Registration

Hi. I'm going to visit Russia with a touris visa and will stay in Russia11 days and intend to stay with local people.
I would like to know if I or my hosts have to make a registration or not.

If you have a tourist visa, then you will have to register your hotel. If the visa is private, the locals who invited you. I'm not doing its guests private invitations, it is not profitable. I buy a travel company invitation and register their guests at them. It is easier and faster. All under the law...

Thanks RealRussian for your comment! Indeed I got an invitation letter which stated that I'm going to stay in hotel in St. Petersburg but I'm not going there. I will stay in Moscow and around Golden Ring.

That's right! Just do not forget to register in the hotel. In Moscow decided where to stay and what will you watch?

Just do not forget to register in the hotel.

Why should the OP have to register in the hotel? These invitations are mostly fake (for travellers who don't know where they will stay), and no one ever goes to the hotel mentioned on the invitation as far as i know.

This is not a fake! This is a legitimate invitation on behalf of the travel company. A residence registration in Russia is easier to make them the same. You can live where and from whom you want, it's your right.

So I have to stay at least one night in a hotel or hostel which will make a registration for me or should I ask my hosts (couchsurfers) to do it?
They have to write anything in my passport or what that I avoid any problems at the custom?
I traveled so far 120 countries and Russian immigration egulations seams one of the most complicated...

No, it isn't obligatory for you to spend the night there. When crossing border, you fill in the migration card which part remains at you. On it give a mark. Everything simply and quickly.

@RealRussian: I mean it is ´fake´ in the sense that it is a legitimate invitation with which you can get your visa, but with a fake reservation on it (a place where you never have to stay).

Indeed the Russian rules can be pretty complicated Nikel :)

Exactly. You didn't like hotel, after all on the picture it was another and you have the right to leave from there. Such situation can be in each country, isn't it?
It is difficult to foreign citizen to understand the Russian rules sometimes. The Russian law sometimes can be "turned" in any party. And everything will be under the law! About it even there is a popular Russian saying ))

I think there is some bad advice in this thread. If you are staying 11 days you will need your host to register your visa. You can't do it yourself. The hotel will only register the visa for the duration of your stay with them. The simple fact is that you got the wrong type of visa for the visit. A Private Visa is the proper one, in with that type your actual host, a Russian citizen registered in the home you are invited to, can register your visa at either the Federal Migration Service or any post office. A legitimate Tourist visa is only available from a hotel or tour operator which is federally registered as as a foreign guest service. Planning from the start not to stay with your specified host means they have no right or obligation to register your visa and in fact is considered visa fraud if the issue is pushed.
There are other types of visas with different requirements but the Private Visa is the one you should have gotten. You might be able to bribe a hotel clerk to register the visa for 11 days but it is going to cost them out of pocket for the tax on the room for 11 days.
Depending on your nationality, other options could be available.

It is a common practice for 3rd parties outside Russia to re-sell visa support documents and consulates usually accept them but immigration officials have different views on them and their view is the only one that counts. The rules are pretty explicit about who can issue invitations in each class of Visa. The invitation obligates the issuer to certain responsibilities. If you get into trouble or need medical attention, the only one who can represent you to the authorities is your sponsor, the hotel that expected you to stay for 11 days.They are not going to help you if you are not their customer. With a Private Visa your friend, the Russian citizen is your host and sponsor and is the person who would register your visa.

Hi. Thanks for your extensive comment!
Indeed, as I remember, an agent who issued my invitation letter and I asked her about a visa registration told me that I do not need any registration if I'm not staying in one place for more then three or four nights...
I realy regret that I choosed Russia for my holidays.

This is the message I've got: "Yes, I'm exactly sure. If you'll stay in hotels - somethimes they provide a registration, but as a usual it's an extrapaid service. You can be sure, that if you stay less than 3 days in hotel you don't need to be registred."

Unfortunately the travel agent is not familiar with Russian immigration law. The law is the visa must be registered within 7 days of entry into Russia. The 3 day rule used to apply a number of years ago where you had to register as soon as you got in the country. The hotel HAS to register your visa if you are a guest in their hotel. There are hundreds of visa agents selling visa support documents and many have no clue about Russia or its laws. It is just a way to make some money for something that is usually free and a simple process. The process is not complicated at all until someone bends the rules. I have spent a lot of time in the last 14 years helping people in a bind because they went to 3rd parties for their information and ignored what was written on the consulate's web site. There is a lot of disinformation floating out on the web and it usually involves people who have never been here or where there is money to be made.
Russia is not hard to visit at all but all the problems started by trying to circumvent the rules. Doing that in most countries would get you deported and barred from reentry for 5 years. Book a hotel or tour, like most tourist do and it is all seamless, few even know about registration because their hotel does it automatically when checking in. Once you are in the country, there is a great deal of personal freedom and it can be a lot of fun which is why the ex-pat community has greatly increased in size in the last few years. A lot of people move here because there are many opportunities, it is fun and very social with a low stress lifestyle.

Even some larger companies have questionable advice and grasp of the laws. For example, I was in a hurry one time to renew a business visa when I was back in my home state of California so I ended up going to Travisa, a large visa company in the US with offices all over. I got the invitation and the visa was applied for. They called me and said there was a delay and I needed to pay an additional $250 to expedite it. That seemed fishy because visas are processed the same day received but were given out by the consulate on a date based on the processing fee. I had already paid the higher price of $450 for 3 day service. I got to Russia and a week or so later an immigration investigator came to me and wanted information. That was the beginning of a very expensive and frustrating series of hearings, hiring a lawyer and ended up paying several thousands dollars in fines because the visa issuer was a made up company that Travisa was selling invitations from. They said they were hunting for 3,000 people believed to be in the country on the same visas based on the same fictitious company. That was the last time I was tempted to use a 3rd party since real invitations are free usually. All totaled I was out $4000, was lied to every step of the way by the visa service and was restricted in movements for 6 weeks while the investigation and hearings proceeded. And that was with a lot of insider knowledge and having contacts in Russia. An unsuspecting tourist without 38 years of Russia/USSR experience would have really been up a creek and faced charges and at least deportation. If I had just done it properly and waited an extra couple of days to get the real invitation original, like each time in the past none of this would have happened. Of course every time I tried calling the Travisa office I used they hung up on me.
Americans have it easier now, a visa agreement between Obama and Medvedev the president at the time, allowed really simple visa applications and getting 3 year multiple entry visas. My next visa was a 3 year, one of the first issued and the invitation letter was simply my own letterhead inviting me to visit for 3 years. I had a registered company so was able to invite business visitors, in this case, me. The policy was so new that the consulate really was not sure of how to process it but a week later everything was cleared up and now it is the standard visa issued.
You will miss out on a great time if you let a little disinformation and frustration keep you from visiting. Besides, it is cheaper to visit Russia than ever with the ruble so weak.

I've got today from my invitation letter provider next message:
"As I told you - if you stay less then 3 nights in 1 hotel you don't need a registration. If you have tourist visa - the rules are the same. You can find some information on http://www.fmsmoscow.ru/, but the site is in russian. Or when you come to Moscow you may go to the Federal Migration Department and have a consultation"
Could you please comment? Unfortunately I do not understand Russian...

Can you ask the agent to give the page and paragraph number for the 3 day rule. The only text regarding registration relating to time is; 1, within 7 days of arrival the migration card is to be registered, and 2, when arriving at a hotel, camp, etc, the abode must register the arrival within 1 day.
That is what I wrote, the hotel automatically registers your arrival, and you must register within 7 days.

See: http://www.fmsmoscow.ru/docs/migration_registration/registration.html

Before 2009, you needed to register within 3 days, which most interpreted as 3 working days. To clear up the confusion it was changed to 7 calendar days.

If you stay in the country less than 7 days, registration is not required.

I'm reading now http://waytorussia.net/RussianVisa/Registration.html
"Author: Dimitry Paranyushkin (on 04 Feb 2015)
Every foreigner who comes to Russia should have his/her Russian visa registered within 7 working days upon arrival, excluding holidays and weekends. Before it is 7 days after your arrival, your tickets (train, bus, plane tickets) to the place you're in (e.g. Moscow) is the document, which can confirm how long you've been staying there.
If less than 7 working days have passed since you arrived in Russia (or in any Russian city) - excluding holidays and weekends - you have not broken any regulations and laws, so you don't even have to pay any fines."

As I arrive on the 1st of May (which is a holiday) and leave on the 11th of May (and 9th of May is also a holiday) I will be in Russia only 6 working days if I presume that Saturday is not a working day. So in this case I will not need to register at all. Isn't it??

But read the document published by the Federal Migration Service, it says 7 days, not 7 working days. The concept of working days is a little different here so it is normally not used to describe 9 days. I was 2 hours past 7 days and had to go to another office and plead my case since they the local office could not register my visa after 7 calendar days. I know you are confused so just read the actual document that has been in force for several years and ignore all letters from agents, web sites or forums, just read the official text.
I follow immigration law carefully since I am one of the few foreigners with federal registration with a MBT number so can issue my own invitations and do it frequently. It is not just internet gossip, I go by the published rules and laws and have no problems at all.

I would like to read it, but I do not understand Russian!

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