I was banned for drunk driving 4 years ago in the UK. Will this affect my Russian visa application?

Upvote:3

It is highly unlikely that a conviction for drunk driving would influence your visa application, provided you are upfront about it. They are far more likely to be concerned about ensuring you are only going there to visit and will leave within the expiry of the visa and how you will finance yourself while there.

(Source: I have lived in Russia, visited the country many times and have good friends working in the Russian consular services)

Upvote:3

Does the visa application form ask you about driving bans? Obviously, you should be truthful on the application, but there's no reason to volunteer information if you're not asked for it.

For example, looking at http://www.rusembassy.ca/sites/default/files/AppFormVisa_USA.pdf (the forms are slightly different when applying from different countries I believe), it only asks "Have you ever been arrested or convicted for any offence?". I believe it's implied that "offence" means criminal offence (so obviously things like parking tickets don't count). The Russian-language version of this form specifically uses the word "преступления" which, as I understand it, means specifically criminal offences (though I am not a lawyer and may not be familiar with the nuances of the word definitions). Basically, if your offence wasn't classified as a criminal one, but purely an administrative one, and if you were never arrested, I would probably strongly consider just answering "no" to this question.

More post

Search Posts

Related post