I have a question about my upcoming trip, I will be staying one night in Kaliningrad and then 4 in Saint Petersburg and then 10 days in Moscow.
I already have an accommodation booked for Saint Petersburg, But they just emailed me letting me know that they do not do registration. Can I book something like a Hostel nearby and just check in as a way to be registered and then stay at this other accommodation?
Also, when I go to Moscow I want to stay at a friends place. They are the owner of the apartment but is it ok that I am on a tourist visa? And how can they register me, do we need to go to the post office, OVIR, or can they do it online from gosuslugi?
You can ring around and try and find a hostel to register you, it just takes time to travel there and back etc and of course you’ll need to pay for the hostel stay time as well. (it is a bit strange to me a hotel wouldn’t do registration, unless its an apartment hotel sort of thing)
As for your staying with your friend, my understanding is they need to register you as you said, I’ve been told it can be done online with gosulugi, but I personally haven’t had experience with this matter. I guess if worse comes to worse you can go to the post office or just find another hostel
I think this may be the reason - traveling on a tourist visa is different than traveling on a private visa. While the are similar they are different and using tourist but actually following the rules of the private could very well lead the revoke of the tourist visa.
@NorseVictory I just confirmed with Irena, it’s completely fine to stay at a friends place on a tourist visa. My main purpose of travel is tourism anyway.
@NomadicHedgie Funny story relating to this. The girlfriend (Russian) and I were talking about my upcoming trip. I mentioned that I would need to get a hotel if the apartment owner will not register me. She was what is this registration?? You will be fine! You will stay with me!.. I’m thinking to myself - I’m not going to the Gulag and being trapped forcibly because you don’t want me to leave
Have just spent a few weeks travelling Russia (second visit). I still don’t fully understand the hotel registration thing. I stayed at a variety of accommodation types.
I stayed in some apartments and pretty sure they never registered.
One apartment owner even said he wouldn’t register, and if I wanted, I could go do it at the local hotel, even though I was not staying at said hotel.
I stayed in a couple of mini-hotels and they gave me a copy of the registration document.
One old soviet-style hotel was absolutely anal about the registration and freaked when my last place didn’t register.
I stayed at a couple of out back places that didn’t even have internet. For sure they are not registering.
What if I went hiking and camping? What if I stay with friends?
Is this just a hang over from Soviet beurocracy? My question is…does anyone check? It’s not like you need to produce documents when exiting Russia.
@MikeF I was in Russia for a month. First week I stayed at a hotel and they registered me, then I lived at my boyfriend’s flat for a rest of my trip. My boyfriend wanted me to register for his apartment, through Gosuslugi. We filled form everything correctly and the application said that we should wait 10 days for the result. So we waited, but even after 10 days there was no answer. So we went to the migration center in person. We even got to see a high-ranking person there, who told us not to worry. As a tourist, there will be no problems for me and the only one who could have a problem after that is the inviting party (the company that issued the invitation).
I don’t really recommend registering through gosuslugi… it does not work well, our application for registration wasn’t even found in their system. I probably wouldn’t bother and stress with registration again next time. No one asked me for it anywhere, not even when the police stopped our bus and checked everyone’s documents.
Registration by local immigration service is mandatory for foreigners. All fully licensed hotels do it at check-in. Some few hostels have not a hotel status and can’t do it and so will refuse foreigners. I had it once, in Susunam, 600km north of Magadan. Many so-called mini-hotels (ie. former kommunalka redone for hostelling) are still in the grey and don’t register don’t even care, take anyone.
Last october in Sankt Peterburg, in the middle of Vosstanya street, I had the case. Handed my passeport and the girl at reception “what for? You paid you get the room. That’s all”.
I have stood weeks in a row at rented flats where landlord didn’ want to bother.
What i have done always no matter what is get registered at the beginning of my stay. Get a room at some hotel and done. So you are recorded into the system.
Hikes and camping is exactly the case when registration is not possible.
Law has changed over the years. Until early 2010’s stamps were put on the back of the immigration card. This was phased out but it took time for it to be known everywhere.
In 2007 i did spend time in Ekaterinburg, Izhevsk and Kazan. Part at a contact, part rental without registration. Had a flight from Kazan. There were passport controls to the gate. The guy who checked my passport had a look at my immigration card and told me there were couple weeks with no stamps. I told him “i was in excursion, forest and lake, cabin”. He was ok with that. After, i used to book a hotel room for a night once in a week, just to play safer.
In 20 years, i never had any feedback nor remark nor question when reapplying for a visa.
When i stood with a friend who registered me, because he was curious how it was done, it was in 2006. Did it at post office. Went with him because my passport data. He got the forms and we did seat aside to fill them. He returned to the window to get a stamp then we went to a Sber he had to buy a small cheap administrative briefmark/stamp then back to post office, stamps glued on the form to be sent to OVIR/FMS, and he gave me the duplicated stamped form that was for me.
It has been greatly simplified since.
Excepted first travels i was on multi entries visas one to three years. In this case registration should be done by the inviting organization. In practice it doesn’t matter. Just get a hotel room in the first days and done.
Hello! Since the new law changes in September, does anyone know if the one night registration at a hotel is still acceptable. If so, can you still register for one night if you have been in the country longer than the 7 days?
A foreigner who violates the period of stay without registration may be subject to an administrative penalty – a fine. If the regulatory authorities find a violation, a citizen of another country will be fined from 2 to 5 thousand rubles. In addition, after this, a foreign citizen may be required to leave Russia. If a foreign citizen commits exactly the same offense in the federal city of Moscow or St. Petersburg, or in the Moscow or Leningrad region, the fine is significantly increased – from 5 to 7 thousand rubles.
It should be noted that not only a foreign citizen who violates the migration legislation can be fined, but the host party as well. If the host party is an individual – a citizen, he will be forced to pay from 2 to 5 thousand rubles of fine. The responsibility of the official will be from 35 to 50 thousand rubles. A legal entity that has committed a wrongdoing will have to pay from 400 to 500 thousand rubles.
Registration is a mandatory procedure for all foreign citizens, even if they enter the Russian Federation using a visa. To register, a foreign citizen needs to apply to the Ministry of internal Affairs and present the following set of documents:
identity card;
migration card;
notification of arrival;
visa – for those who entered on its basis.
Every time you move locations - you need to register. Unless the hotel is /was willing to keep the registration on file while you are in Russia. If you go from let’s say Moscow to Saint Petersburg, you would need to reregister in SPB. There is no one and done registration - especially if it involves traveling from city to city.
@NorseVictory Not one and done for sure. My pocket full of registration papers speaks to this. I often wonder if each hotel has access to a database showing my movement within Russia or if its just a information entry system. But nonetheless thanks for posting this information.
I am not sure. Most likely when they [hotel] registers you - if there is an issue the registration agency will inform the hotel. Anecdotal evidence: on another forum, person couldn’t register because the previous hotel did not cancel their registration at the old hotel.
@Jen1 Since the new law changes in September, does anyone know if the one night registration at a hotel is still acceptable. If so, can you still register for one night if you have been in the country longer than the 7 days?
yes. It is important to get registered but not critical for every day, at least for citizens from countries of in the category “low illegal immigration risk”.
In fact it was potentially more prone to troubles back before the 2010 to do so, because hotels did stamp the back of immigration card. If there was a hole in dates between two stamps, police could ask questions. I speak from experience, as once I spend three weeks, first in Murmansk at a friend but I booked a room in order to get registered, then 2d week I went to Arkhangelsk (at a contact), then to Kazan (at hotel) and Izhevsk (at friend). Back to Kazan in order to take a plane, at the airport, before heading to the gate, police was having a look at the passports. Such controls as still done here and there, also upon arrival before exit. So I was in the queue to the gate, and the agent asked why there were only few days with stamps on the migration card, in a three weeks period. Instantly I replied: I was doing excursion in the Khibiny mountains, and then in Urals. He nodded ok. Indeed how do you get registered when at a cabin in the taĂŻga?
Very reccently, I spend first half October in Vladimir region at hotels, then some days at a friend in SPb, and there no registration. For sure there is still no cross-checking database at the exit border. (I exited at Ivangorod).
That said, I am on Gosuslugi + EBS, ie. fully in administrative system and trackable, not a loose unchartered transient foreigner, but then no idea if it plays a role.
