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Entry and Exit Procedures - Not so hard!

Way to Russia Talk Lounge Forum Index -> Russian Visa Forum

Author	Message
aspqrz Just Starting Joined: 20 Jul 2003 Posts: 2 Location: Australia	Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 3:00 am    Post subject: Entry and Exit Procedures - Not so hard! Last November I went to Russia for 11 days (arrived St Petersburg, departed Moscow) and read up extensively on this site for information about visas etc. Interestingly, a lot of what was said was going to happen simply *didn't* happen. * On arrival at St Petersburg, *no-one* wanted to see my Visa Support Letter/Invitation. The harried woman at Passport Control simply took a cursoryt glance at the Passport, stuck it in the Scanner, removed the arrival slip, and stamped it. * No one was interested in Customs Declaration Forms. There wasn't even a Customs officer on obvious duty. * On departure from Moscow, no one was interested in Customs Forms unless you happened to be non-caucasian, as far as I could see. The Passport Control Officer was about as interested in my Passport as the one at St Petersburg was. Looked at it cursorily, scanned it, stamped it -- and didn't even take out the departure slip! Obviously these things *do* get done the way that WtR says, at least sometimes, but how often are they simply ignored. BtW, the Passport Control guy at Moscow actually said "Have a nice flight!" On the whole, a much less painful experience than I was thinking it would be (of course, travelling on an Australian passport might have been the difference Phil
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ashton Lounge Lizard Joined: 08 Apr 2004 Posts: 80 Location: US	Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:27 am    Post subject: You are correct that sometimes these things do not happen, but other times they do. I don't think they ever ask for your invitation or support letter once you are in the country. Technically, you are supposed to have it at all times, but I don't think I have ever been asked for it. Customs is hit or miss. I have been there a few times when they were very strict and other times when you just walked through when entering. When leaving the country, I have had all of my bags and pockets checked and then other times just walked through. I don't think there is any rhyme or reason to this. I find that many countries do this for some reason. If you are lucky it is not a painful experience, but it certainly does happen. It is probably better to be prepared for the worst just in case. I always assume the worst case scenario and if I just breeze right through, it's just a bonus. I have found though, that you are less likely to go through all of this if you travel in off-peak months. I don't think I have ever not been checked repeatedly if I went during summer.
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