How difficult is it to get a Russian, Mongolian and Chinese passport if i do the transiberian railway..?

Question

also, how far in advance should I be looking to get these?

Answer 1

You won't get those, unless you're a Russian, Mongolian and Chinese citizen all at the same time, which is impossible. What you need are visas, they're like stamps or stickers in your passport. Contact the appropriate embassies, and they'll be able to tell you.

Answer 2

passport?
should that be visas.. try contacting the embassies in london for information on visas

Answer 3

Those are Visas you will be needing. Contact the nearest embassy. Their websites should have all the forms you will need.

Answer 4

Hi,

Yes you need Visas, and they get put in your passport by the embassy or consulate (1 page for each one!) and you need to look at getting them at least a month in advance as each one can take up to a week depending on how busy the consulate is.

For Mongolia and China you need to go to the respective embassies in London...

you should read up on the sites below to get the best trip and not pay too much as well as organizing a few days stopover at Eketerinburg and Irkutsk (for Lake Baikal)...

For Russia you need a Visa Invitation letter, which is provided either by a russian citizen who is inviting you there, or by the hotel or travel company who is organizing your ticket.

Here is the info provided by everbrite on the Lonely Planet Thorntree:

There are basically four types of Russian visa. A tourist visa which is good for a maximum of 30 days and cannot be extended or renewed without leaving the country. A visitors visa which requires an official invitation from a Russian resident. A business visa which is good for 30 d, 90 d, even a year, and a transit visa which is only good for a maximum of 72 hours if you fly into Russia, but only one night is permitted in Moscow or ten days if you take the train, but again only one night in Moscow. (Actually there are 6, the other two are for students and the 72 hour short stay visa for European or Japanese citizens, although this last has been discontinued for the moment.)

The easiest visas to obtain are tourist visas and 30 or 90 day business visas that are single or double entry. Six month or one year multiple entry can be difficult to obtain and getting business-visa invitations is slower than it used to be. Invitations for multiple-entry six-month business visas now take longer and cost more.

Note that you can enter the country after the date on the visa and leave before the date on the visa but not the reverse.

Generally visas cannot be obtained more than 90 and in some cases 45 days prior to the date of entry. This has nothing to do with the consulate but rather with obtaining the necessary visa support documents.

To obtain a Russian tourist visa you need:

1. A passport valid for at least 30 days after the planned date of arrival in Russia, although in some instances they require a passport valid for 6 months. In some cases you will need a photocopy of your passport, trimmed to the actual size of the passport and attached to the upper left hand corner of the application. If three photos are required by the consulate, then the visa will be a separate a separate document. If they require one photo, then you need at least one blank page in your passport.
2. The completed application which can be downloaded from the website of most consulates and embassies. The application is the same everywhere. A PDF can be downloaded from this site in the US Russian visa application There is a supplemental application required for US men between the ages of 16 and 45. This can also be downloaded from the Russian embassy in Washington, DC webpage.
3. One or possibly three Passport photos, one of which is attached to the application in the place indicated with one staple that does not go through the face. The other two, if required, are attached to the photocopy of your passport.
4. A standard tourist confirmation(also called visa support or invitation) from the authorized hosting Russian travel agency or a hotel, registered with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a housing voucher from your hotel or from the travel agency in Russia. The confirmation must contain the agency's reference number and registration number which are needed to complete the application.
a. Remember to make copies of these two documents to carry with you as you may have to present them on entry into Russia.
b. In the past faxed documents were accepted at most consulates. However, the fax cannot be on flimsy thermal paper. If that's what your fax machine uses, then photocopy the papers onto regular paper. Since the new rules have been put into place, you may need original documents at some consulates. Some people have reported success with printing from a computer a scanned invitation.
5. A cover letter from a travel agency OR written by you, containing the following information:
* Applicant's name or alphabetical list of a group;
* Dates and points of arrival and departure in and from Russia and means of transportation;
* Itinerary in Russia (do not include places which are not mentioned on your visa support documents);
* Index and reference number of the receiving organization (also known as the travel agency or visa service).

Itinerary
You do not need a day by day itinerary. You do need to indicate how, when and where you will arrive and depart in Russia. You do need to be sure that your accommodations vouchers match the cities in intend to visit. You can change your plans once you arrive in Russia but note that there are some places which require special permission to enter. You can enter after the date on your visa and you can depart before the date on your visa but not the reverse.

Notes:
-the voucher for housing may not be where you are actually staying. In fact, it is almost always a sham unless you arrange all your accommodations in advance.
- when obtaining visa support it is important to clarify if registration is included in the price and if not how much this would cost as well as where to go to get registered. While one can register theoretically at an OVIR office, you probably don't want to spend a day finding out which one to go to, where it is located and then actually getting this done. This is especially true because dealing with Russian bureaucracy is like entering Dante's seventh level of hell: best to be avoided at all costs.
-The rules are different for different consulates and for persons carrying passports from other countries.
-For holders of passports for most of Europe, Israel and other countries with national health insurance, proof of health insurance is required.
-The consulate also can require to see copies of your round trip ticket or proof of sufficient funds to travel, but usually it is enough to indicate that how, when and where you intend to depart.
-Although uncommon, the consulate can also ask for an interview and for proof that you have sufficient funds to travel for the time period you are requesting.