Visa Registration in Russia

Registration is simply the process of validating your visa and registering your presence in Russia. It’s just a a little stamp either in your passport on a paper attached to your visa and/or on the migration card, indicating the period of validity and date of registration; and registration number, name of registering authority, and signature of executing officer. It’s just a stamp, but everyone, who has not put a registration mark, will be considered illegal with the corresponding circumstances.

Not to face hefty fines and delays upon departure from the country, be sure to stick to the following STEP-BY-STEP VISA REGISTRATION GUIDANCE:

• upon arrival, you will be given a migration card, which you should fill in carefully (your full name, passport data, purpose of visit, duration of stay, terms and purposes of visit and the prospective place of residence) and the instant you cross the Russian border, the customs’ officials stamp it thus indicating the date and site of your arrival

• when filling in your migration card (and all other official documents concerning your stay in Russia), do your best to avoid contradictions between them. If you are travelling with a tourist visa, you should mention "tourist" purpose of visit, if it is a private visa - you check "private" purpose, etc.

• if you stay on the territory of Russia for more than 3 days, you have 72 hours (excluding weekends and official holidays) to register your visa

• if you stay in a hotel or a hostel, your visa registration is to be done at the reception desk either at no additional charge or at a tiny administration fee of $2-3 when your check in.

• if you are renting an apartment through an agency, it should be set up to register you as well, but things are a bit more complicated: the registration is rarely done immediately upon arrival - the procedure might take a day or so but your presence is not obligatory and as a rule you pay 20-50$ for the service.

• If you are staying in private accommodation with friends or a family, you have to register yourself – and this is the most hellish procedure! You should have an Izvesheniye from the person whose flat it is, and they will be responsible for registering you at the branch of OVIR (the Ministry of Passports, Visas and Registration). We advise, you’d better called some travel agency or law firm and ask them to make a registration for you –otherwise you will feel the Russian bureaucracy at its worst!

• wherever you make the registration , the following documents are required: a migration card with a stamp of passport control at the border and your passport

• as soon as your migration card is stamped, carry it with your passport because random document checks are carried out by local police. Failure to provide proper documentation can lead to detention and heavy fines.

• be sure to keep the migration card safe until departure – you should hand these migratory forms back at the customs and if your migration card was lost/stolen or simply not stamped you will be prevented from leaving the country until you are fined and all the necessary paperwork is in order.

It’s worth keeping in mind

• Children under eighteen, entering the Russian Federation together with their parent(s), get a migration card as well as adults, and their visa registration is to be done simultaneously with the registration of their parents’ visa. • The registration of a foreign citizen, who entered the Russian Federation, is produced on the place of his stay, which means: if you stay in a certain city for longer than 3 days, you are to be registered, and if later on you move to another city, you are obligated to get a new stamp on your migration card i.e. to register once again during three workdays from the day of arrival to the new place of your stay.
• Some small hotels, guest houses and hostels, that are not licensed by the OVIR, won’t be able assist you with registration. So you either make sure that the hotel you plan to stay in will register your visa, or simply contact any travel agancy which provides this service for a certain fee.
• There are certain people, who are not supposed to register their visas: These are foreign states’ government officials, leaders of international organizations, as well as members of their families’; foreign citizens, who came to the Russian Federation less than for three days; warship seamen and warplane crewmen; civil ships seamen (either not leaving the port territory at all or leaving it for less than 24 hours);crewmen of the civil fleet of airplanes, trains and other means of transport (not leaving the territory of airports, stations etc

Apply for your Russian visa support online

Visa type
Surname
Name
Citizenship