Is there anybody out there who can help with conundrum?
I am a British Citizen and hold a British passport, I live and have permanent resident status in Taiwan (a non-country as far as diplomatic relations with 99% of the rest of the world is concerned.) Hence there are very few consuls or embassies located here.
My intention is a trip on one of the Siberian expresses next year from Beijing to Moscow and on to St. Petersburg, at the moment I am concentrating on the necessary preparatory work and have hit a brick wall as to obtaining a Russian visa.
I think I can get a "travel invitation," through the organisation called Destination Russia, which is the first step in applying for the visa, but all the Russian visa advice sites seem to suggest that the visa should be applied for in your own country.
So I am stuck with the fact that there is no Russian Embassy here in Taiwan and London is 8000 miles away.
Has anybody out there had any experience of obtaining a Russian visa outside there own country? Especially in Beijing or Hong Kong. Also any advice on a obtaining a Mongolian visa would be most helpful and appreciated.
I suggest contacting 'Real Russia' - experts in Russian travel and visas - they have offices in UK too --
http://realrussia.co.uk/
Another good source of advice is any of the companies specialising in TSE trips. These package companies arrange all the necessary visas for the journey and its generally no issue for British passport holders. I looked into this when I was in Beijiing and although I didn't end up doing the trip it wasn't going to be a problem getting all the papers although not being in the UK at the time...
According to the website of Mongolian embassy in Germany, there is a visa waiver for UK passport holders till the end of 2015. Otherwise here are the phone numbers of Mongolian embassy in Beijing: 86-10-6532-6512
86-10-6532-6513, 86-10-6532-1810
The Russian representation in Taiwan is called MTC http://www.mtc.org.tw/index-en.html
you can ask about the visa there
Thanks for your answer to my query, I have decided that the best option is, as you suggest, to go to a Beijing travel agent and take it from there. Thanks again!
Thanks for the reply, I was surprised by the visa waiver for Mongolia, I hope it is carried forward into 2016. Thanks again.
Vladivostok is soon allowing visa-free visits for foreigners, up to 8 days. There's daily flights from South Korea, so it shouldn't be too difficult to piece it together. Don't know what the next step would be, but it looks like they'll be pleased to welcome you:
http://russia-insider.com/en/business/vladivostok-introduce-visa-free-regime-foreigners/ri7737
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