Christmas & New Year Holiday dates

As you are no doubt aware, Christmas and New Year are two of the biggest public holidays in most countries calendars. However, it does unfortunately mean that there are disruptions to our usual services during this period.

Below we have listed all the important dates for postal services and also opening times for our offices and the consulates we deal with. Please review this information to ensure that you can obtain your visa or travel service in time for your requirements.

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact us and we will be happy to help. As usual, during the holidays our 24 hour emergency customer help line will still be available to assist you.

• The last postal date before Christmas for Royal Mail Special Delivery items to arrive guaranteed next day is 21st December
• The Royal Mail will continue to deliver post up to and including 22nd December
• There will be no Royal Mail deliveries on 25th and 26th December and on 1st January
• There will be normal Royal Mail Special Delivery service from 27th December through to 29th December
• Items posted by Royal Mail Special Delivery on 29th December may only be delivered on 2nd January
• Normal service resumes on 2nd January
• DHL/FedEx follow UK bank holidays and will be closed on 25th, 26th December and 1st January

We will do our best to post all visas collected from the consulates on 22nd and 29th December the same day however we cannot give any guarantee due to an early cut off time for post collection.

On these dates it will not be possible to lodge applications or collect visas, and they will not count towards visa processing time. Please note that this information is subject to change by the consulates and other authorities.

The table below summarises Russian visa processing times:

Please be advised there will be no submissions to the Consulate on the 25th and 26th of December. If you have any questions or for further information, please contact our visa team.

Russian: During the period of 29th December to 8th January inclusive, no business visa support applications will be accepted and these days will not count towards visa processing time.

On the 29th December any due visa support documents should still be issued however if you are applying for multiple entry business visa in London, your visa application can only be submitted to the Russian consulate on or after 9th January subject to when you can provide your biometrics.

Please be aware that if you require the original visa support document (not telex) for your application that the courier services from Moscow will be disrupted over this period.

Tourist visa support documents and TIN business invitations will be unaffected during this period and issued as usual.

Belarus: We will not be able to process Belarus tourist visa support documents on December 25th and January 1st. These days will not count towards processing time.

Chinese: We will be able to process letters of invitation as usual – Monday to Friday. This will not be affected by holidays.

Please note that for visa registration purposes it will generally not be possible to register visas between 30th December and 8th January unless you are staying in a hotel, and these dates are not considered working days with regards to registering your visa within 7 working days of arrival.

You should be aware that some local or regional registration offices may open during this period and you should check this on your arrival to avoid any complications. On days that the registration offices are closed, even if our office is open, it will not be possible to lodge or collect registration documents. But once again, this is not an issue if you arrive during this period as they are not counted as working days.

Opening times:

• London office (GMT)
• Moscow office (MSK, GMT+3)
• Sales team (GMT)

The last date for documents to be processed will be:

• Normal service - 7th December
• Express Service - 14th December

Documents received after these dates will start processing on January 2018.

Apostille services will be unavailable between 15th December and 2nd January.

Due to the holiday season there could be other factors which cause delays, please contact us with any questions of for more information.

As DHL are closed in Russia between the 1st and the 8th of January this will also distort times, as documents are sent there to be officially translated, so please bear this in mind when ordering.

Our 24 hour customer help line will still be available all through the Christmas and New Year period where our operators are available to provide help 7 days a week, 365 days a year.