Entering Russia overland from Belarus

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drivingdutchman
drivingdutchman

Just wanted to share my experience travelling overland from Belarus to Russia. I travelled from Minsk to Moscow by train and didn't get any stamps when crossing the border, because there's no border control between Belarus and Russia. This means I didn't get an exit stamp on my Belarusian visa and no entry stamp on my Russian visa.

Turns out, this is not a problem (but I couldn't really find any definitive information about this on the web). When I exited Russia (over land) I just got an exit stamp on my Russian visa and got no questions asked. Do keep the immigration form that you got while entering Belarus, as they will stamp it and take it when exiting Russia.

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hlai7233
hlai7233

Very interesting experience. If I were you I would have worried all thru my time in Russia.

I once overstayed my Russian Visa for a few hours on board of an overnight bus from St Pete to Riga. The big Russian immigration officer, who is a woman, came on board and scolded me in front of the whole bus. Since I don't speak Russian, so it wasn't too bad either!!

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drivingdutchman
drivingdutchman

Yeah I was worried a little at first, but when I looked it up in the first few days in Russia I couldn't find any disaster stories so I thought I would be fine. This was sort-of confirmed when I was stopped by Russian police in Moscow and they inspected my passport without asking any questions regarding the missing stamp. I know police and immigration isn't the same, but I figured they would ask me stuff about it when there was something wrong and they didn't.

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arccmm
arccmm

I had no problem with my visa, entry card, neither did I overstay my visa.. but I was still freaking nervous when I left the country and I was expecting them to tell me something was wrong. Guess Russians have that impact on you, don't they.

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