What Goes Around Comes Around

Rick's Russian Visa

In the summer of 2008 my extended family and I went on a cruise on the Baltic Sea.  One of the ports of call on the cruise was Saint Petersburg, Russia.  Unlike all the other ports on the cruise, Russia had a visa requirement for US citizens.  In order to disembark from the ship for the three days we would be docked in Saint Petersburg, my family members and I would require a Russian visa.

When my family learned of the visa requirement for Russia, they called me, the immigration lawyer.  They concluded that I knew how to get people US visas.  I should be able to get my family members Russian visas.  Right?

My adventure in Russian immigration law started with the Russian Embassy’s website, where I downloaded the visa application form.  This looked easy I thought.  It was a half page form seeking pretty basic biographic information and two inch by two inch photograph.  I then read the instructions and realized I had the wrong form.  There was a separate form for US citizens.  I then downloaded the US citizen form, took a look at the form and laughed.  The Russian visa application for US citizens was a word for word copy of the US visa application forms Russian citizens (and any other foreign national) completes to get a visa to come to the USA. Click here here here and here to view a sample of the DS-160 (the current US visa application) and the DS-156, DS-157, and DS-157 (prior version) of the visa application forms.

Reciprocity or treating foreign nationals the same way that nation treats your citizens is a fundamental principle of international relations.  I had to labor through ten pages of application forms per family member because Russians had to labor through ten pages of application forms.  My family was compelled to disclose all kinds of trivia including my father’s service in the US Navy in the 1950’s and my service in the US Coast Guard Auxiliary because Russian visa applicants had to make similar disclosures.

Similarly, US citizens pay the Brazilian government $135 upon arrival.  Similarly, other nations force US citizens to either obtain visas or pay fees upon arrival in their nations because the US government has similar requirements on their nationals.

Yesterday, US and Russia agreed on a reciprocal basis to grant each others citizens multiple entry visitors visas valid for 36 months.  That’s a lot better deal than I got in 2008.  My Russian visa was valid for only four days.