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Registration in Russia
When you arrive in Russia, you are not only required to have a valid Russian Visa for entry and exit to the Country, but you are required to Register your presence in Russia within 3 working days of your arrival in Russia. The same applies if you visit a different City while you are in Russia. If you are in the new City for more than 3 working days, you are also required to Register your presence in that new City, even if you have previously Registered in Moscow and several other Cities.
While this may seem strange for most foreigners, it is the way it is, so every foreigner must Register in whatever City they are visiting in Russia. Even Russians must Register whenever they move from City to City.
If you do not Register your Visa within the required time frame, then you will face difficulties when you try to leave Russia or if your documents are checked while you are in Russia. Those difficulties can be in the form of an official fine if your documents are checked in Russia and the Police (Militsia) find that you do not have valid Registration (the size of the fine is currently very small at only a few hundred Rubles), or it could be harassment and intimidation by the Police (Militsia) for a much more substantial bribe to be paid to them to overlook your lack of Registration (and you will need to get Registration immediately or risk being checked again and required to pay another bribe). When you are leaving the Country it will cause you delays and you will need to pay a fine at the airport/border crossing for not having Registration or again, you may be required to pay a more substantial bribe in order to be ‘processed’ in time for your flight/train. If you are treated officially and fined, you may also have difficulty getting another Visa to enter Russia.
For all those reasons and many more that we are sure you could understand that relate to being detained by Police/Customs and questioned and inconvenienced, it is much simpler (and more cost effective) to ensure that you have the proper Registration of your Visa, so that moving around Moscow and Russia and leaving Russia, will be without incident.
What is required for Registration of my Visa?
When you enter Russia you are provided with an Immigration Document, which is a white piece of paper that looks like two copies of the same thing. The document has both Russian and English on it. The white piece of paper is filled in by you (both copies) and you hand them to the Customs Official when you arrive. One of the pieces of paper is your Arrival (Entry) document and the other is your Departure (Exit) document. At the top left hand side of each document you will see that one is called Arrival and one is called Departure. Apart from that, the documents are identical. The Customs Official will keep the Arrival document and then stamp the Departure document with your arrival date and return that document to you. YOU MUST NOT LOSE THAT DOCUMENT WHILE YOU ARE IN RUSSIA.
To get Registration of your Visa, you need to have the back of the Departure (Exit) document stamped by an authorised person with a stamp showing that you have been registered for the duration of your stay in Russia/Moscow or receive a Registration form receipt, showing that your Registration has been lodged with the relevant Russian Government agency (usually referred to as the OVIR) - the Registration form receipt is the more common type these days, although some Hotels may give you a computer printout confirming your registration.
Staying in a private Apartment
If you are staying in a private apartment, to achieve Registration the Russian law simply requires you as a foreigner, to notify the local OVIR where you are staying. While that may sound simple (the laws were in fact changed to make the previously tedious and complex process easier), the bureaucratic procedures that have been put in place to allow that simple notification to happen, effectively reverse the written law and are just as tedious and complex as they were previously. To actually Register with the OVIR you are required to either go to the local OVIR office or a ‘Russia Post’ postal office that accepts OVIR forms, along with the owner of the apartment where you are staying. The owner must produce their Russian Domestic Passport showing that they are the registered owner of the apartment (sometimes ownership papers will also need to be produced) and you must produce your passport showing your personal details, current valid visa and your Immigration Departure document with your arrival date stamped on it (most times they will require a photocopy of your documents as well, so you will need to take them with you). When you lodge the Registration with the OVIR they give you the tear off bottom part of the form which they sign, stamp and date, which shows your name, your registered address and the date you were registered, along with the date you are registered to. The form is completed in Russian not English. If you lodge the form at a Post Office, they give you the same tear off part, but rather than being signed by the OVIR, it is stamped with the Post Office stamp and dated, showing the date it was lodged at the Post Office. The Post Office will then post the form to the OVIR and charge you a fee (usually only about 10 rubles). So long as the Registration form is lodged at the Post Office before the end of the 3 working days that is compliance with the law. We have attached a link so that you can download a copy of the Registration form. The copy is an Excel document so that you can complete the form on your computer if you have Excel, by typing into each square a letter before printing it off (use Russian only) or you can print off the form and complete it by hand. The form must be printed off as double sided and not two single sided documents.
When (if) you get Registration in other Cities in Russia, additional stamps will be added to the back of the departure document or you will receive additional Registration form receipts.
Departing Russia
When you leave Russia, you must hand the Departure (Exit) document to the Customs Official. If you do not have the Departure (Exit) document you may experience the difficulties outlined above when trying to leave Russia. The Registration form receipt(s) should be returned to the person who undertook your Registration so that they can return them to the local OVIR office - they are not handed to the Customs Official at your departure.
Our Registration Services in Moscow
We are able to assist you with Registration of your Visa when you stay at one of our apartments in Moscow. Even if you do not stay at one of our apartments and need assistance with Registration of your Visa, we will be able to assist you if you are in Moscow. For assistance with Registration of your Visa, please speak to our representative when you arrive in Moscow or contact us, using the information on our Contact Us page.
Our fee to organise Registration for you is €30 Euro per person (16 years and over). You will need to have available for us a legible copy of your Passport ID page, a copy of your current Russian Visa and a copy of your date stamped Immigration Document.
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