new visa rules

[Peter Morley]

>From Feb. 1 another absurd new rule is in place: all foreigners entering Russia must pay 1 ruble per day of their stay, payable in advance (i.e., on arrival). Hotels and other establishments will presumably tack this on to the registration cost, but those wishing to register elsewhere will, presumably, have to get a kvitantsiya from Sberbank before they can get a registration stamp.

This rule is part of amendments to the Tax Code passed at the end of last year, available as published in Rossiiskaya Gazeta: http://www.rg.ru/2005/12/31/nalog-dok.html (It's Article 1, point 5, further down)

I also noted when arriving yesterday that the migration card is currently in Russian only. Is this likely to continue?


Wednesday, February 8, 2006, 4:44:47 PM, you wrote:

> Another note on the whole visa thing is the new Application form and a new
> Migration Card (similar to our I-94 card).  If you look at the Russian
> Embassy website, this is the reasoning it uses for both of these forms:

>> 1.    Effective April 1, 2004, US citizens applying for Russians visas should
>> submit to the Consulate a new Application Form. The new form is implemented on
>> the basis of reciprocity and replaces the previous standard Application Form
>> and the Supplemental Form. For your convenience, the new form is available on
>> our web-site.
>> 
>>                      Visa Application for US citizens       (download)
>>                      Visa Application for non US citizens (download)
>> 
>>            2.   Effective February 10, 2003 all foreign nationals entering the
>> Russian Federation are requested to fill in the Migration Card and present it
>> to the Border Control  Officer along with their passports.
>> 
>>                                  Sorry for the inconvenience.
>> 
>>                           Thank you for understanding and cooperation.

> Perhaps the 21 month passport thing is involved in this concept of
> reciprocity. Perhaps the State Department and our Consular Services are
> requiring Russian nationals passports to be valid for 21 months after
> receiving the visa.

> Another example of diplomatic tit for tat.

> Mark Powell


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