Another question....
We live in a rented apartment and we are expecting a visit of two friends in two weeks time. Is there any chance that we - as non-russian citizens - register our guests without asking our always busy landlord to cooperate?

Anita,

If you are registered at the apartment, you can try registering your guests.

Another option is to go to the company that provided visa support for your guests and ask them to help you.

Finally, if nothing works your guests can buy one night in a cheap hotel and the hotel will have to do the registration form them.

For a list of hotels see our Moscow Guide / Accommodation

Two questions:

We will be staying in a rented apartment.

1) If we obtain the visa invitation letter through waytorussa's website, which indicates they use another address to obtain an invitation and when we arrive in Moscow the address on our visa indicates is different from our actual place of stay? Would that be a probelm?

2) We are arriving in Moscow on Sunday and leaving Wed. night to St. Petersburg, is that enough time to register the visa? and we have to register our visa again in St. Petersburg?

I am just concerned that it will take alot of time for us to register the visa, if we are staying in an apartment and the fees that will be charged versus if we stay in a hotel, the hotel registers us fast and for free.

To Jamie:

1) No, if you apply through this website, our partner company can use the actual address where you will be staying. So, it's not going to be different. If you are not sure where you're staying yet, it doesn't matter anyway, because there is NEVER address on your visa, so nobody will ever know.

2) Yes, of course. If you stay in a hotel, they'll do it for you, if you stay at a flat your landlord just needs to go to the post office and do that for you.

If you stay at an apartment rented through one of our advertisers, they will be able to arrange the registration for you. This is a condition for them to be able to list apartments on our site.

Dear,

What if, like in our case,the landlord does not live in Russia?

When I go back with my wife to St Petersburg (she is from there, living in the Uk now with me) we stay with her parents. Each time, we have to travel across the city to OVIR, giving up a day, then return again towards the end of our stay, this time giving up half a day, to queue etc for our passports.

So, now, all that needs to be done is for my mother in law to go to the local police station within three days of our arrival, and then return there after we leave?? Can this be confirmed please?
Thanks in advance,
Michael

To Jan:

If your landlord doesn't live in Russia, then you have to find some company that'll provide you with a registration. Perhaps what could be done is that the landlord rents the flat to a Russian company, which then rents it out to you or something like that.

To Michael,

Yes, it's correct. Your mother-in-law can go to the police station or to the nearest post office with the registration form that you can download from this blog post.

Hi,

I live in a rented Apartment in St Petersburg. For my work travel to Germany for a few days about every 2 weeks.

Will I have to make a new registration every time I cross the border? Is it possible to get a registration that persists when I leave and return to Russia?

My travel agency wants to charge $100 for 'visa registration' when I arrive and another $100 for 'registration cancellation' when I leave. What a nightmare!

Thanks in advance for your help,

Tony

What happens if I am entering Russia through Moscow (so my landlord or hotel gives me the coupon there), but I leave Russia from Vladivostok (I'll be on the Trans Sib)?

How can I give back the coupon to the person or hotel that registered me and have it returned by them to the police within 24 hours of my departure?

I am departing to Moscow today and have booked a hotel in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad. This was done through a friend in Moscow.

But now I gotten a cheap hotel in Moscow. Now I may like to know if I can go to the new hotel for them to register my invitation since the invitation wasnt issued by them? Please I needed a reply soon, I would be checking in around 7pm this evening.

Who would this work in my situation?
In April i will leave to St. Petersburg for 8 months. I will rent a apartment there for that period. I have a business visa for a year, which is valid till October and buy a new one after that.
So I will go home for a new visa and go home sometimes more.
Does the landlord have to do this everytime I leave Russia?

Hi,
I Have visa support stating a hotel in Moscow as my accomodation.Since obtaining the visa support I have decided that I wish to start my trip in St-Petersburg, will I still be able to register my visa in St-Petersburg despite having a hotel in Moscow stated as my accomodation, or should I try and get new visa support? I have not yet obtained my visa.
Thanks in advance
Paul

As I understand the new law, if the landlord or visa provider cannot register a visitor, they can do it themselves at the post office.
I own an apartment and cannot register anyone there if they rent from me because no one is registered there.

do i still need to show the immigration card at the border?

To Tony:

Normally you can register a business visa for a period up to six months. Please have the company you work for take care of this. They need to fill out the new notification form and submit it to the local migration authorities.
If you're not working for any company, you can contact the company, which issued your visa support and ask them for assistance.

Then there will be no need for you to "check in and out" every time you leave and re-enter Russia if you have the registration valid for 6 months.

To Dave:

You should absolutely give the coupon back when you leave the city where you obtained it. If you stay at a hotel, the hotel will make sure to have the coupon back. If you got the coupon from your landlord, please make sure to give the coupon back to him, otherwise he will be fined for not having notified the authorities of your departure.

You are not supposed to keep the coupon while travelling. If you stop in Vladivistok or any other place for more than three business days, you need to re-register, obtain a new coupon and give it back when leaving.

To Benjamin:

Of course the hostel should register you even if the invitation was provided by some other company. This is the law that they should follow.

To Paul:

Yes, you can register in any city your want. Remember, your visa doesn't list the cities you specified when you were getting your invitation, so it doesn't matter which company issued your invitation.

The main thing about the new law is that now the company / person which is _accommodating_ you is responsible for registering you. So the company that issued your visa support is not responsible anymore.

To David:

No, the visitor cannot register his visa by himself. This is done by the landlord or the company that accommodates him.

If you own an apartment in Russia, you should register yourself there. This is done through local authority (DEZ or pasportny stol).

To Michael:

Yes, you still need to show your migration card at the border. The new registration rules do not abolish migration cards.

I am totally confused about visa registration. If I get visa support letter for 12 days from hotel in St Pete where I will be staying for 4 days and I then go to Moscow for 8 days, do I have to get visa registered in both St Pete and Moscow or will the hotel in St Pete register my visa for whole period? Thank you for your help.

I'm planning to do the Transiberian trip (the cities i'm going to visit are not certain yet). My idea is to stay in cities I like most (when I get there). So, what can I do about the Visa registration?

To Sally:

First, if you get your visa support from a hotel, they will most likely issue the invitation valid only for the period you're going to stay in this hotel. That's why it's better to get visa support elsewhere -- it's more flexible.

Secondly, if you had a visa valid for, say, a month, you'd need to register in each city where you stay longer than 3 working days. So in your case you'd need to register both in St. Petersburg and in Moscow. The registration should be done by the company that provides accommodation for you (hotel, B&B) or your landlord if you're renting an apartment.

If you manage to get a registration for the whole period of your stay in Russia, you won't have problems at the border (unless they find out you stayed in a different city for longer than 3 working days). The only problem may be with police if they stop you for a routine document check. But that doesn't happen often (because police has a special directive not to do it). Also the only way for police to find out when you arrived in the city is your tickets.

To Matheus:

Either register your visa for the whole period of your stay in the first city you travel, or try to get it registered in each city you stay for longer than 3 days. At the border (when you leave) they will only check that you have registration covering the whole period of your stay in Russia. It doesn't matter for them whether it was done in all the cities you visited or only in one. Of course, the information you provide should be consistent with that of their registration records.

Thank you for answering my query. I see from your reply to "Jamie" that if we rent an apartment through your agency, then the Landlord is obliged to register us. Would this definitely be the be the case? Also, if we spend 2 days in Moscow in an apartment, go on a tour for 2 days then spend another 2 days in Moscow apartment, do we still have to register? Thank you once again for this very useful page.

To Sally:

All the landlords advertised on our site are _obliged_ to provide visa registration to their guests.

I think in your case it will be enough to register in Moscow, no need to register in another city -- just let your landlord know you need a registration for the whole period of your visa validity.

Thank you for your reply.

I am planning a trip to meet my fiancee this august. She lives in saratov and i am getting a multi entry business visa to stay in her country and try to find work there. If i stay with her parents at their house, do they register me with the city as landlord?

To Billy:

Yes, Billy, they do.

A question.....when i leave Moscow to go in another city....I must registering another time?
Thank

2 Marco:

Only if you go to that city for longer than 3 working day and if your registration in Moscow is not valid for the whole period of your visa.

I'll arrive to Moscow on a Saturday morning. I will be in an apartment. I'll go to St. Pete on Monday night. In St Pete I will be in a hotel. Do I have to register my visa in Moscow, or can I do it in St. Pete when I arrive there?

I have made an accomodation through your website, and received booking confirmation from GOTORUSSIA.com for period of my stay. I have spoken to them over the phone regarding registering visa when I arrive in Moscow, and they said that I need to make a trip to their office and have it registered with a fee of USD40(!!!) and then come back again another time to pick up the registration.

For a foreigner, it is a lot of hassle and a lot of money just for registering my stay. Isnt it done instantly at the apartment where I am staying?

I am arriving there this Sunday.

To Javier:

Do it in St. Petersburg -- the first working day of your journey is there, so it's the only way.

To Maryanne,

You should ask them that the landlord of the flat goes to the post office and registers you through there using the form, which you can download from this post. I guess they are charging $40 US cause they didn't find an easy way of doing it -- for example, sometimes the actual landlord may be living abroad, in which case it's possible to make the registration in this way.

Just one short question to clear things up: Does "landlord" in this context mean that the person registering the foreigner has to be the legal OWNER of the apartment or can it be a person who only RENTED it?

To Mattoni:

The landlord is the person who is _registered_ in the apartment (normally, it's the owner or the one who has permanent registration = "propiska"). It can't be the person who rented it, unless this person has "propiska" (permanent registration) in the apartment.

I'll stay in Moscow for 7 days as you told before if i buy one night in a cheap hotel the 1st night i'll have the coupon and i'll have to give back it the day after to move to a private flat what if the police stop me without coupon the following days?
Thanks

To Samir:

No, you give the coupon back when you leave Moscow or Russia. In case you're getting a few registrations -- get the new coupon and then give back the old one.

I want to buy a visa support trough your service to get the visa and rent a privet flat in moscow for 7 nights. If the landlord will not help me to register how can i register my visa?
Are there companies in Moscow connected with you who helps me to register at a cost of a fee?

Dear Waytorussia. It appears your advice is completely useless and overly simplified.
You make it sound so easy for the "landlord" to simply pop down to the local police station. Have you any idea of the process involved in dealing with Russian police?
Or how inconvenient it is to ask the landlord - who might be doing their guest a huge favour it letting them stay at all - to go through this process?
Further, doesn't your website claim to make this whole procedure easier? I can't see how your service is of any use at all, given these new rules.
I don't expect you to approve this comment either, given its negative tone. But we'll see if your website is open to free speech.

To Nick,

The last sentence is cheap and the whole comment is more like an attempt to show how clever you are rather than contribute to a discussion... but anyway... I see you're having some issues and let me address them.

The registration process became much easier, because before 2007 to make an official registration you'd have to get _everybody_ already registered in the apartment approve your temporary stay there, and then you and one of the "landlords" would have to go to police first, get a paper, go to bank, pay a bill, go back to police, give them the bill, come back to police after a few days to get a registration.

Now ANY person permanently registered in the apartment (we call them "landlords" to make it easier) can go EITHER to police station or to the post office, fill out the paper, submit it, that's it. You, the traveler, don't even need to do anything.

Of course, the whole registration process is crap, but why are you saying it's not easier than it used to be? Because you have nothing to do, so you decided to waste your time writing this useless comment without even doing a bit of research first.

Now, our website doesn't claim anything. We are an information resource and inform our readers about various possibilities they have. We do not provide any services, but refer people to advertisers, which get monitored by our quality managers to make sure these same advertisers don't mess you up.

One of the things that we inform people about is that those landlords who advertise their flats on our website can assist you in making the registration. Sometimes it may cost you something ($20-$40), but that is the market and I can't really help you with that.

Now, please, could you close this page and never come back to this site because we don't like people like you, Nick VO, who complain and whine because they have nothing else to do.

To Sara,

Yes, if you book a flat through our site, all the featured landlords have commited to provide visa registration to all the clients. Usually the registration will cost $20-$40, depending on the landlord. The good thing about this registration is that it will usually be valid for the whole period of your visa, rather than only the time you stay in the apartment.

Dear waytorussia,
We are going on the trans-mongolian in a couple of weeks, staying in st petersburg for 2 nights and then in moscow for 2 noghts before getting the train to Irkutsk. We have been provided with visa support from yourselves. I was wondering, do I have to specifically look for places (hostels pref.) that will provide visa registration in both cities or can we just do it once in st petersburg? Do the new rules mean that any hostel/hotel is obliged to register your visa (even if they did not provide the visa support)? Your help would be much appreciated. Kind Regards, Kerrie-anne

I might, having lived here in Russia for many years, have a tendancy to agree with Nick, to a point.

Although he was not overly diplomatic, I felt that he made some valid points - especially regarding your write up as being "overly-simplified."

Having said that, your site does very provide some useful information and thanks for that too.

Logically you are in business to provide a service and to attract people to your agency and, therefore, glossing over the "people factor" is quite logical too.

Many landlords are elderly and do not want nor need the hassle of all of this and many do not understand it all full stop - never mind the poor foreigner here; perhaps for the first time.

The other thing is, that many (and who can blame them?) do not wish to give out information to the local authorities for fear of being landed with a tax bill too.

Although the reality of that happening is rather small, unless they're renting out apartments for mega bucks and to the big corporations.

Moreover the local tax authorities do not have the time nor the IT infrastucture to check on every person, in the businss. They've bigger fish to fry, anyway - if they can, that is.

However, thanks, again, for the relevant information, regarding the new laws.

To Kerrie:

Well, officially yes you'd need to register in each city where you stay longer than 3 days. But then if you manage to get a registration in St. Petersburg for the whole period of your visa, then the _only_ problem you may have is with the police when they stop you for a document check in other cities (not St. Petersburg). In this case they'll ask you when you arrived and if you say "5 days ago", you're in trouble. If you say "2 days ago", you're OK. They may ask you for a ticket to prove it, but what if you've lost/chucked it? :-)

To Victor:

You are raising very interesting points, especially about the landlords not wanting to report somebody's renting their flat to avoid the taxes.

This is indeed a problem, but as most people rent flats through the agencies, it's kind of easier for them to arrange these registrations. They all have different ways of doing it, some may be legal, some not too legal, but in the end it's their responsibility, and they are the ones who'll get a big fine if they mess something up, so it should kind of motivate them to find a way to register visas easily and with no hassle.

Regarding glossing over the "people factor" -- well, I'm in business also to express myself (sounds strange, I know :-) and please please please don't call Way to Russia "an agency" -- we're not an agency, we're a travel guide that tries to attract the audience by not only providing interesting content, but also manually checking if all our advertisers work well... the negative side is that people sometimes mistake us for an agency, but the positive side is that nothing can go wrong when you order something through us, because we'll sort it out.
The amount of orders companies get from us and the fact that we are quite diversified, allows us to threaten them that they'll be taken off the site, if a problem doesn't get resolved. This usually sorts things out quite fast.

Hello-I will be (hopefully) travelling to Russia in the summer with my Russian girlfriend. She is having her relatives send letters of invitation for me to Tomsk and Novisibirsk, but I also plan on going to St Petersburg and Moscow-both before I go out to Siberia. I plan on staying at a hotel in St Petersburg and either a hotel or at someone's apartment in Moscow.

Since I'll be entering Russia through either Moscow or St Petersburg (both for longer than 3 days), what should I do to get registered upon arrival? I could just try and have the hotel stamp me for the duration of my stay (less than 30 days), but will that cause issue since I have letters of invitation from out East and plane tickets indicating I went to Tomsk & Novisibirsk? Please help!

I've a russian visa support with voucher to s. petersburg hotel but i'll go to stay in Moscow all time, can i register my visa without troubles in moscow? I'll rent a flat there

To Sara:

Yes

To Ryan,

I would like to urge all users to read the Russian Visa section and the q&a above before posting.

It's been already mentioned several times that it doesn't matter what is written in your visa support, because your visa will NOT have a list of the cities your visit and of the hotels that were in your visa support. So it doesn't matter where you get it from.

And yes, you can register it in both cities, but if you manage to get a registration for the whole period AND you are sure that these same people will de-register your visa once you depart, then yes, it's an easier option.

Sorry a last question having a voucher to san petersburg hotel but staying in Moscow all time and register there, what i should write on the Migration Karta on the field (host orgainitation) ? The name and the address of the Hotel in San Petersburg? Will i have trouble with police of Moscow if they see my migration karta is reported i stay in St Petersburg?

Thank you very much for your help..

Hello,

My wife is Russian and living with me in the UK (I am British). We want to visit her family in Kalinigrad, Russia, next month with our 2 month old daughter.

My wife intends to travel to Kalinigrad with our daughter on the 18th April, I will go out to join them on the 11th May and we will all return to the UK together on the 17th May. However, I have been told that there will be a problem getting a tourist visa for our daughter because she will not be travelling with an adult with a British passport. I've been told that there could also be a problem with registering the visa for our daughter when they arrive in Kaliningrad.

We would be extremely grateful for any help or advice you can offer.

Many thanks,

Richard.

This is a great website with lots of useful information. Thank you!
My question is as follows: I am a foreigner living in St. Petersburg for several months now. I am here on a business visa that will expire in June 2007. A few months back I was registered to my husband's apartment. He is a Russian citizen. My registration will expire next week and we are not sure how I can get re-registered. The host agency that issued my visa was not helpful at all. They basically told me that I needed to figure it out on my own and then let them know if there is anything they need to do. Nevertheless, my husband will go to the police station to try to re-register my visa but does my host agency need to provide us with any paperwork?

Also, can you advise me on what to do when my visa expires in June? How can I get another one. I was wondering if there is a way for me to avoid all of this visa/registration stuff especially since I married my Russian husband in St. Petersburg.

Any information will be enormously appreciated!

To Rebecca:

Your husband will be able to register your visa without any papers from the agency. Just follow the steps described in this blog article above. He can print out the form at the top as well.

Also, please, do let us know how it goes -- we need more first hand experience!

Regarding renewing your visa. The easiest way is to get a new invitation about 1 month before the old visa expires and then do a visa run to Latvia. (see a blog article about this on this blog -- search for Riga). Then you get a new visa in Riga, go back to Russia and register your visa again.

The fact that you're married to a Russian citizen doesn't help much. THere are some new regulations for EU citizens from 2008 which should make it a bit easier for you to get long-term visas if you're from a EU country. But otherwise for now the easiest way is to get business visa. You can also get a private visa for 3 months, then your husband has to make an invitation for you, then it's only single entry visa, you have to stay in Russia for this whole period (3 months) and apply for a permit of stay. If everything is OK with your husband's flat and income, you should get it within a few months, but then each time you want to leave Russia you'll need to get an exit visa.

Thank you very much for your quick response. The information is greatly appreciated. I will surely follow up with my registration experience next week and fill you in. Hopefully it will go smoothly.

Chances are my husband and I will be going to Helsinki for the visa run. It's just more convenient since he already has a Finnish visa in his passport. Do you know if the Russian Embassy in Helsinki is relatively cooperative? Will I also need to resubmit an HIV test even though I already submitted an HIV test last year? Also, will the Embassy ask me for a letter from my employer?

Thank you again for your attention to this email.

Hi,
On summer we plan to visit St. Petersburg, Solovki and Murmansk. But we won't stay for more than 3 working days in any place. Lots of time we'll be spending on trains. Does it mean, that we dont need registration at all?? What will we say on the border when leaving Russia?
Thank you.

This is a great website with lots of useful information. Thank you!
My question is the following:
I'll be staying in Moscow for about 10 days in my girlfriend's flat,to register my visa my girlfriend's parents(landlords)just have to go to post office and fill the form?
What to do and write on migration card?
Thanks for help

Hello,

Thanks for all the great info here. Please ignore the tiresome comments above; the rest of us feel privileged that you put up so much up-to-date info here for free.

We are planning a visit Moscow - St P - Moscow, staying with friends in Moscow and hotel in St P. If our friends register us for the entire time in Moscow, will the hotel in St P automatically register us there as well when we check in? If so, will this cause problems when the authorities catch up with it, meaning that the only safe thing is to register in Moscow, de-register there, register via the hotel in St P, de-register, and then re-register again in Moscow? Thanks.

Hi,

This is Rebeccca writing back with my visa registration update. Unfortunately, it did not go as smoothly as I had anticipated. Basically, my husband and I went to the police station's passport table and no one knew what we were talking about when we mentioned the new registration procedure. Three clerks told us they did not hear anything about a new procedure. When we spoke to the head of the office she also told us that she did not know what we were talking about. She instructed us to go to OVIR. We went to OVIR, having no other choice and we were told that the registration procedure is the same as it always was. Also, I was told that in order to re-register my visa I would need to leave the country and come back in with a new registration card!

I had already planned a trip to Finland in order to renew my visa when it expires in June but I was not planning on 2 trips to Finland! Unfortunately, we were told that there is no other way. My registration will run out next week and my husband will now need to take a day off from work so we can get on a 8 hour bus ride to Helsinki, spent 5 hours there and then get back on a bus for another 8 hours of travel! It's really appalling
and frustrating.

I understand why foreigners are required to get visas in order to come into Russia. That part makes sense to me. Russians are forced to get visas whenever they want to travel to other countries (with very few exceptions) so it's only fair that Russia returns the favor by having citizens of those countries acquire visas to come here. However, this registration requirement is insane. I have been to many countries and never once was I required to register. Honestly, the registration law should be abolished or at the very least revised to make it more convenient for visitors. Especially long term visitors.

I have one last option that I can look into. I am currently enrolled in school to learn the Russian language and I was given a contact by my school to talk to in order to see if my registration can be extended as a student for about a month without leaving Petersburg. I hope they can help me. I really can not afford to make that trip right now. Any suggestions/advise would be much appreciated.

Thanks for your reply and I stand corrected; re: "The agency bit."

However, there is something, which has come to my attention, which I feel needs mentioning and some clarity, here for others'.

Could you kindly confirm, if it is true and necessary, for peeps on multi-entry visas; that every time one leaves and then comes back to Russia, if it is necessary to now register every time, one arrives back in town - rather than just once and for all?

My Russian solicitor tells me that, that is, indeed, the case...However, as this is not an aspect of the law, which is well-publicised, I, therefore, feel that peeps, reading this site, might find this question and answer beneficial.

Thanks...

2 Rebecca:

Did you try going to the post office and posting that paper that we have on this page? Maybe it'd be easier. In any case, this procedure is only if want to do it yourself. I think instead of going to Helsinki, you should contact the company that issued your visa support first place and make them register your visa. Otherwise threaten them that they will get fined, it should get things moving.

If they refuse, send us their contacts and we will talk to them.

I keep getting the run around everywhere I go. I was told by OVIR that no one is allowed to be registered for more than 6 months at a time. Since my 6 months is ending next week, I will need to cross a border and leave Russia in order to come back in with a new registration card and re-register after I get back.

Is this true? I contacted the company that sent me my business visa and after putting them on the spot they agreed to extend my registration but I am under the impression that this is illegal. Will I have problems when I leave Russia and the border officials see that I was registered for more than 6 months without leaving the country?

I'm so confused at this point. Any info would be appreciated.

I knew I would need to register my visa, but didn't realize it changed. I will be staying with my friend's mother in Moscow for one week, leaving tomorrow! She is elderly, and I am concerned about her having to go to the post office. Will she have to go twice? Will a hotel register my visa for a charge perhaps, even though I am not staying there? Thank you.

2 Rebecca:

Hey, well done!

You shouldn't have any problems, because you did everything legally: you knew your visa had to be registered, so you contacted the company that provided your visa support and asked them to make the registration. End of story. Whether they do it legal or illegal is not your problem and if anybody has any questions, here's the phone number. And then they might fine the visa company, which is also not really your problem. Sometimes of course they might start asking you for the money (just because they don't want to be bothered contacting your visa company), but a firm "No" will sort everything out.

Hi, Well you seem like a really friendly website, so please help me if you can! I believe in "Cards on the table", so here's my dilemma... I have a one year "business visa" but have absolutly NO IDEA about my Inviting company - or how real it is!

I wanted to use my 1 year business visa to visit my girlfriend who lives in Moscow a bunch of times, (she organised the visa through a friend of a colleague, who now doesn't want to give any help at all (I know it might affet the inviting company, but they made it very clear that they just don't care!)

My question is: is there any other way I can register with my business visa(either at my girlfriends appt or in a hotel for a night) instead of trying to get the "inviting company" to help as they cleary said they won't!

And i know, i know... the moral of this story is "know who you're getting your visa assistance from next time!!!" :-)

Many thanks (mostly for any suggestions that won't include asking me to talk to my inviting company as i know I've got more chance of exuding blood from a stone than getting help from them!)

PJ

hi!
vaida's comments was interesting. I'm in the same situation: travelling throughout Russia for ten days or more, no stay in the same city for more than one or two nights. What i should tell to police border when I'm leaving? No a single registration during my entire 10 days trip! Should I show all the tickets and hotel's bill?
Another issue: I'm in Moscow now from 5 days and my coupon still not back to Hotel's administration because OVIR's red tape. What I should tell to police during paper control on the street? Should I tell lyes about my staying in Russia to avoid "probliem" ?
The last item: according to new law, when I live the hotel I have to back to admin the coupon, so I could not proof to airport or railroad police that I get legal registration during my staying in that city... Thank you for your comments. Dario

please don't bother posting my previous comment. thanks,

PJ

Thought you might be interested to know my experience with registration in Ekaterinburg.

Firstly, as has been pointed out before, nobody has any idea what is going on at the police station or the post office ... all roads lead to OVIR.

At OVIR you will spend ages in the queue since this is also where every person from all of ex-CIS (Uzbekistan etc.) has to come to register ... which is a lot of people.

OVIR also laughingly say they have no idea about the system. There is no computer registration to keep track of what they do or issue, and they are really just going through the motions, though at least they do know there is a new 'system'.

Lastly, at the airport, the police still ask to see your registration, even though in theory you have no evidence of it because the tear off slip has been given back. I took a photocopy because years of experience in Russia told me that you can never have too many official documents; I'd suggest others do the same.

Hello there,
just to say i had no trouble with registering in novosibirsk at the post office my girlfriend did the paperwork (and cheaper than going to the ovir). But i have a little problem i didnt deregister ive still got my little tear off slip. Would i have deregistered automatically when i left through immigration control and handed my immigration card in or should i post this form back by dhl to my girlfriend so she can sort it out.Any help or ideas would be appreciated

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HI All,

I would like to share my experiences with registration and the 6 mth max stay.
My 1st time in russia my registration elapsed after 6 months and was told to leave the country. I did not have the time or inclination to leave at that point and stayed on for 3 more months - guessing that the fine would be less than the costs to leave.
This was a correct assumption - after being pulled off the train in no mans land somewhere near the border of Finland and Russia - and after being threatened with being returned to Russia and pay a penalty. The penalty was to be 100 euro - after 20 mins of bartering and the train about to leave - I paid 1000 rubles and arrived in finland safely.
On my return from Finland I never was able to register again - through laziness - but had an immigration card. This resulted in maybe 1500 rubles in fines for 12 months of staying in Moscow - by the local constabulary on various occasions (mostly drunken). I left via the airport at domodedovo - luckily the company paid for the VIP service there and I had no problems at all with passport control.

Now I find myself in the situation of being without entirely a imigration card or registration - after the registration service courier was stopped by police and confiscated all his documents including my immigration card. So again I face this situation - one thing I know - cash fixes everything and everything is fixible.

to richard baglow, i think this information will be a bit late for you now, anyway i was in ivanovo with my gf during april, the militsi told us that if my gf did not return the tear off slip to them, she would recieve a fine. i think they said it would be 4000 rubles. i imagine you already know this now, but i thought i would let you know you may have an unhappy gf at present, perhaps you shoud get her a nice present:))

I am Russian, my husband is British. We just came back from Moscow and St. Petersburgh (June-July 2007). He had a visa done by one of the travel agencies, and I registered him under my own passport in Moscow. It was rather easy, though slightly time-consuming. This is what I remember about the procedure.

Preparation
1) 2 registration forms – here http://www.fmsmoscow.ru/doc...
I recommend to have at least 4-6 blank copies with you just in case, or 2 filled in copies and 2-4 blank. (They did not have blank registration forms at the postoffice.) Have white-out (aka Tippex) with you just in case (though miraculously they did have one at the postoffice). This is because you cannot make any corrections on the form, the postoffice clerk will reject any forms with cross-outs etc. (leave the unused ones with the post worker, help the “needy”)
2) 2 photocopies of foreigner’s passport
3) 2 photocopies of host’s passport
4) 2 photocopies of foreigner’s migration form (the one that you get when you get the visa)
5) host’s original passport (you do not need the original foreigner’s passport) – but have to show host’s at the postoffice.
6) In addition to the address where foreigner will be registered, do also get the name of the administrative area where the address belongs to. That is, if you are in Moscow, which “administrativnyi okrug” (Zapadnyi, etc.), which raion (Mosfilmovskii, etc.). Try to find out the address of the corresponding “Upravlenie Federal’noi Migragratsionnoi Sluzhby”, or UFMS. Again, such address has to be for the subarea, not just the big “okrug”.
7) Have a large envelope just in case – or you can buy an envelope on the post office.

You can register at the local UFMS office (which might be a hassle), or at the post office which is assigned to the address at which the foreigner will be registered. Alternatively I suggest to go to the central post office of your area. If you are in Moscow, I recommend one of the 3 central post offices:
Central Telegraph (Tsentralnyy Telegraf), Tverskaya ul., 7 (M. Okhotnyy Ryad), Daily 8-22
Main Post Office (Glavpochtamt) Myasnitskaya ul., 26/2 (M. Chistye Prudy), Mo-Su 8-19:45
International Post Office (Mezhdunarodnyy Pochtamt), Varshavskoe shosse, 37 (M. Nagatinskaya) Mo-Su 9-20;

We went to Central Telegraph on Tverskaya, asked where to do registration, joined a line of about 8 people (it was in the middle of the afternoon, at other times the line could be longer or shorter). Next to the relevant window there was an example of how to fill in the form (the forms have to be filled in Russian). We made photocopies of passport pages in the nearby photo service “laryek”. I asked for the address of UFMS, was given a folder with the addresses, found the address (you search first under the big “okrug” then search for the raion). One set of registration form and copies of passports and migr. card is kept at the postoffice, the other set is sent in the envelope to the UFMS via “tsennoe pis’mo”. For “tsennoe pis’mo” one needs to fill in 2 copies of content list (blanks for content list are available at the window). You write the UFMS address 3 times – on the envelope, and on the 2 copies of content list (as you will see later, it is a good idea to write the full address of UFMS on the content list).

I was rather slow (made a few mistakes while filling in the forms) so it took me about 40 minutes – but others may do it faster. As far as I remember, I paid less than 150 rubles – for the processing of the “tsennoe pis’mo”. (The registration itself is free.)

They give you the bottom portion of one of the forms, and one of the copies of the content list (as I understand, this is what people call the “coupon”), both stamped and signed. Make a copy of both of them straight away just in case.

Before we left, my husband gave both the bottom portion and the “coupon” (the content list) to my father (we kept the copies of both), who then sent both of them via “zakaznoe pis’mo” to the address of UFMS to which we sent our registration form in the first place (remember that this is why it is a good idea to write the full address of UFMS on the content list). He went to an arbitrary post office, and it cost him less than 50 rubles (possibly with an envelope). One needs to send this form within two (working) days after the foreigner’s departure. According to some law regarding foreigners, the govt has to take off foreigner’s name from their database upon his/her departure – and obviously it would be easier for the govt to comply with the law if the hosts does send the bottom part and if the same UFMS handles both registration and taking off from the database.