Immigration Cards - Russia.

"KGB" (KGB) wrote in message ...
On Sat, 20 Mar 2004 21:28:25 -0500 (EST), (maryanne
kehoe) wrote:

Yes, but as I understand it the immigration card lists ALL of your
addresses that you will be at during your time in the country. A lot of
people were staying in private accomodation and not registering with the
local militia (police) as is required within 72 hours of arriving in the
country. The immigration card was designed to counteract that.

Hi Maryanne

The original plan was for my wife and I to stay with a family in
private accomodation in Moscow for a few days prior to the start of
our Trans-Sib trip. However, we were subsequently informed by our
travel company that this has now been banned by the authorities and we
would have to stay in a hotel instead.

This sounds strange. I don't quite understand your situation. Do you
already have tourist visas issued by the travel company, or are you
yet to apply for visas? Have you made any hotel reservations already?
Were you planning a home-stay arranged by a company, or to stay with
friends?

Please clarify, and maybe we can help you with further advice.

Bjorn

On 22 Mar 2004 07:50:20 -0800, (Bjorn Olsson) wrote:



The original plan was for my wife and I to stay with a family in
private accomodation in Moscow for a few days prior to the start of
our Trans-Sib trip. However, we were subsequently informed by our
travel company that this has now been banned by the authorities and we
would have to stay in a hotel instead.

This sounds strange. I don't quite understand your situation. Do you
already have tourist visas issued by the travel company, or are you
yet to apply for visas? Have you made any hotel reservations already?
Were you planning a home-stay arranged by a company, or to stay with
friends?

Please clarify, and maybe we can help you with further advice.

Bjorn

Hi Bjorn

OK then, to fully explain our situation....my wife and I (from the UK)
have booked a trip on the Trans-Sib from Moscow to Beijing via
Mongolia in May. It is the standard trip, a few days in Moscow; join
the train and travel to Beijing, breaking the journey in Irkutsk and
Ulaan Batar en-route. Originally, the travel company offered the
option of, instead of staying in a hotel in Moscow, staying with a
Moscow family - which we elected to do. However we were later told
that the home-stay was now unavailable as the "authorities" had
clamped down on travel companies offering this option, so we are
staying in a hotel in Moscow instead (we are though, staying with a
family at Lake Baikal).

As far as documentation is concerned, everything has been organised.
We have our air tickets, visas, hotel vouchers etc - everything except
the actual train tickets which we apparently collect in Moscow; all we
have to do now is to get ourselves to the airport and fly to
Moscow!!!!

However, when we received our passports/visas back, the travel company
included a note concerning immigrant cards, extracts from which I
quoted in my original post. I merely hoped that somebody in this NG
might have recent personal experience.

When we received our visas, stapled to that page in our passports was
an arrival/departure card, which, although of a completely different
format to MigrationCard.pdf and not numbered, asks the same
questions. Since starting this thread I have in fact e-mailed the
Russian Consulate for clarification about the Migration card and
received the following reply:- "You will receive immigration cards
.... with your visas". Is the arrival/departure card with our visa in
fact the elusive Migration card - or yet more paperwork??

My wife and I are both "seasoned" travellers, well used to entry
requirements, having had several month long vacations in various parts
of Central and South America (travelling on local buses etc.) - and
some long happy times wandering round the USA Southwest desert States
with our tent. However, neither of us has ever been East; but keep
reading accounts of overzealous Eastern bureaucracy.

We are already planning our next trip (possible next year) when we
will visit either Honduras/Guatemala (again) or Cambodia/Vietnam/Laos.

Regards


KGB

Similar to the previous form that I filled out upon arrival at SVO 2.



Immigration Cards - Russia.

Group: rec.travel.air Date: Mon, Mar 22, 2004, 7:27am (EST-3) From:
(Bjorn=A0Olsson)
(maryanne kehoe) wrote in message
...
Yes, but as I understand it the immigration card lists ALL of your
addresses that you will be at during your time in the country.
No, it doesn't. There is only room for a single address on the card, so
a tourist who will be travelling around the place would typically just
enter the address of the first hotel.
http://www.waytorussia.net/RussianVi...rationCard.jpg
Bjorn

(maryanne kehoe) wrote in message ...
Similar to the previous form that I filled out upon arrival at SVO 2.

What do you mean by "previous"?

Bjorn

"KGB" (KGB) wrote in message ...
On 22 Mar 2004 07:50:20 -0800, (Bjorn Olsson) wrote:



The original plan was for my wife and I to stay with a family in
private accomodation in Moscow for a few days prior to the start of
our Trans-Sib trip. However, we were subsequently informed by our
travel company that this has now been banned by the authorities and we
would have to stay in a hotel instead.

This sounds strange. I don't quite understand your situation. Do you
already have tourist visas issued by the travel company, or are you
yet to apply for visas? Have you made any hotel reservations already?
Were you planning a home-stay arranged by a company, or to stay with
friends?

Please clarify, and maybe we can help you with further advice.

Bjorn

Hi Bjorn

OK then, to fully explain our situation....my wife and I (from the UK)
have booked a trip on the Trans-Sib from Moscow to Beijing via
Mongolia in May. It is the standard trip, a few days in Moscow; join
the train and travel to Beijing, breaking the journey in Irkutsk and
Ulaan Batar en-route. Originally, the travel company offered the
option of, instead of staying in a hotel in Moscow, staying with a
Moscow family - which we elected to do. However we were later told
that the home-stay was now unavailable as the "authorities" had
clamped down on travel companies offering this option, so we are
staying in a hotel in Moscow instead (we are though, staying with a
family at Lake Baikal).

This does sound a bit mysterious. If authorities have stopped
home-stays one might wonder why home-stay is still available in the
Baikal area? It's all a bit surprising, but probably all you can do is
to go along with what the company says. It´s a pity, though, since
homestay would be much more fun.

As far as documentation is concerned, everything has been organised.
We have our air tickets, visas, hotel vouchers etc - everything except
the actual train tickets which we apparently collect in Moscow;

Have they told you exactly where you pick up the tickets? By
"exactly", I mean not just at which train station, or something like
that, but really exactly? I have been trying to help people in Moscow
who were wondering around the train station trying to find out where
to pick up their tickets, and the thing is that the train stations can
be really confusing places for non-russian speakers. If they don´t
tell you more than the station name, you could easily loose a couple
of hours on searching the train station for where to get your tickets.

all we
have to do now is to get ourselves to the airport and fly to
Moscow!!!!

However, when we received our passports/visas back, the travel company
included a note concerning immigrant cards, extracts from which I
quoted in my original post. I merely hoped that somebody in this NG
might have recent personal experience.

I have been twice to Russia since the immigrration cards were
introduced, and had no problems. Both times I flew into Sheremetyevo,
and received my card just before the passport checkpoint.

When we received our visas, stapled to that page in our passports was
an arrival/departure card, which, although of a completely different
format to MigrationCard.pdf and not numbered, asks the same
questions. Since starting this thread I have in fact e-mailed the
Russian Consulate for clarification about the Migration card and
received the following reply:- "You will receive immigration cards
... with your visas". Is the arrival/departure card with our visa in
fact the elusive Migration card - or yet more paperwork??

I don't really remember. (I guess I should, due to my recent trips,
but the fact that I don't probably shows how little you need to worry
about it). I would simply fill in whatever they ask you to fill in and
not think more about it. The person in the passport checkpoint at the
border will tell you if something is missing, and ask you to fill it
in in that case.

My wife and I are both "seasoned" travellers, well used to entry
requirements, having had several month long vacations in various parts
of Central and South America (travelling on local buses etc.) - and
some long happy times wandering round the USA Southwest desert States
with our tent. However, neither of us has ever been East; but keep
reading accounts of overzealous Eastern bureaucracy.

You, me, and all other westerners have been fed for decades with
images of Eastern european overzealous bureaucracy. But in fact, it
is a simple little form you need to fill in, which basically asks your
name, gender, passport number and address. That's all. Takes one
minute to fill in. Don't worry, and focus on enjoying your trip.

We are already planning our next trip (possible next year) when we
will visit either Honduras/Guatemala (again) or Cambodia/Vietnam/Laos.

I'm envious. And wishing you good travels.

Bjorn

(maryanne kehoe) wrote:

Similar to the previous form that I filled out upon arrival at SVO 2.


CHESTNUT RAVIOLI IN MASCARPONE SAUCE

6 oz chestnuts in their shells
6 oz Ricotta cheese
Pinch of salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground rosemary
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 eggs
6 oz mascarpone cheese
3 sage leaves

Make a cut in the shells of the chestnuts with a sharp knife and cook them
in water for 45 minutes. Drain and remove the shell and internal skin.

In a blender or food processor combine the chestnuts, ricotta, salt, nutmeg
and rosemary. Blend until smooth.

Make the pasta dough with the flour and eggs. Roll it out and cut into 4 in
wide strips and place 1/2 teaspoon of the filling at 2 in intervals along
one side of each strip, folding each strip lengthwise back over the
filling, pressing well around the filling. Cut the ravioli with a ravioli
wheel or fluted pastry wheel. Cook them in plenty of boiling salted water
for 5 to 7 minutes, until they rise to the surface, then drain.

Meanwhile, make the sauce: Put the mascarpone in the top of a double boiler
with the sage leaves and beat with a wooden spoon until it becomes a fairly
liquid cream. Serve the ravioli with the mascarpone sauce.

Courtesy of The Italian Gourmet

--
Best
Greg

On 23 Mar 2004 14:45:43 -0800, (Gregory
Morrow) wrote:


Similar to the previous form that I filled out upon arrival at SVO 2.


CHESTNUT RAVIOLI IN MASCARPONE SAUCE

6 oz chestnuts in their shells
6 oz Ricotta cheese
Pinch of salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground rosemary
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 eggs
6 oz mascarpone cheese
3 sage leaves

Make a cut in the shells of the chestnuts with a sharp knife and cook them
in water for 45 minutes. Drain and remove the shell and internal skin.

In a blender or food processor combine the chestnuts, ricotta, salt, nutmeg
and rosemary. Blend until smooth.

Make the pasta dough with the flour and eggs. Roll it out and cut into 4 in
wide strips and place 1/2 teaspoon of the filling at 2 in intervals along
one side of each strip, folding each strip lengthwise back over the
filling, pressing well around the filling. Cut the ravioli with a ravioli
wheel or fluted pastry wheel. Cook them in plenty of boiling salted water
for 5 to 7 minutes, until they rise to the surface, then drain.

Meanwhile, make the sauce: Put the mascarpone in the top of a double boiler
with the sage leaves and beat with a wooden spoon until it becomes a fairly
liquid cream. Serve the ravioli with the mascarpone sauce.

Courtesy of The Italian Gourmet

--
Best
Greg

Hi

Writing that on the immigration form should go down well with the
Russian authorities!!! 8^)

Regards
KGB