Coming to America

[wissooner 0]

Slim-

On my third trip to Russia upon arriving at the airport and standing at passport control to leave I could not find my visa registration card. The officer was not going to check me out unless I produced it, which I could not. She had me step aside and talk to another officer. After given a chance to completely go through my carry-on bag, I found what I was looking for and they allowed me to check out and leave. The whole time I was was going through my bag two officers were standing over me talking and laughing all the while staring me down. I haven't a clue what they were saying to one another but I would have given up a week's pay to know...

[slim 1,514]

They were probably laughing about what you made in a week, and if they could extort you for it!

When I was there, and I've only been once, it seemed that they didn't give 2 $#!^s about it. So, maybe it's like the C/Os during the interview, "Today it's important. Tomorrow, it's not."

By all means, if you can register your visa, do it. If you can't, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I would, however, have an extra couple of dollars tucked inside my "papers" that I was sorting through trying to find it.

Just a quick thought with the trip outside of Moscow thing....... see if GTR or someone else will register you when you arrive. You can spend your entire trip without a registration stamp or card, then on your last day in Moscow, you could pick it up on the way to the airport. They probably could do that. That would ensure you're flying out with a legitimate stamp.

[akdiver 3]

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.

This is not true.

When flying from Kazan to Moscow, the guy in Kazan checked my registration (didn't have one), and the guy said we were going to have problems, but he let us go.

In Moscow, we were unable to check into a hotel because I had been in Russia for several weeks and had no registration and they would not check me in without one. Now maybe I could have gone to another hotel, but my wife had already paid for this one - so we ended up going to the police for the little piece of paper. The "fine" (bribe) was about $120 - and that was with my wife doing all the talking. Had it just been me, I'm sure it would have been more. I've been told that if you get to the airport and they bust you for it, you can expect to pay a LOT more. Bottom line is you will have to pay whatever they tell you to.

My advice: complete with registration laws. Why risk it for a few bucks?

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.

Well, duh.

[slim 1,514]

Mine was not checked by anyone while I was there.

Yours could be, or, it may not be. That's where the "fines" come in. It's one guy visually inspecting your piece of paper. You must convince him of the legality of your stay. The cost of that will be determined by him. As far as I know, there is no national database that says whether you're registered or not. And until that exists... you must only convince the guy checking your registration.

[akdiver 3]

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.

[bruc 0]

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

[dmhweb 0]

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

I posted about this a while back...

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

It does not surprise me at all that the left hand doesn't have a clue what the right hand is doing.

Edited April 1, 2007 by dmhweb

[slim 1,514]

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.

It seems that it's not the money that's the problem, it's the "where and how." In bruc's case, he'll be transiting through Moscow on a non-business day, so he won't be able to register through GTR or any OVIR office there. Once going to his destination, it's unclear where/how he can register. I'm sure everyone would gladly pay $10 or something upon arrival for registration at the airport as opposed to "finding" a place to register. That kind of defeats the purpose of registration though, as it's to ensure that you're registered and remain in a particular locality for tracking purposes. (That, at least, is the theory behind this archaic Soviet system.)

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

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. When I got mine registered there, I had to come back after a couple days because they couldn't do it for some reason or another on that day. Luckily, I was staying within walking distance, but had I been in another city or something, I'm sure I could've worked something out. They seemed like they would "deal" with any unusual circumstances. (The office was made up of a bunch of twenty-something techies that looked like the idea of interacting with American "business" elevated their status greatly. Which, it probably did, being that they made more money for doing nothing than most people their age.)

A last option for you if your fiancee can't come up with anything, is to e-mail or call Olesya Pomazan. Maybe she could work something out for you, like registering your visa for you while you're gone. (Or, "taking care of it" by the time you get back.) check out her website: http://www.russiangirlfriday.com

[dmhweb 0]

... 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. ...

I have not been there since the new law has taken effect but from what I understand of the new law regarding registering your visa, it's no longer the obligation of the visa holder and OVIR is no longer able to register visas. The burden is now placed on the inviting party to register with local migration officials (whoever they are ). If GTR is the inviting party then they would be responsible for having the visa registered when you arrive and also making notification of your departure from Russia as well.

David

[dmhweb 0]

This should clear it all up....

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.

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

David

[russ 1]

This should clear it all up....

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

David

Be advised, none of this is now working in practice. The fines have increased substantially for hotels not registering their guests in time (something obscene, I remember about $30,000 US). As a result, many hotels were refusing to check in foreigners.

The rules have changed more for business visas than tourist ones. As with many laws in Russia, they were largely enacted without any provision for people to be able to obey them. Among other things, business visa holders were required to re-register visas if leaving for even short periods (weekend trips, etc).

I still have my migration card. (Obviously it was not so important 2 years ago, since I kept it). I did pay several fines when attempting to register it. (The answer was always - "You have come to the wrong office, pay us a fine, and then go there instead." After a while, I decided it was cheaper not to bother trying. As none of this was computerized (and no one wrote anything down), I figured they had no way of tracking it back to me.

BTW, in theory, even with a Green Card in the US, you are supposed to tell USCIS where you are within 10 days. I don't believe anyone follows this rule either.

I'm going with a Moscow-based Business visa for this summer. (Necessary since it will be longer than 30 days, and we are leaving too soon for a homestay visa, and won't be in the same city as the sponser).

[dmhweb 0]

And if that didn't clear it up...

Maybe this will...

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.

The original .doc may be more readable... http://www.amcham.ru/pr/files/migration_eng.doc

Sounds to me like your Host (inviting party) goes to the post office with your passport (within 3 business days, with or without you but must have your passport) and gets this tear-off notification thingy (sort of like the original migration card? maybe?) fills it out, gives part of it to you and then when you leave your Host returns another portion (within 2 business days!) showing that you have left. What could be simpler LOL

David

[dmhweb 0]

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

[dmhweb 0]

See the following post for the new forms...

New Russian Visa registration forms

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

[slim 1,514]

You guys are still forgetting the general rule in Russia.

russ pointed it out quite well, there is no computerized tracking system, or if there is, it's really new... therefore, probably has snags, etc., so if you have any registration issues, the only thing you must do is convince the guy inspecting you that you are authorized. How you do that seems to differ depending on where you are, but based on what I saw in Moscow (bus inspectors "checking" for tickets) there seems to be a simple rule:

Come up with enough cash not to get your @$$ kicked, and you'll be just fine!