|
Visa Support
Visa support falls into two different areas, but both are equally important for every visitor to Russia and Moscow.
Visa Registration
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 Visa 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 Visa 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 and 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 Card, 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. When (if) you get Registration in other Cities in Russia, additional stamps will be added to the back of the departure document. When you leave Russia, you must hand the properly stamped Departure (Exit) document to the Customs Official. If you do not have the Departure (Exit) document or it has not been stamped with a Registration stamp, you will experience the difficulties outlined above when trying to leave Russia.
For safe keeping, once you have your Departure (Exit) document stamped with a Registration stamp we would recommend that you staple the document to the Russian Visa page of your Passport so that you cannot lose and so you can locate it if you asked to produce it by the Police (Militsia) or anyone else.
We are able to assist you with Registration of your Visa when you stay at one of our apartments. 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. 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.
Visa Invitations for a Visa to Russia
For assistance with obtaining a Visa Invitation so that you may obtain a Visa to Russia, click here ...
|
