Girlfriend and trouble getting Russian foreign passport

[MatryoshkaMan]

Hey guys, long time no talk. Things are going well between myself and L but there is a bit of a problem just encountered. She has been having all sorts of trouble with registration in here city (Novosibirsk) and now she tells me she is having a hard time getting a foreign passport. She applied a few months ago and they refuse to give it to her. She was supposed to go to Egypt with her company but is not upset as she cannot go as she does not have the required foreign passport.

Here is what she is saying just tonight on chat:
1) i cant get foreign passport
2) i have two foreign passport but i cant get one of them
3) three years ago i wanted to visit Sweden so i pass all dpcuments for foreign passport
4) i think its loose after 3 yers and not acting
5) so now i pass twice all documents to passport
6) and they say i should give old passport to get new
7) but my old passport stay at government for 3 year in rusian rules they should test me
i want to find whom to pay

The reason I have numbered her comments is that I was asking questions and she was replying.

Does any of this make sense? Are they playing her for money?

I am worried that if she can't get a foreign passport even if I was to marry her she cannot get on a plane!!

I need your help and judgement. Seriously. This is a problem I can see it from a thousand miles away. I thought it was
easy for Russians to get a foreign passport. I guess I am wrong. Russia really is a BS country (not the people - the government and the "system") if you ask me. Too bad the
women are so great

[UTRO]

It is easy for Russians to get a Russian International Passport. Russia is not the USSR
It's hard for them to get International Visas...

I'm not sure what is going on? However it sounds like she is trying to find out who she can 'pay off' to resolve this problem.... "(9) i want to find whom to pay".

Does L have Skype? Would you like my wife to chat with her to find out exactly what is going on? Sveta is fluent in English, she can get to the bottom of this for you. Talk to L and PM me back.

Dave.

[Lily]

If I am getting it correctly, she tries to order her passport at the location where she is not a permanent resident? If this is the case, complications may happen.

The usual way for a Russian citizen to get an international passport is at their place of permanent residency, sometimes called 'propiska'. This is recognized at their Russian passports by a stamp on a page that shows the address. By law, ordering an international passport takes one month.

There is an option however to order an international passport at the place of temporary residency. It should take three months, however. As far as I know, many Russians prefer not to use this option and to travel to their place of permanent residency. Russians who live outside of their residency often cannot, or prefer not to get a temp residency at all.  For example, I live in Moscow but travel every time to Samara, my permanent residency, and order my passport there without any problems. When I was living in Siberia, I did the same travel to Samara because of the passport.

[Aloe]

MM, dont you think if you wanna get information, you shouldnt go around telling people their country is BS. Im just amazed at some peoples behavior. Do you seriously expect an answer after that kind of opening post? dumbass

[Ade]

MM, dont you think if you wanna get information, you shouldnt go around telling people their country is BS. Im just amazed at some peoples behavior. Do you seriously expect an answer after that kind of opening post? dumbass

Awesome.

 

[UTRO]

Aloe, I quite agree

But let us give MM the benefit of the doubt that his comment was made out of frustration and desperation.
Frayed nerves and feelings of hopelessness sometimes make people say things they don't mean or would necessarily ever say.
Add to it that his 'L' doesn't appear fluent and has some trouble expressing herself to MM. That in itself can't be easy for the two of them, at a time like this

[RussianWind]

1. I didn't understand anything.
2. I think she is trying to say that the problem is because she can't get a new passport untill she brings them her old passport (they cut numbers making the passport not valid anymore). It's true. A person can have two valid passports at the same time only if he/she travels abroad more often than once in a month.
3. I didn't understand what happened with her old passport and why she can't bring it to them.
4. You are a dumbass saying that Russia is a BS country. That means you don't know anything about it. Why do you need a girlfriend from a BS country?

[docetae]

I need your help and judgement. Seriously. This is a problem I can see it from a thousand miles away. I thought it was
easy for Russians to get a foreign passport. I guess I am wrong. Russia really is a BS country if you ask me. Too bad the
women are so great

You need our judgement ? You are a fat moron who can not  get sex locally and need to go oversea to find a woman. You have  even no respect for a country with an history longer than yours. Stay in your barn and stop to to pollute here.

[MatryoshkaMan]

Thanks for your useful comment Lily! Yes she has had residency problems in Novo where she lives. She is from Yakutsk and has been living in Novo for 7-8 years now. She did not have proper registration in Novo all this time apparently after having gone to university there and now worked there. The way I understand it she paid for a registration and somehow the police/gov. found out and she got in some trouble. Welcome to a police state!

I modified my original comment. Sorry to have offended any Russians on the board. I modified the comment to say the Russian Government and "system" is BS. I am still pissed off getting ripped off by the Moscow police for a $90 bribe for basically nothing when I was there in October. From what I can see Russia is completely corrupt with (from what I have read) 1/3 of the economy based on bribery. Nothing gets done without a sum of cash trading hands behind the back. Shall I start dredging up reports and posting them here? Even Medvedev a few weeks ago called Russians out saying that corruption is rampant!

[Ade]

Thanks for your useful comment Lily! Yes she has had residency problems in Novo where she lives. She is from Yakutsk and has been living in Novo for 7-8 years now. She did not have proper registration in Novo all this time apparently after having gone to university there and now worked there. The way I understand it she paid for a registration and somehow the police/gov. found out and she got in some trouble. Welcome to a police state!

Dude, if she paid a bribe and was caught then I guess she has to suffer the consequences. How can you on one hand criticise corruption and bribery and then complain when someone is caught out and laws are enforced?

My wife doesn't understand why she should even be in this predicament in the first place unless there was some rule breaking happening.

I modified my original comment. Sorry to have offended any Russians on the board. I modified the comment to say the Russian Government and "system" is BS. I am still pissed off getting ripped off by the Moscow police for a $90 bribe for basically nothing when I was there in October. From what I can see Russia is completely corrupt with (from what I have read) 1/3 of the economy based on bribery. Nothing gets done without a sum of cash trading hands behind the back. Shall I start dredging up reports and posting them here? Even Medvedev a few weeks ago called Russians out saying that corruption is rampant!

Can't say I've seen any corruption in my trips there but I didn't spend a lot of time in Moscow. 1/3 seems a little exaggerated to me. Out of my wife and her family, the only corruption that comes to mind is that my BIL's girlfriend paid for her driving license after failing 3 times some years ago and that is no longer possible, at least in her city as they have cracked down.

[Faux Pas]

'Knock on wood" I have never been in a situation that required a bride nor have I been asked for a bribe of any kind, in all of my trips to Russia. Am I anal retentive and have my affairs and documents in order? Perhaps or maybe I am just lucky, I don't really know. Maybe it is not as widespread as many forum posters will have us believe. I've heard several stories from Russians where many things in Russia were for sale, for a price. I've heard where people can buy their way out of trouble in situations where it isn't always possible in the West.

I think most people know and realize that yes Russia is corrupt. I also know that many other countries are corrupt and corruption is a way of life. The US is at the top of that list. I know MM is from Canada and I cannot speak for Canada as I do not know. Corruption can come in many different forms. Quite honestly sometimes I wish I could just pay the State Patrol on the highway when he catches me speeding. My point here is, corruption is rampant every where. It just comes with many different approaches and faces.

[UTRO]

It's no secret that Corruption is rampant in Russia. Have you ever seen the cops in Moscow guarding Parking Spots around the Kremlin, Gumm and other parts of City Centre? Park there and you pay him... it supplements his income supporting his family.

Russian Corruption has its good side and bad side......

Good - my Father-in-law was able to obtain a Russian International Passport in less than one week, so he could see his daughter marry me in Jamaica.

Bad - the tragic Fire in Perm last month

[Aloe]

I dont understand what kind of trouble she is in ? Id lived in Moscow for 8 years without any kind of registration, or sometimes a fake one, never got in any kind of trouble. Even when the police stopped me and pointed out that my registration is obviously fake, they just let me go after a bit of talking  Dont need to get all wound up and angry when they stop you, just be nice, polite and friendly What troubles is she having? I guess if you run into especially mean police, you will get in trouble, no matter if you did something wrong or not. Foreigners have to pay cuz they look so especially foreign. im not sure how they spot them, but every time we flew domestic flights, my hubby got stopped for a document check, no clue how they spot him, he looks totally normal-could-be-russian to me, but they just see it. So if you are a foreigner, you have to have your documents in order.
And what does she mean by "5) so now i pass twice all documents to passport" ? Did she apply for her passport twice at the same time ? Maybe there is a passport issued for her, because she applied twice, thats why they are asking for her old one back. She could go write a complaint if she never received a passport i guess. It takes under 3 months to get a passport at propiska place (permanent residence stamped in the internal passport), under 6 months if applied at the place of registration, with no permanent residence there. By the way, better be careful if you have to go to another city to receive your passport. When i was getting my passport, they announced my name on their website in the list of passports ready for pick up, but in reality it wasnt ready for pick up for another 2 weeks after that.

[JR]

It sounds like she has and old (3 years) passport which she never picked up but must now surrender in order to recieve the new one.

Catch-22 situation.

[mies]

It would be best if she explains situation in Russian, and not in English. With the 9 sentences you quoted MM - we are "guessing on coffee": "maybe this or maybe that".

[Jumper]

Dude, if she paid a bribe and was caught then I guess she has to suffer the consequences. How can you on one hand criticise corruption and bribery and then complain when someone is caught out and laws are enforced?

My wife doesn't understand why she should even be in this predicament in the first place unless there was some rule breaking happening.

Can't say I've seen any corruption in my trips there but I didn't spend a lot of time in Moscow. 1/3 seems a little exaggerated to me. Out of my wife and her family, the only corruption that comes to mind is that my BIL's girlfriend paid for her driving license after failing 3 times some years ago and that is no longer possible, at least in her city as they have cracked down.

for someone who is seriously jaded.. you are hardly jaded at all !!
 


my opinion-
in her city you can bet that if the amount was higher,it's still easily possible ,
crack down or no, to get  a drivers license,
 i bet i could in one week ,or less.


as far as overall-
i have done some business in russia and ukraine ,not much , but some-
1/3 is a big number ,probably  a bit  unreasonable.
and hey other countries are corrupt as well..
but try to do serious business there, as far as importing,
 and you will become seriously jaded in record time, is my guess
no offense to anyone intended.

[MatryoshkaMan]

Somehow it has been worked out. She is flying for a vaction (company is sending her) to Egypt in 2 weeks. No idea if any money changed hands. The way Jollyrats explained it makes sense! Thanks! You read "Russian" better than I do! A legal catch-22 in Russia equals dollar signs (rubble signs? ) dancing in the eyes of any beaurocrat for sure. No money = no help = you are permanently screwed until you have the money to solve the "problem"....