Visa Registration in Russia

[Josh Wilson]

Seelangers, 

 

To add another opinion to the pile - 

 

Having lived and worked in Russia for nearly a decade and having helped
perhaps a few hundred students and guests and researchers and others come
and go and watched as many others have come and gone via acquaintances and
through online forums: I would agree that it is possible that you won't get
stopped for not having registration. 

 

However, it's very possible that you will - perhaps on street, where you may
have to be taken to a police station, pay an official fine, have a black
mark drawn against you on getting future visas. Or, it's even possible,
especially as Russia has been quickly automating all systems for passport
control at the airports, that you might be stopped at the airport - which
will probably mean missing your flight so that you can go pay the official
fine, get the - perhaps even overstaying your visa and then having to pay a
fee to get a special exit visa processed - which might also involve
extending your stay a few days, perhaps paying more for housing, food,
changing the plane ticket: 

 

In short, you can gamble this - but it's really not that difficult and no
where near expensive enough to make that a smart gamble in my book. Figure
out what you need to do to stay within the law here and your stay will be
much more pleasant, I can assure you. 

 

These guys can probably help if you feel really lost in the process of
getting your registration taken care of: 

http://www.visatorussia.com/russianvisa.nsf/visa_registration.html 

 

 

Josh Wilson
Assistant Director
The School of Russian and Asian Studies
Editor in Chief
Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
SRAS.org 
jwilson at sras.org

 

 

  _____  

From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Angelika Molk
Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2012 7:21 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Visa Registration in Russia

 

I have been living in Moscow for 4 years now and have had a number of
visitors with tourist visas...you are supposed to register, and you can
either do it at the OVIR or through a tourist agency (which is much more
expensive), but actually it is not really necessary. None of my guests have
ever been asked for registration (neither in the city nor on the airport),
and even if you do get caught, you only have to pay a fine ( a few rubles
for every day you were without registration). So, I guess what I'm saying is
that isn't all that important to get registered, especially if you are only
staying for a short time. 
Greetings, Angelika

On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 6:59 PM, Svetlana Grenier <greniers at georgetown.edu>
wrote:

Dear Kostya and other Seelangovtsy,

My sister and I have just had this experience. I had a business visa, and
she had a tourist one. You can register at the post office or at the OVIR
(post office is obviously easier).  They say, you have to register within 7
business days.  You will need a copy of your passport and of your host's
passport (first page and the page showing his or her propiska), and also a
copy of the little "migratsionnaia karta" they give you at the border.  At
the post office they gave us a form, of which we had to fill out two copies,
without any mistakes or corrections--I destroyed four or five of those
forms.  It cost 207 rubles.  The interesting thing, I don't think the border
control on the way out was interested in our stamped migration card at
all...

Best, 
Svetlana





On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 10:35 AM, Kustanovich, Konstantin V
<konstantin.v.kustanovich at vanderbilt.edu> wrote:

Dear Seelangовцы!

I am traveling to Russia (St. Petersburg and Moscow) on a tourist visa but
will be staying in a private apt. rather than a hotel. I assume that I will
have to register my visa. How and where does one do it in this situation?
OVIR? Police? Post Office? Thanks a lot.

Kostya Kustanovich

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