Thorn Tree travel forum

1

Mongolian visas are NOT available on arrival at the border. (The consulate nearest to the border is in Ulan Bator.) They must be obtained in advance. Generally you need to show an onward ticket and a visa, both of which you have. Processing time is not immediate, but takes 3-5 days.

I would suggest contacting the company that has obtained your train ticket and ask for proof of confirmation on the ticket (either some sort of voucher or a scan of the ticket.) Along with this and your Chinese visa, you should be able to get your Mongolian transit visa prior to departure from home.

Ruth

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

2

Make sure that your transit visa is not too short. Some guys were picked out of our train at the Mongolian/Chinese border because they overstayed a few hours!!! They were taken to this building and had to negotiate a "fine" with the boarderguards before they were allowed back on the train. This was kinda scary as you don't want to get stuck on that border there's nothing there exept guards :)

They also calculated it sort of strangely... I think these guys had a two day visa... they entered at like 22:00 on Day 1, they exited on Day 3 03:00 which is less then 48 hours. However, according to the "officials" they overstayed 1 Day. (the visa's are date stamped, not time stamped so it says "entry sept 1, departure sept 3... which is then interpreted as 3 days)

3

First check: Everbrite's travel pages, the New RU sticky,and New RU train sticky

Since I have taken the time to answer your question, it would be nice if you took the time to respond as to whether the information was helpful.

4

I'm Canadian. I went to the Mongolian Embassy in Prague in March.
I showed the lady council my Russian and Chinese visas. I showed her
the #4 train schedule (no ticket). I asked if I need a transit visa
if I don't even get off the train. "Yes! you need a visa." That was a
dumb question to ask, anyway.

Filled the form at 10am, got my visa at 4pm. $35 Euros for this
same day services. She gave me 10 days to transit !! I regreted
I bought the #4 Moscow -> Beijing in advance on the net. The ticket
face price was 6,300 Rubles... and I was charged 230 Euros.
Damn! I know, I know... some Dutches aboard were charged like
400 Euros...

In the Russian-Mongolia border, ALL Chinese passengers got off
the train and bought their Mongolian Transit Visas right on the spot
for $43 USD cash. I didn't get a legible answer from the authority
but I strongly believe that westerners can do the same thing too.
So much for that Prague effort!!

I stepped off the train in UB and had a great time for 5 days before
I headed south again.

5

An option is to continue through Russia to Chita, exit at Zabaikalsk, & enter China on the Trans Manchurian, going to Beijing via Harbin, bypassing Mongolia altogether.

............. III\\//III
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