Post date: 06-Jun-2009 17:59:53
I have to start by ranting a little bit. I knew that even with trying to cut costs on this trip there would still be expensive parts. However, we’ve decided that our unborn children are going to have to get a job at a young age (like I did) and pay for their college education themselves.
The cost of applying for 3 visas: Russian, Filipino, and Chinese for two people is $938.88. So, if a country needs to make some quick cash, implement a policy that a Visa is required to enter the country. Each country has different rules for single -entry Visas and Multiple-entry Visas and the length of time the Visa is good for etc.
The Russian Visa application was the least intrusive and the Chinese Visa application was the most intrusive. I'll start with the Russian application. It's one page long and contains basic information such as our name, nationality, purpose of our visit (vacation), type of visa we're requesting (tourist), passport information, name of host organization you intend to visit, route of journey, health insurance plan and phone number, occupation, and if we have relatives in Russia (no). However, we had to enclose a letter from the Russian Experience (the company we booked the Trans-Siberian train trip with) that states we are going on this train trip and we'll be in Russia for two days staying at such and such hotel etc. So, we received this letter in the mail with our invoice, our itinerary, hotel vouchers, and a cool soft cover Trip Info-Pack book about Moscow and the train. The most entertaining thing about the papers that we received is that each one lists are trip as being a different date and each one spells our names a different way. Our names are also listed in Russian too Beck is "Bek" my name is "Cepena" and Colin's is two symbols and then "Oh." Our nationality is "Kahaia." We also filled out a form asking to have them please issue us a Visa because we would like to be a tourist from this date to that date.
The Filipino Visa form was rather intrusive. It asked us for the standard basic information that was on the Russian Visa, but it also asked the following questions. "Have you ever been convicted of any crime?" Do you have a communicable disease? Do you have a history of mental illness? Were you ever refused any kind of Philippine visa, denied admission into or deported from the Philippines and removed at government expense from the Philippines and other countries?" After each of these questions it also states "If Yes, provide details." Our answers to all these questions was no, but if it was yes to one of them I can't help but wonder if I would be denied from entering the Philippines. I mean I guess they don't want murderers entering their country but still. Do they discriminate against you if you have a disease and add that to your Visa. I hope not. We also had this Visa notarized by a a lawyer because we weren't applying in person for it.
The Chinese Visa is even more intrusive and asked us the criminal question, the have you ever been refused entry or deported question and if we suffer from any of the following diseases: Mental, Venereal, Leprosy, Open Tuberculosis, HIV Positive or AIDS or any other infectious diseases. However, I did feel better when it stated that if I answered yes to any of the above questions I would not lose eligibility for visa application. It was also a two page application and we had to list the name of person we're staying with and their address (which we thankfully new for our homestay).
As of Friday, May 22, 2009 our passports were mailed to Visa connections and are travelling around Canada getting our Visa stapled in them. The longest Visa to get is the Russian one (29 working days), then the Filipino one will be next (7-14 working days) and then the Chinese Visa which will take 1 day in Calgary.
The Mongolian Visa application was the most basic out of the four visa applications that we need. It required us to fill out all basic information such as our names, birth date, nationality, address, passport number, employer and address, and our travel agent's name and address. We're going to apply for the Mongolian Visa while we're in London because it's only good for 90 days from the date of issue and they won't post date when the Visa start date. For example, we apply for it today but it's not valid until September 01, 2010.
31 more work days until the trip and 47 more days...are we getting excited yes, but I'm also getting panicked. There is still so much to do before we go and there are only so many weekends left.