sonnyb
Just Starting
Joined: 13 Jan 2010
Posts: 2
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 Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 8:08 pm Post subject: breaking the visa |
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Does anyone have any personal experience of breaking a visa or have heard any first-hand stories of such violations. I mean specifically, what happens when you have overstayed and try to get out of the country again.
In principle, its clear that you'll get stopped and there will be serious repercussions; but, in practice, since Russia is such a big country with many entry and exit points, there might be a variety of reponses, depending on the point of exit (for example the kazak border differing from the border at domodevo) and the person exiting themselves. I suppose there are different ways also of breaking a visa too, such as overstaying completely until the visa is invalidated or breaking the 90 day rule while still having a valid visa.
Any thoughts/ stories? |
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romdur
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 17 Mar 2010
Posts: 197
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| Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 10:27 pm Post subject: |
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First off, I am NOT writing from experience. I would not voluntarily overstay a Russian visa, and I have very strongly warned others against doing so. It is a Bad Idea.
I have read some stories online about overstaying, and here is a summary of what I have learned:
[0] Your Russian visa is not just an entry visa, it is also an exit visa. RUSSIAN LAW PROHIBITS A FOREIGN CITIZEN FROM LEAVING THE TERRITORY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION WITHOUT A VALID EXIT VISA.
[1] If you are very lucky, it will only cost you some money, and a little time (possibly enough that you will miss your train or flight).
[2] If you are not so lucky, then (A) it will cost you a lot of money, (B) you will not be allowed to leave the Russian Federation for several days (in the worst case, perhaps two weeks), and (C) you may never again be granted a visa to Russia.
[3] The expiration date is the expiration date. If the visa runs out on 22 February, and you arrive at Passport Control at 12:10 AM on 23 February, you may be in serious trouble.
[4] Having a good reason is not enough. Even people who overstayed a couple of days because they were in a Russian hospital have experienced big problems. If you MUST overstay because of a medical emergency, you and your sponsor (whoever issued your letter of invitation) had better contact the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before you attempt to leave Russia, explain the situation, and ask for help with your exit. If they are kind enough to help you, it will probably cost you some money, several days, and perhaps a trip inside Russia.
[5] Sometimes, a Passport Control officer may "give you a break" (for example, if you are one day over). It is risky to count on this.
[6] Sometimes, a Passport Control officer will accept a bribe. It is risky to count on this.
Don't be fooled by the reputation of Russian officials, there are honest men and women who will carry out the law. That your $1000 airliner seat is leaving without you will not be their concern.
[7] If your visa has expired, and you did not succeed in evading the law, you will be stuck in the Russian Federation, until you can obtain a new exit visa. It may be impossible to obtain the visa near your border crossing: you may need to travel hundreds or thousands of miles, in order to get to a city where you can apply for the exit visa. You must pay the costs of the visa, of any necessary travel to get your visa, of your new travel arrangements to get to your next destination, and of food and shelter during your unplanned extra time in Russia.
In my country (USA), the State Department specifically says that in such a situation, they cannot help you in dealing with the Russian government. The visa problem is between the Russian Federation, and you.
[8] As a person stuck inside Russia because your visa has expired, you have no special status. Of course, you can't register while awaiting your exit visa (what a foreigner registers, is their visa) -- but it still illegal for you to stay anywhere without registering. In principle, you cannot stay in a hotel during your special holiday -- by law, YOU MUST HAVE A VALID VISA IN ORDER TO STAY AT A HOTEL. At the least, try to hold on to your Migration Card (one-half of the paper you filled out when you entered), because after you get your exit visa, if you leave without presenting this Card, that will be another adminstrative offense, and an additional fine to pay.
[9] People with long-term visas have reported watching Passport Control officers carefully counting the days of their various visits, in order to enforce the 90/180 rule. If you overstay this rule (but not the expiration date of the visa), then you should be allowed to leave (your unexpired visa gives you valid exit permission), but you will have committed an administrative offense that will slow down your exit, and require that you pay a fine. This infraction will probably result in additional steps you must go through to obtain any future visa, perhaps cancellation of your present visa, and potentially a 5-year ban from entering the Russian Federation.
OK, have I given you some flavor of the problem? I'll repeat what I posted in another thread months ago:
"If ever the day should come when you are faced with the choice of overstaying, or doing something else, choose the alternative. It cannot be put too strongly. Whatever you do, don't overstay the visa." |
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polarrrbear
Frequent Guest
Joined: 31 Aug 2007
Posts: 53
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| Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 10:48 pm Post subject: |
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You should search this board. There are couple first hand accounts on what happened with expired visa. I think one guy got held off for about 2 months or so while immigration guys worked on his case...and he was on his own, meaning he had to pay for his accommodation, or just left all alone on the street.
My wife had took care of couple guests who were checked in at her hotel by mistake by her subordinate. It was hotel's mistake to check them in, her staff didn't check his visa closely. Basically hotels can't allow people with expired visa to stay. They have to register you, but if visa is expired, they can't. If they do, there's a hefty fine of about $10,000 (about a day's room revenue at her hotel on some days), plus they will not be on agood side with the immigrations or FSB. No place would risk something like that for you. In her case, hotel basically scrambled to get them medical certificate (through connection) saying that they were ill or injured, and submit those papers to immigrations. Hotel paid for their accommodations but not at their hotel, they couldn't do that legally. They had to find a place for them by other means. All in all, it cost them several thousand dollars in trying to get them visa extension so that they could get out. No hotel will do that for you if hotel didn't make mistake of checking you in or they simply don't care.
Either way, you won't get out easily with this one. It's not something you can get out by flashing some money. In any country, visa violation is serious enough. Think what your country does to people with expired visa (what I mean is, you could be from any country and none will let those people go easily with visa violation). If getting arrested and deported a few days later, that's easy. What's scary about Russia is that it's a serious problem, but you don't know how serious your case may be. It's not something you want to risk it for few extra days of trip. You could end up staying in Russia for a few months longer than you would have wanted and not able to go anywhere while they work on your case. If you run out of money, they won't give you a helping hand. It's not their problem. |
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