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brism
Just Starting
Joined: 25 Feb 2011
Posts: 3
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 Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 10:36 pm Post subject: Registration Nightmare |
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Is there any possibility that the ludicrous and time consuming process of 'registration' may soon be abolished. If and when it is abolished, then I will happily resume my visits to Moscow.
I am a UK citizen and resident married to a Russian citizen and each time we have visited Moscow to see my wife's elderly mother, I have been subjected to the horrendous procedure of registration which on each occasion has entailed either waiting for hours in a queue with dozens of potential immigrants or trying to find some office in an obscure location. Also, because my elderly mother in law has been my sponsor it has been necessary for her to accompany me and for her to complete various forms etc. On one occasion the officials could not complete my registration after hours of queuing on the first day (A Friday), so they had to keep my passport over the weekend for me to pick up on the Monday after yet more hours of queuing and worrying with my mother in law. Fortunately, I was not stopped by the militsia over that weekend as all I had was a photocopy of my passport.
To me, the whole process is ridiculous, unnecessary and time consuming and casts a large dark shadow over my visits to Moscow; so much so that I have stopped going there. We often invite Russian friends of my wife to visit us in the UK and there is no need for them to register here. Why can it not work like that both ways? |
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romdur
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 17 Mar 2010
Posts: 197
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| Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2011 12:01 am Post subject: |
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Facts about registration:
1. Under the current system, there is nothing in a foreign passport that shows whether or not the visitor is registered. An official inspecting a visitor's documents can see the visa, and migration card. The person being registered does not even receive a document to prove registration! You can get a copy of the registration paperwork, but you are not required to carry this with you.
This is different from several years ago, when you could see by inspecting a foreign passport whether or not the visa had been registered.
To put it simply, there is no longer an easy way for officials to do a registration check on foreign visitors. MID has a computer database of registrations, but nobody checking documents on the street will be able to look this up.
Likewise, when you exit Russia, the passport control officers don't know whether you registered.
2. If you don't look like you might be from the Caucasus, it is very unlikely that anyone will ask to see your documents. I have spent (cumulatively) several months in Russian cities, without ever being asked.
3. By law (I have heard), ordinary street cops are not allowed to ask for your papers.
4. Visitors are required to register within 3 business days of arrival to a Russian city. If a visitor is challenged about registration status, and says "I have been traveling around Russia and arrived to Moscow only yesterday," it is not so simple to confirm or disprove this  Though if you use a home-stay visa, telling such a story might not be prudent.
5. Although I have registered my visa on every visit, and I recommend this to other travelers, I have been advised by more than one Russian citizen (people experienced in dealing with foreign visitors to Russia) that as a practical matter, you can manage without registration (for the above reasons).
6. If you want to be on the safe side, without inconveniencing your dear old relation: there are travel companies that will register any visa. This is a bit costly -- perhaps 30 to 40 GBP in Moscow.
Although I continue to register, if for some reason I were unable to get this done, I wouldn't worry about it. The bottom line, then: registration is an encumbrance, but Russia has been changing the process in ways that make it less of an issue. |
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brism
Just Starting
Joined: 25 Feb 2011
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2011 6:28 pm Post subject: Registration Nightmare |
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Thankyou Romdur for your detailed response to my moan. Although you imply that registration may be avoided as one's passport is no longer stamped etc, I'd be loathe to risk such action in case some over zealous passport control officer decided to check his computer database.
I still fail to see the necessity of registration for ordinary visitors like myself. I can just about understand such a requirement for people from the CIS countries who potentially pose more of a risk to the authorities but surely, people from EU countries and others should not have to undergo this fiasco. After all, as I previously stated, when we play host to Russian visitors, there is no requirement for them to register here in the UK. And I am sure that I am no more of a risk to Russia than they are to the UK. I look forward to the day I can once again visit Moscow free of the registration farce, but not until then. |
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romdur
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 17 Mar 2010
Posts: 197
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| Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 2:54 am Post subject: |
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Well, I'm in my 50s, and if I wait until registration is no longer required, before I return to Russia, I will probably never see it again.
Perhaps you don't know, that all Russian citizens are also required to register when they change their address for 90 days or more. Or that until recently, all Russian citizens were required to register when changing cities for 3 or more business days, just as we are!
How far will a state go to accommodate foreign visitors, when it places such demands on its own citizens? In some countries -- including Russia -- the Police Want to Know Where Everybody Is. |
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brism
Just Starting
Joined: 25 Feb 2011
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 10:36 pm Post subject: Registration Nightmare |
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I'm in my 60s and whether I ever visit Russia again or not is not of critical importance to me, but I'd like to think that I have the choice of doing so without having to undergo such a tortuous registration procedure and indeed, having my mother in law jump through hoops in order to accommodate me. She's 90 for heavens sake. How can I expect her to traipse around with me to either a post office or local UFMS (Wherever and whatever that is) to be confronted by some unsmiling, unhelpful and unsympathetic official who will in all likelihood tell her she made some minor mistake on one of the miriad of forms, so 'do it again and go to the back of the queue'. She was probably accustomed to this kind of thing in her more spritely younger days, but it's a tad too much to expect this of her now. The sad thing is, I know she'd love to see me again. Putin and his puppets have a lot to answer for.
The Real Russia website states that as an alternative, one may go to a hotel and request that they register you there. They may charge a fee or it may even be necessary to book a room for a night or two. Firstly; this makes a complete mockery of the police having knowledge of where they think you are. And secondly, why should I have to pay for the privilege of the Russian authorities thinking I'm at another location. The whole thing is totally absurd.
My dear wife who was a 'mind rebel' for most of her life in Russia, told me how she hated the 'system' there; and in truth, when I first visited Moscow, I felt that I had reason to question her judgement as I considered life there to be reasonably free and as I'd wish to expect. Time and experience has since taught me that she was right and I was wrong.
Finally, should the British Government ever impose such severe impositions on Russian (Or other) visitors to this country, then I will take back my every word. |
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