Neither pass nor pass

Excerpt from a letter from a failed guest speaker at a conference starting this week

On July 1, the Russian consulate (in the USA) changed the procedure: they stopped accepting applications filled out by hand and switched to filling them out online. Registration was required to fill out the forms, but at least until the morning of July 5, registration on the site did not work.

Since time was short, I filled out the form by hand, printed out an error message indicating that the site was down, obtained a money order for $250 (the consulate does not accept credit cards), and went to the consulate in New York on July 5 . The security guard wouldn't even let me into the building because I didn't use the online form (he was able to figure this out because there was no bar code on my application). For the same reason, several more people were not allowed through.

At that moment, one of those standing in line said that registration was working, and we went to the nearest Internet cafe in the hope of having time to fill out the forms before 13.00, when the acceptance of applications for species stops. We filled out the forms until the site stopped working again at 12.15.

It only started working late in the evening on July 5th, after which I was able to print out the form and got in line at the consulate on July 6th. After waiting an hour and a half, I handed the form to the clerk, who said it was filled out incorrectly (even though the site uses drop-down menus) and gave me a list of required amendments. I went to the internet cafe again, thinking it would be easy to fix. That is until the site stopped working again, preventing us from printing our forms. We again had no chance to make it before 13.00

While I was waiting in line, I noticed a notice on the wall that stated that the consulate does not accept applications or send passports by mail. Thus, the applicant must be present in person, which meant at least two more days: one to submit the application and one to receive visa Unfortunately, I won't do this because I won't be able to get my visa on time anyway.

I apologize that I will not be able to give a report at your conference.