Immigration Cards - Russia.

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

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!!!!!!

Domodedovo is much better run than Sheremetevo, so your odds of
obtaining a proper card are good. But I recommend contacting your
local Russian embassy to see if you can obtain a blank card before you
leave.

Pete

Pete wrote:

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!!!!!!


Domodedovo is much better run than Sheremetevo, so your odds of
obtaining a proper card are good. But I recommend contacting your
local Russian embassy to see if you can obtain a blank card before you
leave.

Is this card in addition to the visa? I don't see the reason behind
having a card since you would normally have you visa checked on arrival,
registered at the hotel (or business, or with the government), then
checked again at departure.

On Sat, 20 Mar 2004 19:32:32 GMT, mtravelkay wrote:

Pete wrote:

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!!!!!!


Domodedovo is much better run than Sheremetevo, so your odds of
obtaining a proper card are good. But I recommend contacting your
local Russian embassy to see if you can obtain a blank card before you
leave.

Is this card in addition to the visa? I don't see the reason behind
having a card since you would normally have you visa checked on arrival,
registered at the hotel (or business, or with the government), then
checked again at departure.


Hi

Yes, apparently this card IS in addition to the visa and is issued on
arrival in Russia.

Who knows what the reason is behind having an extra card - bureaucracy
moves in mysterious ways!!!! 8^)


Regards
KGB

It was implemented in response to illegal immigration in the major
cities such as St. Petersbug and Moscow.




Immigration Cards - Russia.

Group: rec.travel.air Date: Sat, Mar 20, 2004, 10:52pm (EST+5) From:
(KGB=A0(=A0KGB))
On Sat, 20 Mar 2004 19:32:32 GMT, mtravelkay wrote:
Pete wrote:
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!!!!!!
Domodedovo is much better run than Sheremetevo, so your odds of
obtaining a proper card are good. But I recommend contacting your local
Russian embassy to see if you can obtain a blank card before you leave.
Is this card in addition to the visa? I don't see the reason behind
having a card since you would normally have you visa checked on arrival,
registered at the hotel (or business, or with the government), then
checked again at departure.
Hi
Yes, apparently this card IS in addition to the visa and is issued on
arrival in Russia.
Who knows what the reason is behind having an extra card - bureaucracy
moves in mysterious ways!!!! =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 8^)
Regards
KGB

maryanne kehoe wrote:

It was implemented in response to illegal immigration in the major
cities such as St. Petersbug and Moscow.

But why do they need an additional card? After all, the Visa is supposed
to remain with you. Doesn't the visa let them know that you are legally
in the country?

mtravelkay schrieb:

Is this card in addition to the visa? I don't see the reason behind
having a card since you would normally have you visa checked on arrival,
registered at the hotel (or business, or with the government), then
checked again at departure.

The immigration card will be stamped upon registration, not the visa.

Regards & X-post, ULF

"KGB" (KGB) wrote in message ...
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!!!!!!

Relax. Don't worry.

You will get an immigration card either during the flight or just
before the passport checkpoint at the border. AFAIK, the problems
referred to was a temporary situation which has been sorted out by
now, and they won't even let you enter until you have filled in the
immigation card.

For any non-US citizen who has visited the US, the card and the
procedure are both very familiar. The card looks like this:

http://www.waytorussia.net/RussianVi...rationCard.jpg

A larger sample can be seen he

http://www.waytorussia.net/RussianVi...rationCard.pdf

But you can NOT print this one out and use it, since the real cards
are numbered and have a slightly different format. But this shows you
what information is asked for on the card, and as you can see it's all
just very basic info.

Bjorn