The first issue was that they charged me $40 for passport insurance. This is in case the passport is lost during the visa issuance process. I waited until the passport was safely delivered before calling CIBT to tell them I did not order this insurance. They issued a refund to be credited to my credit card. There were several other charges that were not defined on their web site, such as the $135 for the Tourist Support Letter and the $26 for manipulation of the digital photo I sent to them. Bottom line, if I do receive the credit for the insurance, the cost of the visa will be $442.
I went on the GenVisa site today to see if Laura and Megan should use them instead of CIBT. There was a note stating that the Russian Consulate fee was increased on March 1 (today) from $113 to $193. These are going to be expensive visas to allow us to wander the streets of St. Petersburg for a few hours.
