foreign SIM SMS and internet activation to remove the 24 hours lock.

antoniob · 2026-05-11T02:53:23+00:00

SMS received after crossing the border. Internet will be off on the foreign SIM but for accessing the activation page. in screenshots (1st SMS was end March...

Jabod

kozmikpetukh Am I in EBS already if they were taken at the border? I've already done that.

Probably not. The data you submitted at the border might have been submitted to the EBS system, but I don't think it is sufficient for Gosuslugi registration. For one thing, the biometric data is different. At the airport they take your photo and fingerprints, while the EBS takes photos and collects a voice recording. This can be done through any bank.

kozmikpetukh Does the passport need to be translated/notarized within Russia?

It needs to be done by a notary who is officially accredited in Russia, which usually means physically within Russia. I think the only acceptable alternative might be to use the notary service at a Russian Consulate. The standard and probably cheapest way to do this is through a translation agency in Russia that has an attached notary.

kozmikpetukh

Jabod This seems hard to get done during the first 24 hours, if I have to wait til I get there to even make the translated/notarized passport. Guess I'll have to prepare to be offline for a while.

I'll see where I can get with the T-bank app though.

Jabod

Jabod I got as far as receiving the verification email from Gosuslugi but then there was no way to open the link that they had sent because no Gosuslugi site will open in my country (the UK). This is true in general for Russian government websites. I have never quite understood who is blocking these sites.

I looked into this. Apparenty, it is the Russian government itself that is blocking access to most of its websites from outside Russia (or maybe from "unfriendly states"?). This is intended to prevent cyberattacks.

Until recently, one could get round this restriction by using a VPN with a server in Russia, but this doesn't work anymore. That is probably because the Russian internet regulator has recently launched an aggressive crackdown on VPNs.

Jabod What's more, you have to pay a monthly subscription for a Yandex account while a mail.ru one is absolutely free.

Apparently, it is still possible to get a free Yandex account, though by no means easy to find the right webpage (Google "Yandex email" etc and you are taken to subscription options.) Either way, I have found it impossible to progress: the SMS messages required for verification didn't arrive, and when I tried to verify through email instead, I repeatedly got an error message. In contrast, a mail.ru email was easy to set up.

Jabod

kozmikpetukh You can email a scan of the passport pages to the translation bureau before you travel and then pick up the notarized translation on the day of your arrival. This is what I am planning to do in a few days' time.

Jabod

Jabod You can email a scan of the passport pages to the translation bureau before you travel and then pick up the notarized translation on the day of your arrival. This is what I am planning to do in a few days' time.

So, I have submitted the translation request today and the transalation will be ready for me to pick up on my first day in Moscow next week.

I think most of these translation agencies promise a one-day turnaround so you should be fine as long as you get in touch a few days before you arrive. My translation plus notarization cost 1500 roubles, which seems like a good deal.

One WORD OF WARNING. I submitted my initial request by email (Outlook), but got no reply. So I then resubmitted the request through a form on their website, and this time included my Telegram address as well as my email. The translation bureau then wrote to my Telegram address, saying they had been unable to contact me by email.

So I am discovering that my Outlook email is pretty much useless for correspondence with Russia. It is vital to set up an email address that will work in Russia.

And it is also very useful to have a Telegram address. This was the method the agency eventually used to get in touch with me and confirm the order. In general, it is a default communication method for many Russian businesses. So a good job that I recently set up a Telegram account..

kozmikpetukh

Jabod My translation plus notarization cost 1500 roubles

About 20 bucks, reasonable. Payable on pickup?

Jabod

kozmikpetukh I paid for mine in advance, which I think is typical. So the challenge for someone not yet in Russia is either to find ways of funding a Russian bank card prior to travel, or else to find a translation agency that accepts international payments (i.e. they have created a foreign bank account for this purpose, like those agencies that provide visa invitations).

As far as option 1 is concerned, personally I used a virtual YooMoney card which I had funded from an old Russian bank account, but Irena's guide to setting up a YooMoney card includes a description of how she was able to fund hers from outside Russia. https://russiable.com/get-russian-bank-card/

Option 2 is simpler: find a Russian translation agency that accepts international payment methods. There are certainly some, e.g. this one (note that although it is called SPB translations it says it has an office in Moscow - though it doesn't say where). https://spbtranslations.com/documents/passport

kozmikpetukh

Jabod it says it has an office in Moscow - though it doesn't say where

that's what I'm a bit concerned about - I watch Russian news regularly and they usually have a story about con artists.

Thanks for the tip on getting a MIR card

antoniob

kozmikpetukh that's what I'm a bit concerned about - I watch Russian news regularly and they usually have a story about con artists.

i made a thread last year after I registered on Gosuslugi, documenting the notarized translation process first. You deal with a translation service. The person I communicated with, answered my information request telling among other things that a scanned copy would be emailed
I arranged for the document to be send to a pick-up location of a main courier service (SDEK) at the first city from the border I was crossing through (it was at the time Kaliningrad from Gdansk).
When i picked it, sender's address was a person name company, "individual entrepreneur". ie self-employed registered entity ie. freelancer,
The website of the service has indeed no physical address and is probably one of several website anchors in different languages, for several freelancers. There may be or not be a brick and mortar office for pick-up, or just meeting in town.
(https://forum.russiable.com/d/5461-snils-gosuslugi-profile-ebs-biometric-registration-for-sim-bank-etc/ )

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