Law /
Applying for Russian VISA in Poland [7]
James, have a look at waytorussia.net/RussianVisa/HowToApply.html
It states: "Normally, you can apply for a Russian visa at the country where you live. But if you're traveling at the moment, for example, you can apply anywhere else in the world, unless, you're from Germany or some Asian countries (except Japan). The nationals of Germany and of some Asian countries (except Japan) can only apply for a Russian visa in their own country. Also, the nationals of other countries (the US, European countries, Australia, New Zealand) can not apply for a Russian visa in Germany unless they have a permit of stay in Germany that exceeds the period covered by the Russian visa. Those measures might seem strange, but it's done because German officials issue German visas to Russians only inside Russia (and not in the other countries). So, it's sort of what they call "diplomatic" reciprocation and it's sad it's still happening, because it restricts the travel...
Anyway, there is a way round all this red tape stuff: either you can send all your docs by post, or (if it's not possible) make a special trick.
Imagine, you're in Germany, but you're a national of some other country. How would you get a Russian visa? You need to do three simple things. First, you should register in a place you stay in (ask a hostel, for example), the hostel will give you a special paper saying you have a registration in this hostel. Make sure this registration is valid for longer than your Russian visa (i.e. if you want a visa from 1 July to 20 July you should have your registration from, say, 20 June to 20 August). Second, (after you're registered) go to the government office (e.g. a town hall) to get the special permission to live in this country. You can say that you're a student, who's looking for education opportunities in their country, or that you'll stay more than 3 months, etc. This permission is a stamp in your passport and generally doesn't mean anything and it's only for some period of time (3 months). Third, after you have this stamp, you can go to the Russian consulate, show them the stamp, and they'll have to make a visa for you. It works and you can try it in any other country as well."
Would you be going by road or train via Belarus or the Ukraine (you'd need a transit visa then)? Or flying directly from Poland?
