Will you be able to get the relevant invitation letters from local companies (usually handling agents) in those countries as a freelancer?
To answer your question though (from the perspective of UK passport):
Chinese visas - for us this is a contentious issue as it appears to be difficult to get multi-entry visas these days as the CAA recently stopped issuing the required invitation letter. Our information is that various other civil government agencies can issue the required additional letter for multi-entry however we are getting nowhere with our current handling agent who need to request this locally. This is an ongoing issue for us and we are hoping to find a better solution. For now, we have 6 month crew visas which only offer 2 entries - and you will use up an entry even if you are dropping pax off and departing without entering China .... so quite irritating.
Indian visas - for some reason we do this as a business visa and the intial visa is for 6 months (multiple entry) and when you renew it will be for 12 months (multiple entry)
Russian - this is a 12 month crew visa. It takes a LOOOOOONG time to get the invitation letter and the 12 months starts running from the date on the invitation letter I think. The Chinese and Indian ones can be handled fully by your agent but for the Russian one, you will need to go and be fingerprinted every time you apply for a visa - well for UK passport you do, they may well be more relaxed for other visas.
Last edited by Globally Challenged; 6th Oct 2016 at 09:53.