Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Can I apply for Russian tourist visa with Chinese residence permit that expires before travel date to Russia

Country forums / Eastern Europe & the Caucasus / Russia

Hello, my nationality is Netherlands and I am currently working in Chongqing with a chinese residency permit till the 16th of january 2015. I will apply for a Chinese tourist visa beginning of january because if I do it now my residency permit expires directly. I will travel with the train from Beijng to Moskow crossing borders the 27the of january, so my question is if I can apply for a Russian tourist visa when my Chinese residence permit expires (16th) before the date I will cross the border to Russia (27th)?
I want to travel to Beijing next week to arrange the Russian visa in advance to avoid risk. I only have from friday 5 dec to monday 8 to arrange the Russian visa, I have all my documents: invitation, train ticket and flight ticket from Moscow to Netherlands.

Hope anybody can inform me! Thanks

As long as your Dutch passport has at least 6 months left then I see no problem entering Russia. But try to either get your residency permit updated or apply for a 30 day tourist visa at the nearest Chinese foreign office in early January, (at least 7 days before expiry) or Chinese officials might not let you pass without paying a big fine. You could also find out where in Beijing and/or Chongqing you need to apply for a tourist visa.

I would highly recommend stopping over in Mongolia on the way to Irkutsk and Baikal. Apply for the Mongolian visa in Beijing and take a photocopy of your passport if you want to change hotels during the 3 day wait for your visa and attached passport to come back from Ulan Bator to Beijing. I now carry an old passport because by law a Chinese Hotel cannot register you as a guest without a passport.

This link might help:

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/embassy/visa/extension.htm

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