According to the Russian Law “On the Status of Foreign Citizens in Russian Federation” (Law #115-FZ, issued 25/07/2002), every foreigner coming to Russia should have his/her visa registered within 72 hours upon arrival, excluding holidays and weekends. Children under 18, who enter Russian Federation with their parents, should be registered together with their parents.

The registration is a little stamp in your passport on a paper attached to your visa and/or migration card (in case you have one) and it confirms the place and duration of your stay in Russia. Depending on where you have your visa registered it will look different.

A foreign citizen should register at the place of his/her arrival in Russia (e.g. if u arrived at Moscow and plan to stay there for longer than 3 days, you should register even if you plan to go elsewhere after). If you change the place of your stay, you should register in the new place during the first three working days.

Usually, the registration is done by the company that issued you an invitation, a hotel you stay in or any other hosting person. Then all the information must be forwarded to Russian immigration officials and again, when you leave the place of your stay.

Documents needed for the registration:

1. Visa for Russia
2.  A migration card with a stamp of passport control at the border
3. Passport

We strongly advice you to always register your visa! Please, note that if you were fined twice for violating the rules of registration in Russia by authorities, this information will enter the database and there is a high chance that you will not be able to enter Russia for 5 years.

The regulations of the visa registration always change and differ depending on agency, so we advice you to check the requirements in advance.

Where to Register Your Russian Visa?

If you stay in a hotel, the hotel must register your visa. The hotel administration will require your Russian visa, passport and migration card, which was given to you at the Russian border. A small registration fee can be imposed (from $0.5US to $5US) and normally the whole procedure takes a few minutes.

Hostels normally register visas only in the case if it was issued by them.
If you stay with friends or rent an apartment the registration procedure will depend on the type of visa you have:

Tourist visa
If you stay in Moscow, the travel agency, which issued your visa, will support the registration procedure for a certain fee. You need to get all the documents and forms required from them and register your visa yourself through the Passport Department.
If you stay in any other city, the travel agency will most likely be able to take care of your visa registration and you do not have to do it yourself. They can also issue you a special letter, which you can take to the local Passport Department and get the registration.

Business Visa
The landlord/owner of the apartment should provide you with a letter stating the agreement of your staying in his/her apartment for a certain period. This letter must be verified at the local housing authority. After it is done you can bring the letter to the travel agency and they will make your visa registration in 1-3 days.

The regulations of the business visa registration always change and differ depending on agency, so we advice you to check the regulations in advance.

Disclaimer: We are not legal advisors, and we do not claim that all the information in this section is necessarily correct. We attempted to make all the information presented in the Visa Guide section of this site as accurate and up-to-date as possible, a lot of work was done, but visa and visa registration rules and regulations change so often that we cannot guarantee anything. So, we are not liable or responsible for anything.