Hi, I’m looking to get a Russian visa (so I can ride the trans mongolia to to Moscow) in the next month or so, and all the info I find online is confusing. Does anyone know if there is anywhere in Taipei where an American Passport holder can get a Russian (single entry) tourist visa in Taipei? Has anyone travelled to Russia from Taiwan? Do you have any advice?
na zdroviej
My Mum nearly went to Russia… but didn’t because of the visa regulations. You need to be invited, like a hotel, and the hotel charged for that, and the visa itself was expensive, and probably involved giving backhanders to several officials. They seemed to make it as difficult as possible to visit. She only wanted to take a train from Lithuania to Poland or something.
This information is VERY old, but it might be of interest: I went from Beijing to London by train via Ulan Bator, Moscow, Berlin, Oostende and Dover in September 1982. I didn’t need any invitations but one had to get one’s visas (in Beijing) in a certain order. Basically each Eastern-bloc country wanted proof that you could leave before letting you in. Therefore I had to get my visas in reverse order i.e. East Germany, Poland, Soviet Union, Mongolia. I wanted to go to Kaliningrad (Koenigsberg), home of some of my ancestors, but at that time it was not open to foreigners as there were sensitive military installations there.
Anyway, with that fascinating story out of the way, the Russian Trade Office in Taibei is located in a building on Xinyi Road opposite the World Trade Center. The building has a computer store and a cafe in the basement. Sorry this information could be out of date, too - the one and only time I went to the Russian Trade Office was in September 1999. And I don’t know whether they issue visas. If not, you may have to do it in Beijing. There are some travel agencies in Hong Kong that offer trans-Siberian train tickets and related services - try agencies along Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Travel tip: All over Russia you will see signs that say PECTOPAH. Actually that is “Restoran” (Restaurant) so if you are hungry, head for the nearest “pectopah”.
Счастливого пути (Sčastlivogo puti)
juba,
thanks, i guess i’ll apply for the belorussian one first, just in case.
The russian representative office is located at XinYi-Jilong intersection, in Aurora building. The exact address is 10fl, Aurora building, No2, Sec5 Hsinyi rd. Should be correct, as i’ve copied it from the business card of the russian Representative 
The councils name is Alexander Pavlov. Here is their web-page, for your reference:
taipei.mtcc.ru/
Good luck!
thanx.
From the Russian representative office in Taibei, whose official name is very very long:
[quote=“The Russian bureau(crats)”]THE APPLICATION FORM SHOULD BE COMPLETELY FILLED OUT AND SUBMITTED WITH:
[ul][li]RUSSIAN TOURIST COMPANY’S LETTER OF CONFIRMATION (TOURIST VOUCHER). FAX IS VALID [/li]
[li]HOTEL BOOKING CONFIRMATION [/li]
[li]A PASSPORT VALID FOR THE DURATION OF STAY IN RUSSIA [/li]
[li]PASSPORT COPY [/li]
[li]ID COPY [/li]
[li]ONE PHOTO LESS THAN SIX MONTHS OLD (2 INCHES)[/li][/ul]
ATTENTION !
HOTEL’S BOOKING CONFIRMATION IS NOT A REASON FOR GRANTING TOURIST VISA[/quote]
Attracting individual travelers is evidently not a priority for the Russian government.
Monkey Business are the experts on Trans-Siberian travel in Hong Kong. They have been at it for years. Check out their information on visa requirements (one page for China and another for the rest). It is pretty complicated and the visa fees sure do add up. In some ways it is more restrictive than when I did it back in the days of the good old Soviet Union in 1982, e.g. as I remember I had a transit visa and it did not have this limit of only one night in Moscow and no stopovers. I slept two nights on the floor of a railway station because, although I had a ticket all the way through to Berlin, I had a bit of trouble booking a seat for the Moscow-Berlin leg. And I wanted to hang around in Moscow for a bit anyway. I lived on bread and kvas and I got stopped by police three times, including once inside the Kremlin. I had a crewcut and probably looked like an escaped prisoner or a soldier AWOL from Afghanistan.
Mozhet byt’ jesli vy govoritje po-russki to budjet njemnozhko ljegche.
By the way, EXCLUSIVE NEWSFLASH the youth hostel associations of Taiwan, China and Russia have just been admitted to full membership of the International Youth Hostel Association, as have those of Czechia, Singapore and Bolivia.
ruski, nyet. ceski, da.
You might want to check out a tourist agency in Taiwan. I have had problems in the past obtaining Russian visas at consulates outside the States. I was even told one time at their embassy in Kiev “We don’t give visa to Amerikans here” crazy.
Although, if you fly directly to Moscow you can get a landing visa, dono why.