Warning: This may not actually be very interesting if you are not battling your way through this process.
Mongolia
Easy, Printed out a form online, made up an imaginary itinerary, completed form and went to post office to send passport, Itinerary and money order to Canberra. Came back in about 7 working days
Cost: $150
UPDATE 30/6/14:
This morning we went on a visa extension adventure. We caught the number 11 bus from near the Bayangan Hotel south towards the airport. A couple of kilometres before the airport there is a big red and silver spaceship looking building. Get off the bus here and go to the small blue and white building next to it.
We paid 1000T for the form, filled this out, paid 300 T for a copy of passport and visa, wrote a letter explaining what we wanted, went to the tourist desk, got told to go across the hallway to the bank, paid 30900T for an 8 day extension, lined up at the tourist counter again and received our stamps. We caught the bus back for a measly 300T and were back in town by lunch time. It was a surprisingly stress free affair, the worst part was the bus ride. The person at the tourist counter was quite friendly and spoke good english. There were also a lot of tourists at the office fumbling their way through together.
Russia
So far have applied for a LOI for a double entry 3 month business visa from waytorussia.net
We will see how it goes.
Cost: LOI $140
UPDATE: 28/5/14
I got my LOI last week and sent everything off to the Russian embassy including money order for $240, the application form, the LOI and my passport. My passport and money order and everything else was promptly returned to me today with a note saying I didn't put the right name on the money order and I needed to include a ticket of my flight out of Russia. No where on the website or on any blogs or information websites that I read say anything about needing a flight. I had a quick go at forging an electronic ticket but decided it was too hard. I ended up purchasing a cheap flight from Moscow to London for $AUD50. Add in another trip to the post office, extra $9 for the new money order plus 2 registered post envelopes. What a mess. Hopefully this one works otherwise I will have to figure out how to get out of Mongolia without going through Russia.
UPDATE 30/6/14:
A couple of days after I broke my arm I received my second rejection letter from the Russians, apparently they wanted an original copy of my LOI. After spending a few hours trying to figure out what to do I decided to cut my losses, forgot about going through Russia and decided to fly directly to Tajikstan. I have bought a flight from UB to Dushanbe which includes a 12 hour (!!) layover in Moscow airport, should be fun times. I fly out of Mongolia on the same day as Eliza.
Tajikstan:
I am going to get a 30 days tourist visa on entry at the airport. I intend on trying to get an extension.
Mongolia
Easy, Printed out a form online, made up an imaginary itinerary, completed form and went to post office to send passport, Itinerary and money order to Canberra. Came back in about 7 working days
Cost: $150
UPDATE 30/6/14:
This morning we went on a visa extension adventure. We caught the number 11 bus from near the Bayangan Hotel south towards the airport. A couple of kilometres before the airport there is a big red and silver spaceship looking building. Get off the bus here and go to the small blue and white building next to it.
We paid 1000T for the form, filled this out, paid 300 T for a copy of passport and visa, wrote a letter explaining what we wanted, went to the tourist desk, got told to go across the hallway to the bank, paid 30900T for an 8 day extension, lined up at the tourist counter again and received our stamps. We caught the bus back for a measly 300T and were back in town by lunch time. It was a surprisingly stress free affair, the worst part was the bus ride. The person at the tourist counter was quite friendly and spoke good english. There were also a lot of tourists at the office fumbling their way through together.
Russia
So far have applied for a LOI for a double entry 3 month business visa from waytorussia.net
We will see how it goes.
Cost: LOI $140
UPDATE: 28/5/14
I got my LOI last week and sent everything off to the Russian embassy including money order for $240, the application form, the LOI and my passport. My passport and money order and everything else was promptly returned to me today with a note saying I didn't put the right name on the money order and I needed to include a ticket of my flight out of Russia. No where on the website or on any blogs or information websites that I read say anything about needing a flight. I had a quick go at forging an electronic ticket but decided it was too hard. I ended up purchasing a cheap flight from Moscow to London for $AUD50. Add in another trip to the post office, extra $9 for the new money order plus 2 registered post envelopes. What a mess. Hopefully this one works otherwise I will have to figure out how to get out of Mongolia without going through Russia.
UPDATE 30/6/14:
A couple of days after I broke my arm I received my second rejection letter from the Russians, apparently they wanted an original copy of my LOI. After spending a few hours trying to figure out what to do I decided to cut my losses, forgot about going through Russia and decided to fly directly to Tajikstan. I have bought a flight from UB to Dushanbe which includes a 12 hour (!!) layover in Moscow airport, should be fun times. I fly out of Mongolia on the same day as Eliza.
Tajikstan:
I am going to get a 30 days tourist visa on entry at the airport. I intend on trying to get an extension.
