Hi

My wife and I are shortly "doing" the Trans-Sib rail trip from Moscow
to Beijing, flying into Moscow's Domodedovo Airport at the start of
the journey.

However, I have just received the following info from the travel
company:-

"In accordance with the new laws on immigration, all foreign visitors
to Russia are now (as of 9th Jan 2003) to be issued with an
Immigration Card. The card will be issued to you on arrival by the
Immigration Officer who examines your passport at Passport Control.

The card is extremely important - effectively as important as your
passport and you MUST NOT LOSE IT. If you lose it, it will prejudice
your position most severely.......However, the implementation of the
Immigration Card scheme has not gone entirely smoothly and there have
been reports that some border posts - at Moscow and St Petersburg
airports - do not have an adequate supply of the forms. This
obviously places visitors in a difficult position which we are unable
to advise upon......"

It goes on to suggest that you try and insist on being given a card
and if this fails, "...They cannot reasonably take action against you
if you were not given an Immigration Form in the first place" - which
sounds to be a Catch 22 situation to me and a trifle dodgy!!!!

What happens if they don't give you a card? Have the Russian
Authorities resolved the problem yet and if not, can the card be
downloaded and printed out from the WWW in advance? - (I know this is
possible with the Customs Declaration Form but cannot find any
reference to the Immigration card being downloadable).

Any recent experiences in this matter and up-to-date info would be
appreciated - neither my wife nor myself fancy languishing in a cell
at the Russia/Mongolia border whilst the lack of Immigration Card is
sorted out!!!!!!

Regards
KGB