Help! Russian visa registration fine. | Russia - Lonely Planet Forum

ONLINE

Sat, 29 Aug 2015 10:20:03 +0000

Hi,

I'm in desperate need of some personal input here. I arrived in Russia in early July and promptly registered my visa. Until now I have been travelling around (camping/trekking in remote areas of Tuva) and never staying in any place longer than 7 days. My visa company is GoToRussia (U.S. passport, 3 year multiple entry 180 day at a time tourist visa) and I explained my travel plans and they said it was okay and that I am registered to stay in Russia for 180 days and register once.

I've come to Kyzyl now and I'm staying with a local family. By law it's necessary to register any foreigners at a private apartment/homestay. That's fair enough. However when I went to the post office to register my stay at their address, it was fully processed, but I was told that I may face the standard 2000-5000RUB fine for supposed 'failure to register my visa'. Firstly I didn't fail to register my visa, I did so upon first arriving in Moscow. All I have is an explainable 'gap' in my registration (because I've been out in the boonies all around Tuva). Nevertheless, thanks to bureacracy I may have to pay the fine. I will find out on September 1st when I go to the administration office.

What I'm seriously concerned about is this 'two strikes' and your out policy that I've been hearing has been recently implemented. Basically, if I get 'officially fined' for my gap in registration (i.e. details recorded and receipt given) and something like this happens once more in the future, then I could be blacklisted and banned from applying for visas for 5 years or even deported...

Is this true? What can I do to remedy the situation? Has anybody heard of this happening recently to people, if so what happened? I heard of a couple people getting bit in the ass for similar reasons in Tuva recently. Can I pay more to avoid my details being officially recorded?

Any information/input/advice/rumours would be seriously good to hear. The situation is pretty depressing if I do get officially fined as it seriously affects me having any future in Russia...

Thanks,

Matt

Edited by matthewtraver

ONLINE

Sat, 29 Aug 2015 18:07:02 +0000

No factual information but I'd suggest contacting the place you got your visa and see what they advise. They may know of someone in Russia who might be better able to plead your case...semi-official representation could demonstrate that you take the matter seriously...showing respect for the situation...
maybe this forum might have info...
http://forum.realrussia.co.uk/forum/category-view.asp
good luck

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ONLINE

Sun, 30 Aug 2015 09:31:11 +0000

#1 ia absolutely right. If, when you applied for visa you have submitted your travel schedule and have a copy that might be helpful.

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ONLINE

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:29:27 +0000

I've made more than ten trips to Russia and only twice bothered to register. I've never been called up on it. If you stay in a hotel, you are supposedly registered but get no registration chit as per the old days, so how anyone can tell if ou're registered or not is not clear. I was in Russia for six weeks earlier this year and it never even crossed my mind to register. I would relax, unless the law is somehow different for Americans?

EurasiaOverland: a memoir of a 2,058-day, 252,151-kilometre road journey through all of the Former USSR, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Mongolia

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ONLINE

Fri, 11 Sep 2015 07:01:50 +0000

Thanks for the further input guys.

Fortunately it ended up okay. The administration office just asked me where I was on a particular date (to ensure I was in the 7 day threshold) and said that all was okay and to make sure that if you stay anywhere longer than 7 days you need to register.

Eurasiaoverland - interesting to hear that you've never registered - I've heard of people doing the same with no problems. However, I've been checked once before, but this was probably because of the fact I was on a remote section of lake and the rangers wanted to fully verify me. I would guess if you're stopped away from roads/tracks in border zones/national parks/reserves you're probably more likely to have your registration checked. That's only my assumption though!

Cheers guys.

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Mon, 12 Sep 2016 01:00:28 +0000

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