Way to Russia Talk Lounge

thomas · Just Starting Joined: 02 Jul 2004 Posts: 5

Is it OK with the cops if you register your visa at a hotel for one day only? This is how it seems to work according to the law these days: if you want to register for 2 days, you need to pay twice the price etc. About 500 rubles a day. Well it sucks, but what can you do when it is the law? So anyways, are you actually illegal if you stay in the same city after the period of your hotel registration, when your visa is still legal for several weeks or months - or are you legal? A good question, that deserves a good answer. I would think a lot of people out there wonder about this.

WayToRussia · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 1:39 am Post subject: Russian Visa Registration

The most legal way is to register with the company that issued your visa support. This way you won't have any problems with passport control when you leave the country (which is the most important issue about the registration). The cops will also leave you alone, but only if the registration is made in every city you stay at longer than 3 working day.

A good practice is to register at the agency that issued your visa support at every city they have an office or a representative. When you order your visa support through this site, we give a list of the offices where you can register your visa in major Russian cities. The visa will be registered only if the invitation was obtained through the form on this side, because this is how it should be done according to the law. With this registration you can stay at whatever place you want (apartment, homestay, camping) and you are guaranteed to have no problems with cops or when you leave the country.

Some people prefer to make registration at hotels, because the travel agency they used to obtain visa support didn't bother to give the address of its registration office. This is a bad practice and you should avoid using a company that doesn't provide a registration service, unless you are sure you will be staying in hotels that can provide visa registration (not all hotels can, but the most expensive ones always do).

Hope this answers your question. Cool