mail my physical passport to your office

Do I have to mail my physical passport to your office?

Updated on Reading Time: 2 minutes

In order to receive a Russian visa, yes, we must submit the physical passport to the Russian consulate. Some countries offer electronic visas for US passport holders but Russia, like China, have not come that far yet, at least for US citizens.

“Is mailing my passport safe?” you ask. 

Nowadays, Fedex, UPS, DHL and other well-known logistics companies have highly sophisticated systems that ensure your packages are delivered on time and safely. As an added measure of security, we make sure all packages are delivered to an actual person or a secure box to which nobody but us has access to. When we return your documents back to you, we only use reliable, trackable and insured options. Whenever possible, we ship your documents to be held at a secure pickup location near your home. We do this for three reasons. 


  1. It’s more secure. Only the person the package is addressed to may pick up the package after providing a form of picture ID. No worrying whether someone picked it off the front porch or from the mailbox. 

  2. It’s more convenient. You can pick up your documents any time during the day without the need to wait around for your package to be delivered. You can get more done. 

  3. It’s actually faster. Typically, we chose shipping centers that have early arrival times meaning your package arrives earlier because it may not go out on a truck for delivery. You never know where your house is on a particular truck’s route. 

The thing that most people don’t realize is that the alternative is not more reliable. It could be less secure because you increase the number of people who handles your documents if think that going to your local travel agent to handle the paperwork is better. Most likely, your local travel agent mails off your documents anyway because there is a limited number of Russian consulates in a given country that process visa applications. In the USA, that number is three, Houston, New York and Washington DC. Considering that over 90% of the US population live outside those cities, the likelihood of you being able to avoid sending your passport by mail is quite low. 

The benefit to working with Let’s Russia, unlike some of our competitors, is that we are based in Houston where a Russian consulate is just a couple of minutes away. You send your visa application documents directly to us, we personally submit them to be processed and we personally pick up your passport with the new Russian visa issued inside and send them directly back to you. There is no middle man and thereby no inflated costs. Working directly with Let’s Russia ensures lower prices with quality service and more secure processing.