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Visas
The first visa I applied for was for Russia. The visa for Russia is expensive, it takes a long time to get it and the officers are neither particularly friendly, nor very cooperative. The information at http://www.consulrussia.ch/ was very helpful and it is advisable to follow the instructions precisely. Don't go there without having paid for the visa in advance. Pay at the post office and bring the receipt with you. Be sure you have the required invitation letter. While queueing to wait for my turn, I have seen enough people being turned down and sent back to make me a bit nervous. After all, to get there, I need to take a day off and travel a couple of hours by train. Luckily I was well prepared and had closely followed the instructions I had found.
Two weeks after applying for the Russian visa, I could go and pick it up again. If I got up early enough to get there just before the visa section opened, I might be able to pick up my visa withing an hour or so, which would give me enough time to travel to Geneva, to the Mongolian embassy. Luckily I called them a couple of days before to ask whether it would be ok. I was told that usually they are not open for visas in the afternoon, but when I explained that it was almost impossible to be at their place before noon, I could fix an appointment for the afternoon. Also here I did my preparation and, in order to avoid another lengthy trip to the opposite corner of Switzerland, applied for an express visa. Gosh, what a stark contrast to the Russian embassy in the morning. At the Mongolian Embassy you could wait inside, people were very friendly and efficient, the visa did not cost an arm and a leg... Within less than 20 minutes I was on my way home again, with the new visa!
Actually, for the chinese visa I should have gone to Zurich. However, at the risk of being turned down, I tried my luck in Berne. Why? Well, according to their website, a visa could be issued the same day and if that would not be too late, I could also go to the embassy of Belarus to apply for the last required visa. So I was well prepared again and one of the first people to queue up. I was not turned down and the time they told me to come back really should just about allow me the additional trip to Muri before noon.
Just a couple of minutes before the embassy of Belarus closed for their lunch break I arrived there and could hand in my application, which I also had prepared in advance. To save me the additional trip and because this was the last visa anyway and not so time critical any more, I asked them to send me back my passport by mail.
Even though it was time consuming, because I live not right around the corner from Berne, it was very interesting to apply for all the visas myself and in person. There are huge differences in price, efficiency, friendliness among the various embassies, with the Mongolian embassy definitely being the best in all terms. I was able to gather all the necessary information by googling on the internet and I do recommend this to anyone. An hour of googling could well save you a day of time. It's also very advisable to prepare well. Have all the necessary documents with you, have your fees paid and bring the receipts along. Try do download the application forms in advance, for example from http://www.travel.ch/tools/visa/, fill them in and bring them with you. It is more efficient than to queue for the form, fill it in, queue again to hand it over, etc, and this way you see in advance whether you need to bring photos along or further documents.
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