New Russian Visa Registration Procedure
New: How to register your Russian visa at a post office.
As you may perhaps know already the new Russian visa registration procedure was implemented in 2007. The rules are changing quite often, but today we were able to compile a clear and correct outline, which explains how to register your visa if you are staying in a private apartment (rented or as a guest). It actually became much easier to do it.
If you're staying at a hotel, the hotel will register you for the period you're staying there.
The main change is that there is no need anymore to go to OVIR if you're staying at an apartment and that all the documents can be submitted by post. Also, from January 2007 registering your visa is the sole responsibility of your accommodating party (hotel or landlord) and should be done by them, not by you and not by the agency, which issued your visa support.
Download the latest Registration Form in PDF format
Below is the detailed explanation of the registration process...
1. A foreigner submits his passport and migration card to the landlord. The landlord takes these to any post office or a local immigration office and fills out a registration form (see a sample below). He also enters his own passport details and needs to have his own passport when going to the post office. It's essential that the landlord himself is registered at this address. The good news is that no approval of the other people registered at the apartment is needed (as it was before).
2. The authorities accept the form and give a tear off coupon to the landlord. He gives it back to the foreigner and the foreigner keeps it until departure. Please note that the foreigner himself is not supposed to go to the police at all.
3. The registration is to be done within three business days upon arrival.
4. When leaving, the foreigner renders the tear off coupon to the landlord (he does not need to show it at the border) and the landlord passes it to the police. This should be done within 24 hours after departure.
5. The procedure can be acomplished by post (read more about it). In this case the same documents are presented to the post office, they check them and give the landlord the coupon back and when the foreigner leaves, the landlord can send the coupon back by post as well. This procedure (submitting the registration by post) will work in Moscow for sure, we do not yet know if all the post offices in Russia are aware of this procedure.
What happens when your landlord doesn't want or doesn't have time to register your visa? In this case you can either find a friend who'll do it for you (for another address, obviously) or just ask your travel agency to do it for you. A travel agency might ask for more money though to compensate their time for queuing etc. (usually $20-$50 US). If you order your visa support with our advertisers, they have partner offices in major Russian cities that would be able to assist you with registration. However, it's always better to go through your landlord or friends – cheaper and easier this way.
If you need to know more about this topic and registration laws, please, read our Russian visa registration guide.
To order your visa online, please go to Russian visa support online.
If you would like to be the first to receive updates like this, you can subscribe by sending "WTR subscribe" including your e-mail address to this number: +44 762 480 25 52 -- this service is free.
As you may perhaps know already the new Russian visa registration procedure was implemented in 2007. The rules are changing quite often, but today we were able to compile a clear and correct outline, which explains how to register your visa if you are staying in a private apartment (rented or as a guest). It actually became much easier to do it.
If you're staying at a hotel, the hotel will register you for the period you're staying there.
The main change is that there is no need anymore to go to OVIR if you're staying at an apartment and that all the documents can be submitted by post. Also, from January 2007 registering your visa is the sole responsibility of your accommodating party (hotel or landlord) and should be done by them, not by you and not by the agency, which issued your visa support.
Download the latest Registration Form in PDF format
Below is the detailed explanation of the registration process...
1. A foreigner submits his passport and migration card to the landlord. The landlord takes these to any post office or a local immigration office and fills out a registration form (see a sample below). He also enters his own passport details and needs to have his own passport when going to the post office. It's essential that the landlord himself is registered at this address. The good news is that no approval of the other people registered at the apartment is needed (as it was before).
2. The authorities accept the form and give a tear off coupon to the landlord. He gives it back to the foreigner and the foreigner keeps it until departure. Please note that the foreigner himself is not supposed to go to the police at all.
3. The registration is to be done within three business days upon arrival.
4. When leaving, the foreigner renders the tear off coupon to the landlord (he does not need to show it at the border) and the landlord passes it to the police. This should be done within 24 hours after departure.
5. The procedure can be acomplished by post (read more about it). In this case the same documents are presented to the post office, they check them and give the landlord the coupon back and when the foreigner leaves, the landlord can send the coupon back by post as well. This procedure (submitting the registration by post) will work in Moscow for sure, we do not yet know if all the post offices in Russia are aware of this procedure.
What happens when your landlord doesn't want or doesn't have time to register your visa? In this case you can either find a friend who'll do it for you (for another address, obviously) or just ask your travel agency to do it for you. A travel agency might ask for more money though to compensate their time for queuing etc. (usually $20-$50 US). If you order your visa support with our advertisers, they have partner offices in major Russian cities that would be able to assist you with registration. However, it's always better to go through your landlord or friends – cheaper and easier this way.
If you need to know more about this topic and registration laws, please, read our Russian visa registration guide.
To order your visa online, please go to Russian visa support online.
If you would like to be the first to receive updates like this, you can subscribe by sending "WTR subscribe" including your e-mail address to this number: +44 762 480 25 52 -- this service is free.
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