The Mystery of the Visa Invitation Letter

{quote:title=Chicagobest wrote:}{quote}
...cities including Blagoveshchensk, Kosakov and Lokot. All of these were absolutely closed to foreign tourists until recently.

dude, what do you mean "recently"?
I was in Blagoveshchensk as a backpacker more than 15 years ago.

been there, done that.

First, I don't think it should be an issue getting the Chinese visa after getting the Kazakh visa. They don't know the order that you intend to travel. You could be going from Kazakhstan to Russia to China and there is no entry from Russia to China in the west. The "first" is in Zabaikalsk to Manzhouli.

Second, you are allowed to change plans. The Russians don't put the entrance and exit cities on your visa anymore.

Third, if you list weird cities, then visatorussia.com (waytorussia.net provdes no services, only information) may want to see reservations for those cities. Stick to reasonably normal places.

You are making this way more complicated then it needs to be. Worry about alternatives closer to your time of departure.

Ruth

Ruth, thank again. I think this is the 6th or 7th time I need to thank you.

We can't stick to usual places, but I will take your helpful hint about which website to request the letter of invitation from. I always try for the strange places.

I can't get anyone in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to write back, otherwise, I suppose I could come up with a booking in a hotel to placate the invitation letter company. Sakhalin Fantastic seems to have gone out of business. I can provide the contact details of a hotel we plan on staying at. This has always been good enough for landing cards at airports-a real hostel with a real phone number even if we do not end up staying there.

I have a hunch that the Chinese, seeing 3 new passports due to renewals, and 1 4 year old passport for our 4 1/2 year old, can put 2 and 2 together and figure Kazakhstan visas in the passport mean you are going there. Plus the Chinese must have an intelligence file on me because I have been in China 4 times (1983, 1984, 1987 1991), and God knows how many other places the Chinese share information with. Normally, I don't think the Chinese would care. But they want this Olympics thing to go just so, so I am afraid the rules are going to be a bit more strict until the whole insanity is over after the Closing Ceremonies. So maybe no China at all this year. 2009 is another story.

Yes, but the Chinese don't know if you are going from China to Russia to Kazakhstan or the reverse. They have no way to ascertain that you are hoping to go from Kazakhstan to China or China to Kazakhstan.

Only your Russian visa gives actually dates that you intend to be in the country, right?

The Chinese visa will be 30 days within a 90 day period. The won't know if you plan to go their at the beginning or at the end.

Ruth

Oh, and the Chinese will not necesarrily assume you are going overland, after all. Some people choose to fly, you know
I wouldn't worry, really

For the Russian visa application, I would strongly recommend getting an invitation for a 'normal' city (preferably St Petersburg) and listing this city on your application form. Once you get your Russian visa, you can do as you please, the cities you listed will not be named on your visa and will probably not even be filed anywhere.

You will raise more questions by listing weird cities on your application than by not listing them and visiting them anyway...