Russian Women Blog

Posts Tagged ‘russian visa’

Yesterday my wife and I with our 2 small children had the pleasure of a trip to the Russian Embassy! The purpose of our visit was to arrange Russian citizenship for our 2 children. Citizenship would make things a lot easier for all us when they have to travel there.

At the moment we have to arrange to visa’s for them which is costly and very time consuming. Each time we need a visa my wife’s mother has to write out a letter of invitation. We then have numerous forms to complete, payments to make and passports to send to the embassy.

Once their citizenship is granted we’ll not have to do anything of this again. All we have to do is buy the tickets and hop on the plane. My wife tends to travel with them to Russia every summer during the school holiday times so with them having citizenship will make things a lot easier. I rarely go to Russia now because of work commitments and money!

Should I manage to get some time to go away I’ll have to go through the visa process because I doubt I’ll be getting citizenship any time soon!

Russian Embassy

We had a 4 hour drive to the Russian embassy which is located in the centre of London – 5 Kensignton Palace Gardens, W8 4QS. I was a little apprehensive about driving into the centre of London because it had been a number of years since I’d last driven there. My concerns were unfounded as the drive went smoothly and we even managed to find parking for £1.40 an hour just a 5 minute walk from the embassy in Queensway opposite the ice rink.

The embassy is open from 9 to 12 in the morning then they take a break for 2 hours and open again at 2 and close at 5. They are closed on Wednesdays and weekends. Where can I find a job with these hours!!

My wife warned me to expect some queuing and she was not wrong. We got there at 1 while they were closed and decided to take lunch at the nearby Starbucks and went back to the embassy at 13.40 to find quite a large queue had formed. At 2 the gates opened and after some security checks we entered Russian soil!

From the outside the building is quite impressive:

Unsurprisingly inside is quite different. It’s tatty and in a state of poor repair. The majority of fellow visitors need the passport section as we do. About 20 people managed to squeeze into a room measuring no more than 12ft x 6ft and the free for all begins! There are 3 booths open and any of you that have witnessed Russian queuing will not be surprised by the chaos that ensues!

There is very little courtesy to your fellow comrades as everyone wants to be first in. Even while you are speaking to the person behind the screen other citizens will lean over and interrupt to ask questions regardless of the fact that someone else is in front of them!

I do not know the ins and outs of all the paperwork that was needed to apply for citizenship for my children. Suffice to say that my wife had a folder a half an inch thick filled with completed forms, notorized documents, passports and so on. I had to be present to give my consent and sign a few more forms.

Some of the parents there were with small children too and bear in mind it took us 2 1/2 hours to complete our visit you can imagine how difficult it was to keep the small children happy during this time!! A lot of the other people had to complete all their paperwork there on the day and the embassy provided a very small table with 4 chairs only. We had around 12 adults, 6 children under 5 and 2 babies present in this room! And the queue out in the street got longer and longer!

People were sitting on the floor completing forms or struggling to find space on the table amongst baby feeding bottles, piles of bags and clothing and so on. Looking back today I find it all amusing however at the time it was anything but amusing.

I had little to do apart from trying to keep my children occupied and at one stage we managed to escape the confines of the passport room and went next door to the visa application room. Imagine my surprise when I discovered this room was at least 3 times the size, had a 12 ft table and about 20 chairs in it! The room was empty expect one member of staff sitting behind cubicle one. Let’s face it, how many Russians need to visit the visa room! It’s only use is to assist non Russian nationals with visa applications to Russia. However very few foreign nationals visit the embassy directly. I never have.  And none did all the time we were there. Most will use a dedicated Russian visa service.

I thought it was typically Russian to have a large comfortable room available and push everyone into the tiny uncomfortable room instead! I wonder if there is some resentment towards Russian expats from the embassy? It’s almost if they want to make your visit to the embassy as difficult and as unpleasant as they possibly can!

After the Visit

We managed to get out of the embassy at 4.30 and while you’re in the centre of London it’s worth spending a couple of hours in the parks especially if you have small children like ourselves.

The Russian embassy lies adjacent to Kensington Gardens which is perfect for those of you with small children. The Pricess Diana Memorial Playground is is just inside the entrance from the main road and is ideal for taking the children after your visit. Entry is free and there’s stacks of things to play on in there.

The grounds are impressive and time permitting you can enter Kensington Palace too. There’s a couple of lakes, guided walks, one of which is to the Prince Albert memorial and just the other side of the road is the Royal Albert Hall.

Needless to say the best part of the visit was the time spent in the Kensington Park and I’m pleased that I don’t have to return to the embassy anytime soon!

Tags: having citizenship, kensignton, kensington palace gardens, letter of invitation, russian citizenship, russian embassy, russian visa, work commitments