UKC

I'm going to Russia on a tourist visa this week and it's hard to find any solid information on when and how to register your visa.

I'm never going to be in one place more than 3 days, and some people suggest I may not need to register it in this case. I'm not going to be in big hotels so finding the local Police Station to register at would be a bit of a pain. I asked the UK embassy and they refused to comment saying I should ask at Passport Control.

Have any of you lot been to Russia recently and do you know much about this registration lark? Thanks!

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Parents are JUST back from Sochi, and Big Brother is currently working on some small thing in Sochi - something about olympics?? anyway!

Both were/are based in the same hotel so not much help really, i just know that parents had a bit of a Mare getting the actual visa in there passports due to neither office speaking the others language. sorted it 3 days before flights out.

What were you told when you applied for your visa?

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

http://www.realrussia.co.uk/visas/russian/registration

Any use?

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Fairly helpful yes thankyou, still though it would be nice to get confirmation directly from a government source. The visa company didnt give me any information, just gave me back my passport with a visa in it.

Hmmmm....

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

You may be able to get it done through an independent travel agent? At the very least they will be able to point you in the right direction.

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

I had that problem when I was over there climbing Elbrus, walked in to a large hotel in Moscow after being in the country for almost a month. They sent me to the local police station I paid a small fine/bribe all was ok

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Don't you have to be there for more than 7 days to need to register it?

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

You have to stay over 7 days for registration.

In reply to neilh:

Thing is, I'm there for 2 weeks but moving constantly...

Hopefully Russian immigration will be nice and helpful.

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

I think you only need to register if you're in the same place for more than 7 days. If you phone the visa centre I'm sure they'll help you.

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Where you going?

In reply to Submit to Gravity:

Baikal, Siberia

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Any hotel that you're going to stay at should be able to do the registration for you.

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

I spend about 3 months a year in Russia at present. I'm actually just back from Sakhalin now.

The rules used to be that you had to register your visa within 3 days of arrival. It's now 7 days. If you're travelling around then it's best to keep your itinerary with you, including copies of any hostel, hotel etc booking confirmations or tickets to/from wherever you're travelling, as evidence that you're moving about.

Places that see a lot of foreign visitors can often do a registration overnight. For instance, where I stay in Sakhalin, they don't even take my passport....just photocopy it, my visa and entry/exit form and by about 1000 next morning my registration's back. In Moscow, my normal hotel keeps my passport overnight.

I'd suggest that if you're anywhere for more than 1 night, you get registered to be on the safe side...so even at your next destination you can pull out the "expired" registration from your last city as evidence.

In fact, I've never heard of anyone having significant problems with the registration side of things. I have known people to have BIG problems on exiting the country when they've lost their entry/exit form. This is a white form that's stamped on entry. Most places you enter now, you don't have to actually fill a form out manyally any more, it's generated and printed at the immigration control desk on arrival. DON'T LOSE IT. If you do it could cause a MAJOR headache on leaving the country. I clip mine into my passport on the visa page with a paper clip. If I wasn't going in and out so much I'd probably staple it!