visa support

Migration Rules

How to register a Russian visa in accordance with Russian visa registration laws

Every foreigner who comes to Russia should have his/her Russian visa registered within 72 hours upon arrival, excluding holidays and weekends. Before it is 72 hours after your arrival, your tickets (train, bus, plane tickets) with the date of your arrival to Arkhangelsk are needed.

What is a Registration?

In Russia it is obligatory procedure. All foreign guests in Russia should be registered in the International Register of Federal Migration Service. The purpose of the registration is to notify the immigration authorities about the place of your stay while you're in Russia. You would think that the Migration Card,  which you fill out on the plane before you arrived to Russia would suffice, but no, the registration is a totally different thing and should be done separately.

But please keep carefully, don’t loose or throw away your Migration card, it is very important document that is need for registration. Please keep it carefully in your passport. If you’ll unfortunately loose it you should apply to migration authorities for duplicate. It is necessary to get a stamp on the clean side of it that proves official registration in Russia. One more confirmation of the official registration in Russia is a stamp on the registration form

Officially, it's not your obligation to register your visa, it should be done by the accommodating party. However, if you don't register your visa, you may be fined as well as deported (although the latter is very unlikely) and denied from entering Russia again (maximum 5 years).

Where and How to Register Your Russian Visa.

Since January 2011 there is no necessity to pay custom fee 2 rubles a day for staying in Russia.

If you're staying at a hotel:

If you are staying at a hotel, the hotel must register your visa (according to the Federal Law № 115-FZ, article 24). The hotel administration will ask you for your Russian visa, passport, and migration card (which was given to you at the Russian border). A small registration fee can be imposed and normally it takes from a few minutes to a day to have your visa registered.

If you're staying at NArFU hostel, you should come to visa support and registration office NArFU, North Dvina Emb.,17, office 1326 a in the nearest suitable time for you. Please bring your passport, migration card and tickets to Archangelsk. You or your hosts simply leave there a passport and migration card for 1 day and then get it back with necessary stamples.

If you're staying with friends or renting an apartment:

According to the new rules any Russian citizen with "propiska" (registration) can register a foreigner at his/her apartment at a local Administration of Federal Migration service or central post office. If you live in the family of NArFU staff please tell your hosts to contact Visa Support and Registration office NArFU: North Dvina Emb.,17, office 1326. It is necessary to make a “double registration” - registration from the side of hosts and official organization (the university). Your hosts may also get a consultation about the required documents by phone: 8 8182 21 89 27and ask for Natalia Yuzhanina.

What if You Don't Register Your Visa?

I wouldn't bother writing all that if it was ok not to register your visa. But it's not. You might have problems with the police (if they stop you to check your passport).

The fines that you might pay (about $100 US) in both cases are higher than the registration fee and the procedure of making protocol is really unpleasant. In the worst case, you may even be deported from Russia. If you were deported, you wouldn't been able to enter Russia for 5 years after the deportation.

So, we strongly recommend you to register your visa in 72 hours (only working days count) upon arrival.

In order to escape any problems with registration, please contact visa support and registration office NArFU, North Dvina Emb.,17, office 1326 a, we’ll help to solve them.

Also, one important thing to know is that because it's the responsibility of the accommodating party to register your visa, they will get in even more trouble than you would because of not registering your visa. If it's a hotel, they won't only be fined, but may lose their license. If it's a host, they will be fined too and in case they're renting an apartment they might also be prosecuted for tax evasion or something like this. So it's in their interests to register your visa and avoid any problems with authorities.

As a result of successful registration you’ll get a stamp on the back of your migration card with dates of the period of your registration in Russia and a cutting part of your registration form also with the same stamp. These two papers will be checked on the border of Russia. Please keep your migration card and a special piece of paper with a stamp that confirms your registration has been submitted.

The organization and your hosts should inform local migration service about the date of your departure. Your accommodation party is in charge of it.

You are welcome to visa support and registration office Department of the International cooperation NArFU. We will answer all your questions and help with registration. You or your hosts may call to the Head of visa support and registration office Natalia Yuzhanina: +7 8182 21 89 27. Please have with you passport, migration card and tickets. If you live in the host family, hosts should register you. The information for them is available in Russian at our website.