Regisrating Passport/Visa with the local officials?

[Waverider98]

I understand it is a seamless process to register if you stay at a hotel but what do you do if you stay at a private apartment?  How, or I should say, what is the best procedure for registering your passport and Visa with the local authorities in that case? 

[Admin]

I understand it is a seamless process to register if you stay at a hotel but what do you do if you stay at a private apartment?  How, or I should say, what is the best procedure for registering your passport and Visa with the local authorities in that case? 

I assume you are talking about Russia, since Ukraine has abandoned OVIR/VVIR registration for stays less than 90 days?

- Dan

[BC]

This might be a good FAQ candidate..  (not you Waverider) 

[Waverider98]

Yes Dan, I am refereeing to Russia...  Seems a little (OK Very) fuzzy to me how that would work out.

 Later fellas….

[BC]

It's been a while since I had to do this..

First might be best to ask the company that did your visa invitation support if they can register your visa.

If you are using an agency let them take care of it.
If you are not using an agency find someone that can do it for you.
Trying to do it yourself can be simple in some cities but involve hours and hours in other cities.
Don't suggest trying to skip the registration.. can cause troubles even when taking internal flights.

Which city(s) are we talking?  Maybe someone around here can give you some more specific pointers.

FWIW:
http://www.visahouse.com/howtoregister.asp

[JPjr]

Hello I had the same thing to do in Cheboksary. I was easily registered at the Hotel, they take care of it. But when I was invited to stay with Love and her father, Arkady, I went through a five office process. Others have posted they were registered in a private residence with one trip to OVIR with the Flat owner.So it does depend on what the particular OVIR's office wants to do. The owner of the flat,ie the invitee where you will stay, has to sign and I had to got to the bank and pay up, got to Police station for fingerprinting and pic, go to a millitary office for an interview and visual check, and back to the OVIR office for final registration and stamp in passport. It was not as bad as it sounds. Now that I have been through that and am known as Love's fiancee' Arkady can invite me to stay for up to 3 months , so I am going back for an extended stay as we wait for the K1 process to lumber along. When I get in town, now, I only have to check in at the OVIR

[Waverider98]

BC, at the moment my main plan is to just go to Moscow for about 10 days.  It’s a big city right, so I thought that would be plenty for me to get used to since it’s the first trip ever to Russia.

JPjr, what is OVIR?

Thanks…

[JPjr]

Have no Idea what the acronym stands for, Dan , I am sure does, and will be looking to help inform us

[chivo]

Waverider,

It is seamless. If you're only staying for 10 days and have a tourist visa, I would suggest you call this number when you get to Moscow: (495) 777 12 37. They will register your visa for 30 days for around 600 ru. Dont' worry someone there will be able to speak English as well. Good luck.

chivo

[JPjr]

Sorry, I see how I misunderstood the Private apartment statement.

[Elen]

JPjr, what is OVIR?

Thanks…

OVIR - Otdel Viz I Razreshenyi
Department of Visas and Permissions

[Phil dAmore]

Not to nit-pick, but OVIR (Otdel Viz I Razreshenyi) no longer exists.  It was made part of the FMS (Federal Migration Service) sometime last year.

Visa registration is nothing more than another money grab.  All it is is a stamp on the back of your migration card.  You have to have it, but there is no central database that can be checked by the militsia on the street.

Can you get by without it?  Yes but it may cause some problems when you leave the country.  Registration is a city issue.  Visas are state. The two are entirely separate departments.

The absolute best way to avoid being hasseled by the cops for your documents is to have a woman on your arm at all times.  In five years of living here I have never seen the police stop and question a couple no matter how foreign-looking the man was.

[Elen]

May be you foreigners stop to see anything like grabbing your money here and start to follow RULEs of the county where you are GUESTS ? 

Registration of foreigners here is NOT only city issue ( though to be fair I didn;t get what exactly you meant.)  Yes OVIR existed no longer like idependent department  - their function were delegated to local Passpor/Visas Departments in local Departments of Internal Affairs ( wich have department for Russian citizens and for foreigners)
 It's just an old habbit to call them OVIRs This departments are supposed to 
give a permission to invite some foreiner on guest visa and registrate those foreigners if thaye stay here in appartments

Ps about problems.

 That registartion would be checked at a board when you leave the country You would be suposed to pay a fine for breaking rules. ( don't cry about somebody trying to get money from you one more time)  And belive me or not THAT fact would be recorded in databases . Try to repeat such trick several times and tell us in what time you managed to exasperate Russian authorities - I would like to know - just out of curiosity

Ps Friendly advice from Muscovite - let get proper legal rigistration while you are in Moscow. It 's really not such big trouble than possable   after-effects of its absent

[BC]

Agree with Elen.

I have been stopped before at the airport for an internal RU flight to Moscow.

-Had expired visa with registration.
-By some miracle my MIL got me a new visa/extension so I could stay a few days longer.
-New visa/extension was not registered.

The passport control guy caught this and a verbal battle between wifey and official ensued.

Finally let me go when the flight was fully boarded.. I was all alone on the bus that had to make an extra trip.

Leaving moscow was a breeze.. the official just took a cursory glance at my passport and waved me through.

so.... better safe than sorry.

[Rvrwind]

We just went through this with our last few clients.
If you are staying in an apartment you can register at a hotel, the kicker is, the hotel must have an empty room at the time of your registering. They charge you one full day for the room & 5 rouble per day for everyday your visa is valid thereby circumventing the rule. We've done it several times in the past couple of months & have had no problems. It is not necessary to stand all day in line at the OVIR.
Elen, the Visa process I can understand & have no qualms with, but the registration process is totally ridiculous & outdated & a leftover from a Soviet regime that wants to control something they never can control. The reason organized crime is so ripe in Russia is because the methods of doing things & the overburdened obsession of the bureaucracy for paper work & redundant agencies make it easy to fool the system because nobody has a clue what the other guy is doing. I subscribe to the KISS method - KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID In that regard one phone call tells you all you need to know.
The registration process 'does not work', read my lips 'does not work' & I & others I know living here are proof that it does not work, so why bother. I'll tell you why, its a make work project for a lazy bunch of bureaucrats that need to justify their entire existence. And yes it is a money grab, of course you being Russian don't believe taking money from anybody is a bad thing as long as it is going into your pocket. Typical Russian attitude that I have seen & continue to see time & time again & must admit is not one of the better qualities of a people who should in my mind be more astute & mindfull of others. For a country that whines about not getting enough tourist $'s you certainly make it more difficult for tourists who would love to come here & spend their money.
Like I said "KISS" you would find to your liking that there would be much more $'s coming in & you would be able to rely less on the oil $'s.
If there is one thing I have learned bout Russians in general it is that they are like children in many ways. They feel that they were oppressed for so many years that now they think the world owes them a living. Wrong, we did not oppress you, check your history & revel at the rich elite in this country that for centuries kept you tied down, don't blame the rest of the world for your own inability or fortitude to change what had befallen you. Russian people in general are very selfish & self indulgent & figure it is their right to be so, well you reap what you sow, don't blame us for your inability to accept or change your condition, we did not create it, you did!

[Elen]

Elen, the Visa process I can understand & have no qualms with, but the registration process is totally ridiculous & outdated & a leftover from a Soviet regime that wants to control something they never can control.

  You should not "understand" it . You should follow rules of a country where you are just a guest and therefore can't make claims to local laws.

 And leave you "reasonings" about how we wish to control anything for yourself - "Do not like it - then don't eat it"  like we say. And read my lips - IT"S NOT BUSINESS OF YOURS as you are not in a position neither to change something nor to give any reasonable realistic advice. All you can do is grumbling like old ( too old) man - nothing more - about how everything is bad here around you.

I for example find that the most "ridiculous" thing in this world is a process to get a visa to the USA when you had to prove that you are not a criminal ( not a camel in Russian interpretation).  And NO ONE prove could be seen like 100% prove for sure So what?? It;s business of the USA to build such barriers and demand SUCH hill of papers because it's their country ( and never mind how many illegals are roaming across the USA taking advantages of their paradise)

 But HERE is our country So be kind to follow local rules or PAY for your denial to do that as you put yourself out of any law.  And if you prefer to pay ( bribes or penalties) then don't howl about that - it's YOUR guilt as well


PS Would not mind to follow rules of English grammar and punctuation as it's hard for me to read your posts   

PSS Also I prefer to have no deal with companies who can't do such simple things in legal way but prefer to pay bribe    It speaks a LOT for me about such businessmen  But that's also a personal choice of people

Good luck for you with bribing in Russia if you are so fond of such ways to solve problems

[Bruce]

Elen, I do not believe Rver and his clients are breaking the law at all.  They are registering in the city they are visiting within three days of arrival which is following the law.  Read the registration law carefully and then write with an educated mind.  You can register at a local OVIR office or hotel.  A foreigner has to pay through the nose (500 to six hundred rubles instead of 10 or so at the OVIR office) at the hotel ie. for one night etc.  I just went through that.  If you arrive on a Saturday you have to register within three days.  Most people register at a hotel simply for convenience.  Time usually is of the essence for me, especially on this trip.  It is more important for me to spend time with my wife, daughter and her family then stand on a line even to pay much less.  It was worth it to pay the hotel to register me in 10 minutes which is perfectly legal.

I do not mind a country registering foreigners.  I believe it would be more efficient if they were fingerprinted and registered upon arrival to your country as is now done in the USA.  With a central fingerprint database you can find a foreigner anywhere if he / she decides to go to a place where they are not permitted, commit crimes etc. 

[Voyageur]

I do agree with Helen, in that foreigners should obey the laws of the country that they are in, even if the laws seem strange to us, or just and excuse for a "money grab".  It is not our country!

Secondly, in my case, during my second visit my wife got me registered through a local travel agency.  As I remember it was about $ 50.00 USD.  She tried with the local OVIR office, but the officials there were not very co-operative.   The first visit, I stayed a hotel and received the stamp there. But there was still a pretty scary money grab by the local Stavropol gendarmes when I tried to board my flight home. Evidently my stamp was a day short and the locals required some convincing  to allow me to board the airplane.

[ConnerVT]

I do agree with Helen, in that foreigners should obey the laws of the country that they are in, even if the laws seem strange to us, or just and excuse for a "money grab".  It is not our country!

Secondly, in my case, during my second visit my wife got me registered through a local travel agency.  As I remember it was about $ 50.00 USD. 

Do you believe the travel agency followed the letter and the spirit of the registration laws?  Instead of you breaking the law directly, you paid someone else to do it for you...

[chivo]

I do agree with Helen, in that foreigners should obey the laws of the country that they are in, even if the laws seem strange to us, or just and excuse for a "money grab".  It is not our country!

I would agree too if the "law" actually worked here.

Please stop with this is Russia and you should obey the law. Let me tell you what the law is in Russia. It's who you know and how much money you have. Foreigners didn't make these rules, RUSSIANS did. So please enough already!!!!!

Again, if you come to Russia and pass through Moscow as many of you do, call the number I suggested and you will get an official stamp on the back of your migration card. Quite simple. No waiting in lines, no hotels that you're not staying in, nothing, no muss, no fuss.

It takes 1 - 2 days max, and will cost the equivalent of $23. Also, the weekend doesn't count as part of the 3 day requirement. Just on a side note, I come and go from Moscow from time to time and have registered my visa up to 20-30 days after the fact at times.

If you do happen to arrive at another town initially, then I'm sure your lady (or whatever contact you SHOULD have) will be able to find a service within town to assist you.

I can't for the life of me, wonder why so many of you make this an issue. You will have no problem leaving the country, no problem if by chance you're stopped by the friendly militsia , and especially no problems if you're American and have not done anything incredibly stupid.

It's simple, life can be easy, or life can be hard...you decide, Peace out.

chivo

p.s. you are not breaking any law. unbelievable.

[Voyageur]

If I broke the law, I did not know about it. How is a travel agent (which was located in the lobby of the hotel I stayed at previously) different than registering at the hotel itself?

[Elen]

Elen, I do not believe Rver and his clients are breaking the law at all.

Really?
 Read carefully WHAT he has wrote If you are staying in an apartment you can register at a hotel

 It's NOt legal way to do registration at all. If you stay in appartment you should go to OVIR ( or PVO like they're called now)  to get that registration. If you stay in hotel - then it's no problem for you at all.
 But in a case with appartments you can't get registration in holet if you didn't BRIBE people in hotel as they are  NOT ALLOWED to registrate those who ARE NOT living in their hotel ( I mean who didn;t pay the WHOLE paiment for a room during ALL those days they give registration to this person) In Moscow I know for sure NOW you would have troubles to find such hotel workers. There are not too many people who would want to lose a job because of that bribes  - and THAt is more than a chance

[Voyageur]

I guess that I broke the law then.  ??? But I do know that my wife tried very hard to register me with OVIR. She is certainly quite capable - but I know that she had a big problem with trying to register me with OVIR. It might have also had something to do with me being there over a long weekend only, with the OVIR office being closed.

[chivo]

I can't believe you people, do you just like to argue?

Waverider, give me a heads up when you're coming to Moscow and i'll put you in contact (if I have time, ill take you there myself) and get your visa registered.

let the rest argue about whatever. ciao.

chivo

[Turboguy]

I am glad to see some good information coming out.   I think the laws changed in Russia this Spring.  I have noticed that the visa services such as GoToRussia and Russia-Visa.com used to have an office where they would handle the registration for you.   I have also noticed that this service has vanished off thier websites which I am guessing is because of the new laws. 

Sure would be a bummer to have to pay for a night in a hotel just to get registration but if that is what the choice is.........   Had to do that in N Novgorod last year anyway.  Maybe some more good info will come out.   I agree, this would be a good topic for an FAQ once all the info gets sorted out.