I am pretty darn excited about my upcoming trip to Russia. In these last days, I am getting requests from many Russian CAD vendors and publications to meet with them. I'm hoping this will be some sort of breakthrough for Russian-Wester CAD connections.
The final step before you know that you are going for sure is to have the Russian visa in place. In the US, there might be disagreement over the status of illegal immigrants, but there is no such question in Russia. Basically, it works like this:
Kind of like a packaged tour without the 40 fellow travel companions. None of that "Oh, well, I think I might wander into Chechnya for a few extra days." Nope.
Russian Visa Process
After an official Russian tourist agency schedules your hotels and travel inside Russia, you submit your passport, paperwork, and photo to a commercial visa processing agency here in Canada or USA.
Your passport must be valid for at least six months, and it must have at least three blank pages. (With all the traveling I've done in the last four years, mine is close to having only three blank pages.)
The visa processing center coordinates with the Russian embassy, and promises to return the passport (with impressive looking visa page affixed inside) in 14 days. They even provide a Web link for tracking the visa's process!
The visa application costs $260, including the visa photo and FedEx delivery. If you need it faster, the price doubles.
The final step before you know that you are going for sure is to have the Russian visa in place. In the US, there might be disagreement over the status of illegal immigrants, but there is no such question in Russia. Basically, it works like this:
1. You arrive on the day you say you arrive, as previously scheduled by an official travel agency.
2. You receive entry and exit papers going through immigration.
3. You carry your passport, visa, and entry/exit papers at all times for inspection at any time.
4. You are in city and hotel each day as specified by the travel agency.
5. You leave when your visa says you leave; and you don't lose that exit paper.
Kind of like a packaged tour without the 40 fellow travel companions. None of that "Oh, well, I think I might wander into Chechnya for a few extra days." Nope.
Russian Visa Process
After an official Russian tourist agency schedules your hotels and travel inside Russia, you submit your passport, paperwork, and photo to a commercial visa processing agency here in Canada or USA.
Your passport must be valid for at least six months, and it must have at least three blank pages. (With all the traveling I've done in the last four years, mine is close to having only three blank pages.)
The visa processing center coordinates with the Russian embassy, and promises to return the passport (with impressive looking visa page affixed inside) in 14 days. They even provide a Web link for tracking the visa's process!
The visa application costs $260, including the visa photo and FedEx delivery. If you need it faster, the price doubles.
Please take your towel as usual. BTW: You can upgrade your HGTG book to the latest firmware`in the nearest nanoSoft office :)
Alex(YAL) (nanoCAD team)
Posted by: Александр (Alexander) | Aug 31, 2009 at 12:56 PM
Be sure to carefully check the dates and other information on your visa, to make sure you have no problems exiting the country.
I'm certain you will have a wonderful time, as did I when I visited Novosibirsk. David Levin, Vladimir Malukh, and most of the other people you'll meet there are great people -- both intelligent, and gracious hosts.
As for a breakthrough in Russian/Western CAD connections: such things take time.
Akademgorodok developers tend to be very good in the development of numerical methods -- that is, algorithms and code that are at the heart of complex CAD/CAM systems. (An example of this is Ledas' work in variational direct modeling.)
Major CAD vendors such as Dassault already work with Akademgorodok developers -- though they don't talk about it much, because they consider it a competitive advantage.
Posted by: Evan Yares | Sep 02, 2009 at 08:27 PM