Practical information
The BKC-IH Teacher Training Centre helps with a Russian visa, airport transfer and accommodation. These services are not included in the course fee and will cost you extra.
Russian Visa
Airport Transfer
Accommodation price
The flats you may live in
Pre-course communication
Russian Visa
For those trainees who need a visa to enter Russia we can arrange an invitation for a single-entry one-month or three-month Russian business visa. With the information we get from you and a copy of your passport we will apply for an official letter of invitation to the Passport and Visa Department of the Ministry of Interior Affairs. The letter of invitation is normally ready within 11 days after the application. When the invitation is ready a scanned copy of the original letter of invitation will be sent to you by e-mail. You should make sure that you apply in good time, since late applications attract a much higher consulate fee. The whole visa obtaining process could take up to a month. During this time our Visa Manager will contact you with the detailed instructions.
IMPORTAINT: Your passport should be valid for a minimum of six months after visa's expiration date and have at least 2 blank pages.
At the Russian consulate
To obtain the visa you should submit to the Consulate the following:
- a letter of invitation (a copy is acceptable at some Consulates)
- Passport
- a photocopy of your passport
- 1 photo
- Consular fee
- Filled in Consulate’s visa application form (given at the Consulate).
At the customs
Migration Card: As of April 15, 2003, all foreign citizens staying in Russia are required to hold a Migration Card. You will be given the Migration Card upon entry to Russia.
Complete both parts and present the card at the passport control. The border guard will put a stamp (the same as in the passport) on your Card and remove the top portion.
ATTENTION: Do not forget to take and stamp the Migration Card every time you cross the border. No one can be registered without the Migration Card.
Responsibility
Trainees are fully responsible for their passport and visa. The procedure of getting a new visa and passport when the originals are lost or stolen is complicated and expensive.
Airport Transfer
We can arrange for you to be met at the airport and taken by car to your accommodation by the BKC-IH school staff. If you wish BKC-IH to organise an airport transfer to your accommodation, please choose this option on the application form.
Fees:
A driver with our representative collects you at the airport or railway station and takes you to your accommodation.
- Meeting costs $54
- Seeing off costs $37
International Airports of Moscow you may arrive in:
Accommodation price
Accommodation is usually shared with another trainee or a BKC teacher.
A private bedroom in a flat shared with one other person is 600 roubles per day. This also covers the cost of all bills except long-distance phone calls. Travel time from your flat to the school is between 45 and 60 minutes.
The flats you may live in
You may be wondering what the housing is like. Since the accommodation for the Teacher Training course trainee and the BKC-IH school teacher is the same our teacher representative Mick Calvet who has been living in Moscow over 5 years can describe it for you as well:
Most of the flats are fairly basic - usually Soviet style - but they have the basics like your own room - the flat is shared - a working bathroom and toilet, a kitchen with cooker and fridge etc. They are all centrally heated and have a telephone.
Don't expect luxuries like a sitting room. Most Russian flats, except for the wealthy, have a dual function larger bed/sit room and a smaller second room. Some have a TV, but I bought my own, along with a VCR - and later bought a computer here, a basic set-up is comparable in cost with the US or UK.
Pre-course communication
We encourage the trainees on our programmes to enter into informal pre-course communication. That's why we suggest that the candidates on each course exchange e-mail addresses, write or phone to each other, and, if possible, meet their future coursemates. As the practice shows, if the trainees have been in touch with each other before the course, they are more friendly, relaxed and supportive, and the overall atmosphere on the course is considerably more pleasant, which makes the four weeks of the hard and intensive work a bit less stressful.
CELTA picnic, July 2007
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