As tourists, Caroline and I attempted to secure Russian visas while staying Korea’s capital. After taking all of the steps written below, I got to the office and discovered that I couldn’t even apply for a visa because I’d missed out on some small detail.

New Zealand passport holders cannot get a Russian visa in South Korea without a Korean Alien Registration Card (ARC), and I would need to be travelling in Korea on a specific visa before I could apply for that. That same nugget of painful bureaucracy applies to UK passport holders (I have both). In fact, if you’re a UK passport holder it sucks even harder, because you have to actually get fingerprinted as well. As far as I know, this can only be done at a facility in the UK.

I know Australian passport holders in Korea can apply without the ARC, and so can Malaysian passport holders. Therefore Caroline was able to apply for her Russian Visa in Seoul, but I had to send my passport back to New Zealand (argh!) I’ve written all about that at the bottom of this post.

If in doubt – and you should be, because Russian visas are a pain in the arse – email VFS Global. They are the people who manage Russian visa applications in South Korea. Their email address can be found on their contact page.

So, if you’re ready, this is how some countries can get a single entry Russian tourist visa while staying in Seoul. A single entry allows 30 days in the motherland.

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Step 1: Figure out if you actually need a visa

Here’s a very long Wikipedia page about Russia’s visa policies. You should also email VFS global to make sure your passport is okay. Finally, if you skipped my first paragraph, you should read that too.

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Step 2: Plan where you’re going

This is something that you might not want to do, but must be done. The Russian bureaucrats need to know how you’re entering Russia, how you’re exiting Russia, and where you’re staying during your trip. So figure all that out, and write it down on a spreadsheet for later use.

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Step 3: Get invited to Russia

You have to provide ‘visa support documents’ when you apply. These consist of an ‘invitation letter’ and a ‘tourist voucher’. There’s no point in asking why these are required, let’s just call it fun tax, sigh, and move along. There are plenty of companies online that will supply you with these support documents for a fee, or a friend living in Russia can sponsor you.

We used a company called Real Russia. They were cheaper that a few other sites we looked at, and within seconds of paying we had all our printable documents by email. The payment screen was dicky with Google Chrome, so we had to use Microsoft Edge (eeeww) which worked fine. The cost was £15 per person.

On the Real Russia application form, we had to include the cities we’d be visiting (‘Trans Siberian – multiple stops’ is an option), and the dates we’d be in Russia for. Make sure you choose your dates and places carefully, because you’ll have to put the exact same dates on your actual Russian visa application.

Print the support documents.

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Step 4: Fill out the online application form

Next, you have to fill out a form on the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s website. This online form is comparatively merciful, because you can save it and return to it later with a password.

Apart from your basic personal information, you must include the cities you plan to visit. Some nationalities are required to submit their insurance certificates too, and those areas are: Schengen zone, European Union, United Kingdom, Ireland, and Turkey. Sorry guys.

Click this link to fill out the application form.

Once you’ve finished that, you’ll need to print the pages and file them with your ever-growing pile of paperwork. If something is wrong, you can’t change it with pen, you have to log back in, fix your mistake, and print it again. The only pen marks on the form should be your signature and the date.

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Step 5: Get your shit together

Put the following things into a pile:

• Your passport with at least 6 months remaining on it AFTER your intended exit date from Russia, containing two free pages. The pages don’t have to be consecutive.
• One 3.5 x 4.5 passport photo following the usual rules: white background, no smiling, no head dress, no sunglasses.
• Visa support documents from step 3 (tourist voucher and invitation letter)
• Your printed application form from step 4
• Your insurance certificate if you need it (see step 4)
• Maybe a Korean ARC (Grrrr! See first paragraph of this post). There are likely dozens of other nationalities who will need an ARC too. So I stress again, email VFS global if you’re unsure.

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Step 6: Take your pile to the visa office

Now you need to take everything down to the VFS Russian Visa Application Centre. Here’s the address:

Russia Visa Application Centre
5F Danam Building, 10 Sowol-Ro,
Jung-Gu, Seoul, South Korea
(Postal code 04527)

The centre is rather small (especially compared to the Chinese visa centre), with only three people working on the applications. The first time we went we were told, very apologetically, that I couldn’t apply with my NZ passport. The second time, we got the same woman. She was very friendly and made sure Caroline’s application was all in order. We paid upfront, and were given a ticket to collect. Here is a table of fees in Korean won.

Step 7: Collection day!

Well, everything went smoothly for Caroline. She got her visa just fine. We had to return to the same place, take a number, and make sure all the details were correct.

Your photo actually gets put on the visa. That’s kind of cool.

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