Important changes re registration of foreign citizens in Russia

2018-08-06

Dear Partners,

Effective July 2018, the new Federal Law #163 redefines the procedure of registering foreign citizens during their stay in Russia.

The most important change is that the inviting organizations can no longer register foreign citizens unless they actually reside in the properties owned by the organization. The available options are registration at the hotels or at the local landlords.

According to the Russian law all foreign citizens visiting Russia must register with the migration service within 7 business days regardless of the purpose of their visit. Weekends and official Russian holidays are not considered as business days. If foreign citizens several Russian cities, they have to register in each city in case they are planning to stay there longer than 3 working days. It is strongly recommended not to ignore this procedure, as absence of registration during your stay in Russia may lead to trouble with the police, fines and difficulty in getting Russian visa in future.

Completing the registration is the host’s responsibility. The host can be the hotel, the local landlord or the private individual that foreign citizens are actually visiting. Effective July 2018, the inviting organization cannot be considered as the host to complete the registration.

- If a foreign citizen stays in a hotel, the hotel reception will take care of the registration.
- In case foreign citizens choose to stay in private apartments, their hosts should apply at the local migration office, the post or the MFC (Multipurpose Government and Municipal Service Center). The hosts will be given an application form or a notification form to fill out. They will also have to enclose copies of the migration card and passport (visa and photo pages) of the foreign citizen to be registered, and provide their own passport to prove that they are also registered at the same address. Further documents might be required. It is highly recommended to pre-plan the visit to the local authorities and apply electronically online via the government service website www.Gosuslugi.ru. The application and notification form completed online, as well as other documents listed by the authorities, should be presented during the appointment, which will be preset for a specific time and date. According to the available information, the registration is done free of charge in one business day.

It must be noted that registration procedure is changed rather often. Our office remains at your disposal for further information upon arrival.

Kind regards,
Visa Service department