A lot of ladies are coming from Ukraine, especially since the easing of entrance requirements for Americans (no visa required).

The other six have been to Russia and Ukraine, all saying it would take an awsome girl in Russia to get them to go back because of the frustrating visa process and the rediculous prices for hotels and resturants. I personally can't speak for Ukraine because I've never been there but they all say Ukraine is the place to go now.

This topic has been a regular conversation piece with several of my buddies and myself. At the present time I'm the only one out of seven of us that actually has a fiance in Russia and bounces back and forth over there about every three to four months.
The other six have been to Russia and Ukraine, all saying it would take an awsome girl in Russia to get them to go back because of the frustrating visa process and the rediculous prices for hotels and resturants. I personally can't speak for Ukraine because I've never been there but they all say Ukraine is the place to go now.
Only once in the last 12 months, on my flights to and from Russia, was there an American man going to visit a girl...most were younger couples going for adoption, the rest was a plane full of Russians.
My fiance has two close friends that at one time were wanting to marry and relocate to America, now they don't because of the increase in their salaries, the economy is impproving in their city, and they always had problems with the guys making promises and not keeping those promises. Thye're both gorgeous girls but are giving-up because of all the broken promises.
They told me on my last visit that they know what they have there, they know that things are beginning to stabilize more in their personal lives there and they aren't sure of the risk anymore in marrying a foreign man and relocating and leaving their familes behind.
It seems everytime I fly to be with my fiance and future little daughter things get more difficult with the process of visiting Russia, the increase in prices, and a few times the frustrations of getting out of SVO2 to fly back home.
I'm flying back in May for 12 days to finish-up the paperwork on the adoption of my future little daugher .
This time I'll be going on a tourist visa, not a Homestay, and gotorussia.com tells me I will have to register my visa at the post office in their city because I will not be in Moscow on a business day to register with their office in Moscow.
My fiance asked her post office about it and they had no idea of any of this but told her they will try to find out what to do before I get there..wow ! another exciting trip to Russia with unknowns waiting on me!
I"ll give a report when I return home, if I'm allowed to leave Russia,
I'll also file the I-129f when I return this time.

bruc

bruc, you should be able to go your whole trip without even registering your visa. Nobody will check it, and when you leave, if there's a problem, all you have to do is call gtr and they'll sort it out for you. There shouldn't be a problem though, when you register your visa, all they do is give you a little piece of paper that says you're registered. The airport guys could care less if you've registered or not, they just want to see that you're still within your valid window. Registration now is basically just a relic from the Soviet era that only serves to ease the money from your pockets when militsa stop you and a way for tourist companies and hotels to get you for an extra $20 or whatever. In reality, there is no real federal level "registration" check done. (At least not when I was there, and from what I've heard from everyone else, there's never been a problem with it at the gates.) It seems like it's a local thing.

I have a feeling the only reason the Russian economy is growing faster than the Ukrainian one is one thing, oil. Without that I think Russia would be hurting.

But the fact is that you can be busted for it, so why take a chance over a few bucks? Hell, compared to the cost of a plane ticket, it's nothing.

I talked to my fiance today. She had been to the post office in her city earlier to find out about my registration since I won't be in Moscow on a business day to register with GTR until we return from her city 10 days later.
The post office told her on the first visit that they had no idea about the new registration process but they would try to find out something about it.
She went back to her post office yesterday and they told her they couldn't find out anything about me being able to register at her post office.
OVIR says they don't do it anymore.
This is getting exciting so I'm off to call GTR on the phone and yell

bruc

As noted in another thread new laws in Russia regarding Visa Registration process became effective Jan. 15, 2007.

Looks like they are trying to simplify things but in Russia this may only mean it will be more confusing and/or cost more money!

http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=...;story_id=20270

But the fact is that you can be busted for it, so why take a chance over a few bucks? Hell, compared to the cost of a plane ticket, it's nothing.

I talked to my fiance today. She had been to the post office in her city earlier to find out about my registration since I won't be in Moscow on a business day to register with GTR until we return from her city 10 days later.
The post office told her on the first visit that they had no idea about the new registration process but they would try to find out something about it.
She went back to her post office yesterday and they told her they couldn't find out anything about me being able to register at her post office.
OVIR says they don't do it anymore.
This is getting exciting so I'm off to call GTR on the phone and yell

bruc

... so he won't be able to register through GTR or any OVIR office there. ...

I still think you should be able to drop your stuff off at the GTR office (even if they're closed) and they'll have a "stamp" for you when you leave. ...

Obligatory Personal Registration

The Federal law of the Russian Federation dated 18.07.2006 No. 109-FZ "On the immigration record of foreign nationals and stateless persons in the Russian Federation" (hereinafter referred to as "Law No. 109-FZ") as of 15.01.2007 has established the following new registration rules at the place of stay for the Temporarily staying persons.

The Temporarily staying person, pursuant to common rule, is obliged to be registered / de-registered at their place of stay within 3 business days of arrival on the territory of the Russian Federation (subclause 2 clause 2 art. 20 of the Law No. 109-FZ) as described below (art. 22-23 of the Law No. 109-FZ).

The Temporarily staying person (having arrived in the Russian Federation and within 3 business days of arrival to the place of stay):

1. Provides the host party a document identifying his/her identity and acknowledged by the Russian Federation as such (passport), as well as the Russian "Migration Card" (copies of documents should be made since the withdrawal of original documents by the host party is not allowed - cl. 5 art. 22 of the Law No. 109-FZ);

2. The host party sends notification of his/her arrival to the place of stay (hereinafter referred to as the "Notification") to the corresponding immigration authority of the Russian Federation. The Temporarily staying person receives the detachable part of the Notification (with the remarks of the host party and of the corresponding immigration authority);

3. Before their departure from the place of stay the Temporarily staying person must return to the host party, the detachable part of the Notification (showing the departure date from the Russian Federation), which he/she had earlier received from the host party.

Law No. 109-FZ has also introduced the definition of the "host party", i.e.: "a citizen of the Russian Federation, permanently residing in the Russian Federation foreign national or stateless person, legal entity, branch or representative office of the legal entity, federal body of the state power, state power authority of subject of the Russian Federation, local authority, diplomatic representation or consulate authority of a foreign state in the Russian Federation, international company or its representative office in the Russian Federation or representative office of a foreign state associated with an international company located in the Russian Federation, where the foreign national or stateless person actually resides (stays) or in which the foreign national or stateless person works".
The Host party:

1. Sends the Notification to the corresponding immigration authority and receives the corresponding remarks of the immigration authority on the Notification, which acts as proof that the host party and the Temporarily staying person have complied with the legislation;

2. Transfers the detachable part of Notification to the Temporarily staying person;

3. Before their departure from the place of stay the Temporarily staying person must receive the detachable part of the Notification (with indication of the departure date from the Russian Federation),

4. Sends the detachable part of the Notification to the corresponding immigration authority not later than 2 days from the day the Temporarily staying person departs from the place of stay. These actions show that the host party has complied with the legislation.

In essence the above mentioned Notification substitutes the "Consent of landlord (owner of the residential premise) to registration of foreign national", which until 15.01.2007 was used for the registration of Temporarily staying persons in the Russian Federation.

We would also like to draw your special attention to the following essential issues:

If the Temporarily staying person stays at a hotel the responsibility for his/her immigration registration rests with the administration of this hotel.

The re-registering of the Temporarily staying persons at the place of stay needs to be performed at each change of the place of stay (at each new entry into the Russian Federation or any new point of the place of stay). According to the preliminary information obtained by our Company in the Department of the Federal Migration Service of Russia for Moscow this procedure of the re-registering at the place of stay may not be necessary if the period of absence of the Temporarily staying person in the earlier declared place of stay is not for more than 3 business days.

Since Law No. 109-FZ came into effect the place of stay will no longer be marked in the passports and Russian "Migration Cards" of the Temporarily staying persons.

Law No. 109-FZ declares that as of 15.01.2007 there exists the possibility to receive the confirmation of the federal post authority of the Russian Federation on the detachable part of the Notification and which when done will be considered as confirmation that the host party and the Temporarily staying person performed the actions necessary for registering at the place of stay (point а subclause 2 cl. 2 art. 22 of the Law No. 109-FZ). However, for unknown reasons at the present time this provision of the Law is not being fulfilled and it is unclear when this situation will be resolved.

This should clear it all up....

Found this (the text of the new law?) on http://www.vfbs.ru/migration.htm

David

MIGRATIOIN ACCOUNTING AND REGISTRATION
AT THE PLACE OF STAY

Question: What is “migration accounting” and what is its purpose?
What is the procedure of implementing the migration accounting?

Answer: On January 15, 2007, the Federal Law No. 109-FZ dated July 18, 2006, “On Migration Accounting of Foreign Citizens and Persons without Citizenship in the Russian Federation” comes into force.
In accordance with Article 2 of the Federal Law migration accounting of foreign citizens and persons without citizenship is the activity on recording and generalizing the data of foreign citizens and persons without citizenship and of the movement of foreign citizens and persons without citizenship stipulated by the Federal Law.
The migration accounting is implemented with the purposes as follows:
- creating necessary conditions that citizens of the Russian Federation could exercise their rights and freedoms, as well as execute their duties assigned to them;
- development and implementation of state policy in the field of migration;
- forming full, accurate, operational and topical information of the movements of foreign citizens required for forecasting the consequences of said movements, and also for carrying out state statistical observations in the field of migration;
- planning of development of Russian Federation territories;
- management in conditions of crisis situations;
- protection of the fundamentals of the constitutional system, morality, health, rights and lawful interests of citizens living in the Russian Federation, and also with the purpose of ensuring the national security and public security of the Russian Federation by way of counteracting illegal migration and other unlawful manifestations;
- systemizing the data of foreign citizens staying in the Russian Federation (including their personal data) and of the flows of foreign citizens;
- solution of other social-economic and social-political tasks.
A ground for migration registration is the following:
1) the fact of entry of a citizen to the Russian Federation;
2) the fact of registration of birth of a foreign citizen or another person who, as of the moment of birth, does not obtain citizenship of the Russian Federation;
3) the fact of loss of citizenship of the Russian Federation by a person staying in the Russian Federation.
Ground for withdrawal from registration includes the following:
1) the fact of exit of a foreign citizen from the Russian Federation;
2) the fact of death of a foreign citizen in the Russian Federation;
3) entry into legal force of a court decision of admitting a foreign citizen staying in the Russian Federation a missing person or of admitting him decedent;
4) the fact of acquiring the citizenship of the Russian Federation by a foreign citizen staying in the Russian Federation;
Withdrawal of a foreign citizen or a person without citizenship from registration at the place of his stay shall be implemented by a migration registration body after an accepting party receives a tear-off portion of a form of notification of this person arrival at the place of stay with the date of his departure from the place of arrival indicated on this form portion. The tear-off portion of the notification form of arrival at the place of stay shall be sent by the accepting party to a corresponding body of migration registration not later than 2 days after this person departure from the place of stay.
When executing migration registering, the following data of a foreign citizen are to be collected, fixed, generalized and used:
1) kind and particulars of a document certifying the identity and admitted by the Russian Federation in this quality (name, series, number, date and place of issue, validity period and, if available – biometrical data contained in the said document);
2) kind and particulars of a document confirming the right to stay (live) in the Russian Federation;
3) surname, name, patronymic (if the latter is available);
4) date and place of birth;
5) sex;
6) citizenship;
7) purpose of entry to the Russian Federation;
8) profession;
9) declared period of stay (residence) in the Russian Federation;
10) date of registration at the recent place of residence and its address, dates of registration and withdrawal from registration at the previous places of residence and their addresses;
11) date of registration at the recent place of stay and its address, dates of registering and withdrawal from registration at the previous places of stay and their addresses;
12) data of legal representatives (parents, adoptive persons, trustees, tutors);
13) data of deportation or of administrative exclusion outside the borders of the Russian Federation (applied or not, if yes - when and by who);
14) data of decision-taking of undesirableness of stay (residence) in the Russian Federation (applied or not; if yes – when and by who);
15) data on instituting criminal proceedings or bringing to administrative responsibility or to responsibility for committing tax infringements;
16) date and place of death in the Russian Federation or the date of entering into legal force of a court decision of admitting a missing person or decedent, name and place of the said court;
17) grounds for registering and withdrawal from registration.

Question: Registration at the place of stay:
- what is the legal standard of registration at the place of stay?
- what is the procedure at the place of stay for foreign citizens?

Answer: There are two legal institutions to be differentiated: registration of citizens
of Russian Federation at the place of stay and registration of foreign citizens and persons without citizenship at the place of stay in the Russian Federation.
Questions of accounting of foreign citizens or persons without citizenship at the place of
stay and their registration at the place of residence are regulated by the standards of Federal Law “On Migration Accounting of Foreign Citizens and Persons without Citizenship in the Russian Federation”, which was already mentions above (hereinafter referred to as the Federal Law). In this certain case accounting and registration are components of the institution of migration accounting, its essence consists in ensuring and implementing the guarantees of observance of right of everyone staying legally in the territory of the Russian Federation to free movement, choice of the place of stay and residence within the borders of the Russian Federation and other rights and freedoms of person established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, and also implementation of national interests of the Russian Federation in the field of migration (enacting clause of the Federal Law).
A principal legislative innovation is featured by notification nature of migration accounting. At the same time in Part 2 of Article 5 a legislator has established an exhaustive list of reasons, at which registration at the place of residence and accounting at the place of stay of foreign citizens may feature an administrative nature, namely:
1) in a border zone;
2) in restricted administrative-territorial formations;
3) in military communities with restricted access;
4) on territories, in organizations or at objects which require a special entry permit for foreign citizens in accordance with the Federal Law;
5) on a territory on which state of emergency or martial law is declared in compliance with a decree of the President of the Russian Federation;
6) on zones of environmental disasters;
7) on individual territories and in populated areas, where, due to the danger of spread of infection and mass noninfectious diseases and people mass poisoning special conditions and regimes of population living and economic activity are introduced;
8) in areas of antiterrorist operations conducted;
9) in a period of mobilization and in wartime;
10) in other cases established by federal laws.
Let us fix upon terms “accounting at the place of stay” and “registration at the place of residence” applicable to a foreign citizen or person without citizenship.
In compliance with the requirements of item 5, part 1 of Article 2 of the Federal Law accounting of a foreign citizen or a person without citizenship at the place of stay is the fixation (by authorized bodies) in an established procedure of the data on such person location at the place of stay. In a similar way, registration at the place of residence is the fixation (by authorities of migration accounting) of the data on the place of residence of a foreign citizen or person without citizenship.
In this case a place of residence shall be interpreted as a dwelling space, at which address the foreign citizen or a person without citizenship is registered in an established procedure. And the place of stay shall be interpreted as a dwelling space, which is not a place of residence, and also another room, office or organization, in which the foreign citizen or person without citizenship is staying and (or) at whose address the foreign citizen or person without citizenship should be registered at the place of stay.
Article 7 of the Federal Law established categories of foreign citizens and persons without citizenship subject to registration at the place of residence and to accounting at the place of stay. Those foreign citizens who live in the Russian Federation permanently or temporarily, shall be subject both to registration at the place of residence and to accounting at the place of stay. Those foreign citizens, who live permanently in the Russian Federation, shall be subject only to accounting at the place stay.
Status of foreigners, who serve sentence or carry administrative punishment, is determined separately. Such persons are subject to accounting at the place of stay in an establishment, where they serve a corresponding punishment in a procedure established by the Government of the Russian Federation (presently the development of a corresponding draft is underway).
In accordance with an order established by the Federal Law subject to accounting at the place of stay are:
- a foreign citizen or a person without citizenship living permanently in the Russian Federation – on expiry of 7 working days from the day of his arrival except for cases, when the said foreign citizen:
a) has no dwelling space;
b.) is staying in a hotel or in another establishment rendering hotel services, in a sanatorium, resthouse, vacation hotel, camping, in a youth hostel, in a children’s health camp, hospital or in another health or social service establishment;
c) implements labor activity in conditions of job-sharing method;
d) is placed into a special establishment for social rehabilitation of persons without permanent dwelling;
e) is placed into an establishment of criminal or administrative punishment;
- foreign citizen or person without citizenship permanently living or permanently staying in the Russian Federation – on expiry of 3 working days from arrival to a place of stay except for cases when the said foreign citizen:
a) is staying in a hotel or in another establishment rendering hotel services, in a sanatorium, resthouse, vacation hotel, camping, in a youth hostel, in a children’s health camp, hospital or in another health or social service establishment;
b.) is placed into a special establishment for social rehabilitation of persons without permanent dwelling;
c) is placed into an establishment of criminal or administrative punishment.
At the same time for a number of categories of foreign workers an exception is made, and they are not subject to accounting at the place of stay. This relates to:
- heads of foreign states, heads of the governments of foreign states, members of parliamentary and governmental delegations of foreign states, heads of international organizations, who arrive to the Russian Federation on invitation of a federal body of state power or state power body of a subject of the Russian Federation, and also members of the families of the said persons arriving together with them;
- sailors, who are members of warship’s crews and arrived in the Russian Federation on an official or non-official visit or by a business call, or members of military aircraft of foreign states (except for cases of forced stay or another kind of stay of said foreign citizens in the territory of the Russian Federation for a period more than 3 days outside their main crew compositions);
- sailors, who are members of non-military ships of foreign states, if they come ashore and temporarily stay on the territory (not over 24 h) of a port of the Russian Federation or in case these persons make circular tours to populated area for a period not over 24 h;
- crew members of civil aviation aircraft, train personnel or personnel of other transport facilities participating in international movements, if these persons stay in the territory of the Russian Federation in airports and railway stations stipulated by time-tables (schedules) of these transport facilities;
- other foreign citizens who arrive to the Russian Federation for a period not over 3 days except for cases of their stay in a hotel or in another establishments rendering hotel services, in a sanatorium, resthouse, vacation hotel, camping, in a youth hostel, in a children’s health camp, hospital or in another health or social service establishment.
In compliance with Article 21 of the Federal Law a reason for accounting at the place of stay is ac temporary actual sojourn of a foreign citizen or a person without citizenship in a place which is not his place of residence, or this person has no place of residence.
Registration of foreign citizens or persons without citizenship directly at the place of stay is implemented, when a migration accounting authority (as a rule a corresponding territorial body of the FMS of Russia) receives notifications of their arrival at the place of stay.
To carry out registration at the place of stay:
a foreign citizen or a person without citizenship:
- on arriving at the place of stay shall present to the receiving party a document proving his identity, which should be acknowledged by the Russian Federation as valid for this purpose, and also a migration card;
- after the receiving party sends a notification of his arrival at the place of stay he shall receive from it (the inviting party) a tear-off portion of the form of the said notification.
the receiving party:
- shall submit the notification of arrival of the foreign citizen (person without citizenship) at the place of stay to a migration accounting body directly or by mail;
- shall transfer to the foreign citizen (person without citizenship) a tear-off portion of the form of the notification of arrival to the place of stay.
Providing justifiable reasons (certified documentarily), which prevent the receiving part to send independently a notification of arrival of the foreign citizen (person without citizenship) to the migration accounting body the said notification should be accepted by the migration accounting body directly from said foreign citizen.
A foreign citizen or person without citizenship living permanently in the Russian Federation shall be entitled, by a written consent of the receiving party, to notify a corresponding migration accounting body about his arrival to the place of stay either directly or by mail.
Receipt of a notification of arrival of a foreign citizen or a person without citizenship to the place of stay by a migration accounting body and by a federal mail service organization shall be carried out by a person submitting such notification solely on presentation of a document certifying his identity and acknowledged by the Russian Federation as valid for this purpose.
An entry in the tear-off portion of the notification form made by a migration accounting body or federal mail service organization shall be regarded as a confirmation of actions executed by the receiving party and the foreign citizen or person without citizenship required for registration at the place of stay.

I found some copies of the new registration forms:

What was OVIR is now UFMS (Department of the Federal Migration Service).

...

After some further reading... The Host (inviting party) goes to the local police station with your passport & migration card (within 3 business days, with or without you but must have your passport & migration card) and fills out the above forms, gives part of it to you and then when you leave Russia your Host returns another portion (within 2 business days!) showing that you have left. Actually this does sound a little more simple and the police station will most likely be open more than OVIR was. The post office is supposed to be able to stamp these forms as well but apparently (outside of Moscow) they know nothing about it!

David

Well, unless one of you guys goes and returns before I do the first of May, then when I get home on the 15th I'll tell you all about it

Got my plane tickets, got my visa, got an aparment in Moscow rented, fiance got our train tickets in hand, got our transfers set...hallalulah! I'll be seeng my girls in a few more weeks !!!...all donations accepted for this po white trash redneck hilliblly
bruc

It seems to me that even in the last two years that I have been involved in this international dating thing that fewer Russian ladies are emigrating to the US (or anywhere else) I can't put my finger on it, but it just seems to be true. Am I just imagining this? What does anybody else think?...

... Too many jerky men are going abroad and mistreating these girls. ...

I think alot of them are going to Europe and working... also I amsohappy to see an american man with a woman his own age that seems like a real relationship.. Too many jerky men are going abroad and mistreating these girls. Its nice to see you have a real relationship

Thank you for your nice comments. But I have to say that while it is true that there are men going abroad looking for companionship for all the wrong reasons, I think it is also true that the vast majority of men, young or old, are looking abroad for companionship for all the right reasons. For you to come onto this public forum and write what you wrote does a huge disservice the these couples.

For you to come onto this public forum and write what you wrote does a huge disservice the these couples.

I have seen 60 year olds with 20 year olds here in Orlando.. thats all i was saying

The irony of this, is that over in the MENA (Middle East North Africa) forum, the exact opposite stereotype is occurring. Older women bringing over young men and to add to the fun, from countries our nation has labeled as "terrorist alert". But then again we have enough issues here in the Russian forum to go running over there to poke some fun.

The irony of this, is that over in the MENA (Middle East North Africa) forum, the exact opposite stereotype is occurring. Older women bringing over young men and to add to the fun, from countries our nation has labeled as "terrorist alert". But then again we have enough issues here in the Russian forum to go running over there to poke some fun.

To each their own.... agreed.

That's why I'm wondering how it is that these American women with fiances from Canada and the UK come onto our thread and throw popcorn at us for having "younger, more attractive wives" when there plenty of women over in the MENA forum with "younger, more attractive husbands" yet no popcorn is spilling over into that thread.

Hmmmmmmm???