to if you aren't taking the documents to the embassy / consulate yourself, not sure). Google ILS Russian visa. I got the impression that one has to use this company, again could be wrong. They have a few of their own documents (eg. Service agreement with them), and their own fees.
Some thing that confused me, and what the answer was in the end.
For the invitation, just get a 30 day single entry one (even though the scope of your visa will be much broader than this). Fill in your date of entry and put a date of departure 30 days later, eg. Enter on April 2 exit on May 1. This is confusing because you may not have any trips planned yet, and when you do they will likely be different dates and maybe for longer, but anyway this is how you can fill it out. The 30 day single entry invitation is the cheapest, but in any case no option that I saw actually matches the timing and multiple entry aspect that your visa will ultimately have.
The visa application will ask you where you are staying. If you don't have a trip planned yet, then as I understand it is OK to put your best guess for where you will be staying and it is not required that you actually stay there when you do finally plan and go on a trip.
The visa application will ask for all the countries you have visited in the last 10 years including date of entry. I did my best as to date of entry. There were a couple where I was guessing a bit, but was close I think.
Despite numerous references to a cover letter on the net, I was told I did not need one and did not supply one.
On the visa application, for entry into Russia, put your actual entry date of course. For departure date, put three years later, eg. You enter August 2, 2016 put August 1, 2019 as your departure date.
What you get.
You will get a 3 year multi-entry tourist visa valid from the day you specified as your day of entry to a date three years from then. It will also state that the maximum duration of stay is 6 months. However, according to my research you can leave for just one day and return immediately again for another 6 months. So, the really remarkable thing about this visa is that it seems to allow essentially continuous stay (so a huge improvement over the 90 in /90 out rule, and the general situation of not being able to stay very long in a country unless working or studying). One thing to keep in mind though is tax residency. As I understand it, if you stay 183 days or more in Russia in any 12 month period you are a tax resident of Russia under Russian law, but the ministry of finance only takes this approach if you stay 183 days in a calendar year. Anyway, something to keep in mind.
1. Download app "Rutaxi" onto your phones. You can simply type the address you need to be picked up and dropped off and the app will show you the price right away. The taxis will usually arrive within a few minutes. The prices are much much cheaper than haggling with the cab drivers.
Some advantages with the app: Eliminate the need to speak with dispatchers on the phone. The app works nationwide! It's a Godsend.
So next time when some mafia cab drivers quote you an outrageous price, you can tell them go fuck themselves.
2. Download app "2 GIS". This will show you which bus or minibus or trams to take. Also works nationwide.
A trick of mine is to ask the pretty girls on the bus for directions. First in English to show that I'm a foreigner new to their cities, to disarm them. Than switch to Russian to continue the conversation because the nice girls usually bloody well don't speak English.
This ice breaking trick works, but only outside of Moscow. Far away from Moscow.
3. Learn the language. It will raise batting average 10 folds.
[QUOTE=JonathanPine;1864463]1. Download app "Rutaxi" onto your phones. You can simply type the address you need to be picked up and dropped off and the app will show you the price right away. The taxis will usually arrive within a few minutes. The prices are much much cheaper than haggling with the cab drivers.
[/QUOTE]Thanks for the infos. In your opinion, what are the main advantages of Rutaxi compared with Uber. I Moscow I am not very satisfied with Uber, so I am looking for alternatives. If no alternative I will go back to Yandex taxi.
Read Peter Pomerantsev's book "Nothing is real anything is possible". There is a whole chapter devoted to this phenomenon in Moscow.
Maybe some of you veteran ex-pats based in Moscow can figure out from the clues in the book where to look for these women.
I've also seen a couple of girls in Aeroflot business class lounge at SVO, waiting for their flight to Europe. Looking very expensively maintained. Saw their platinum cards. One of their perks from being on the payroll of very rich men.
They were there without their sponsors and looked rather lonely, and I didn't get the impression that it was because the sponsors weren't there. My first thought when I saw these girls was wow these girls are hot, and that they're out of my league.
But strangely one of the girls came on to me, quite hard, her voice just screams that she's so horny and could explode any second. She invited me to join them at their table at the lounge. I knew in their minds I was probably their age, but I know I'm way older.
It's just in Russia people often mistake me for "molodoi chelovek". These girls are stunning but still not perfects 10, because if there were then their sponsors would have their own jets.
I also saw a few times the sponsors and "sodershanka" meaning kept woman traveling together, also at the Aeroflot business class lounge in SVO and also in the business class cabins flying in and out of Russia. It's easy to spot them. The girls would be very tall and slim, the men would usually be much older, short and very fat and sloppily dressed but no doubt expensive.
Usually the top several buttons of their shirts are undone, because they're too fat and maybe it's considered "chic". They'd also be gorging on the free food and drinks in the lounge and not paying much attention to their "sodershaka" because they know the girls are already paid for.
Again, these girls don't look particularly happy. Even when flying business class out of the country for a holiday. By the way, Aeroflot does not have first class, so business class is already the top class. Maybe the reason the girls don't look happy is because they're only 9's. If they had been 10's they'd be flying on a private jet, hahaha.
And that's where the perfect 10's end up. They don't work for "public consumption".
[QUOTE=JonathanPine;1864944]
And that's where the perfect 10's end up. They don't work for "public consumption".[/QUOTE]YES! This captures the whole essence of where the 9's and 10's have gone. I remember my first trip to Night Flight in 2005. I could not BELIEVE the kind of girls I was chatting with at the bar. After I had moved to Moscow some years later I returned to Night Flight and I distinctly remember asking myself "where are all the 10's?
Mystery solved. The best girls are off the market. They are "not for public consumption".
Good one JP!!
Anybody having difficulty accessing this site?
If it's blocked, why? What site do the SPs advertise their trades now?
Thanks
[QUOTE=JonathanPine;1865966]Anybody having difficulty accessing this site?
If it's blocked, why? What site do the SPs advertise their trades now?
Thanks[/QUOTE]Nope. Not blocked. Maybe just temporary.
[QUOTE=JonathanPine;1865966]Anybody having difficulty accessing this site?
If it's blocked, why? What site do the SPs advertise their trades now?
Thanks[/QUOTE]The site works again. Seems that there was a temporary problem only.