How long is it possible to stay in Russia without registration?

Contents:

• How long is it possible to stay in Russia without registration
• Registration at place of stay or place of residence
• To register at place of residence the following set of documents is necessary
• Fines and other penalties for lack of registration
• Registration time for particular cases
• When is it necessary to re-register
• Terms of registration for permanent and temporary residence

Every foreigner who stays in Russia for more than a week must register for migration at the Ministry of internal Affairs. Regardless of citizenship and the purpose of arrival, foreign citizens fill out a migration card when crossing the Russian border. This document contains information about foreigners entering the Russian Federation and entitles them to stay in the country for 7 days. However, if the trip lasts longer than this period, a foreigner should register with migration authority.

Registration is a mandatory procedure for all foreign citizens, even if they enter the Russian Federation using a visa. To register, a foreign citizen needs to apply to the Ministry of internal Affairs and present the following set of documents:

• identity card;
• migration card;
• notification of arrival;
• visa – for those who entered on its basis.

How long is it possible to stay in Russia without registration

The legal period of stay of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation without registration is 7 days. It does not matter whether you are a citizen of a country that has a visa or visa-free regime with Russia. However, there are exceptions for certain categories of visitors:

• Permitted period of stay of citizens of Republic of Tajikistan in the Russian Federation without registration is 15 days from the moment of crossing the border.
• Highly qualified specialists who are officially invited to work can stay in the country without registration for up to 90 days. After that, they have 7 working days to submit an application to the Ministry of internal Affairs. If the specialist or his family members decide to move to another region of Russia and stay there for less than 30 days, then there is no need to register for migration at new place of stay. 
• Foreigners who have received permanent residence permit or temporary residence permit should register within 7 working days after receiving the document.
• Citizens of the Eurasian economic Union countries: Republic of Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, who enter Russia for the purpose of work must register with the Ministry of internal Affairs within 30 days after entry. There are no additional benefits for citizens of the Republic of Belarus as many people think, and the registration period is still the same 30 days.
• However, if citizens of the EAEU member States decide to enter Russia not for the purpose of performing a labor function, but for other purposes, they will be required to register within 7 working days.

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that as soon as foreign citizen leaves the country and crosses the Russian border, registration is automatically canceled. Therefore, if you return home for a week and then re-enter the Russian Federation, the procedure will have to be repeated in accordance with the requirements established by law. 

However, for most foreigners, the period of stay without registration in the Russian Federation is a week. It does not matter how often you cross the border: every time you return to Russia, you need to register again.

Registration at place of stay or place of residence

When the period of stay without registration of a foreign citizen in the Russian Federation expires, he/she needs to apply to migration authority at place of residence or place of stay. Let us look at the difference between these two concepts.

A place of stay is a residential building, hotel, medical or social institution where you actually live. However, you do not own this room, are not registered in it, in other words – it is not yours. Nevertheless, Russian legislation does not prohibit registration in any premises that provide hotel services, as well as in medical centers and clinics where you can enroll for long-term treatment. It is much less common for foreigners to register at the address of the company they officially work for. Of course, if the company provides them with living space.

To register at place of residence the following set of documents is necessary:

• identity card;
• confirmation of the right to use residential premises;
• temporary residence permit or permanent residence permit.

We are talking about the address where you live permanently. Of course, you can leave from time to time, but you should have permanent address to register at your place of residence. Since this requires being in the Russian Federation on a regular basis, TRP or PRP holders are usually registered at such addresses.

Please note that if a foreign citizen is staying in a hotel or has come through official invitation to the company, you do not need to register by yourself. You should be registered by the host party, which can be a hotel, boarding house, sanatorium, clinic, and so on. At the same time, you will have to provide your passport and migration card, but the host party is not entitled to take your passport away from you. It is illegal to withdraw your passport.

Hotels usually register visitors within 24 hours after guests check in. The administration is responsible for the lack of visitor’s registration, so possible sanctions will be imposed on the hotel. In this situation, a foreigner is only required to fill out an arrival form. It will be issued by the hotel staff or you can contact the post office for this paper. There is no state registration fee.

However, if there are any circumstances that do not allow the receiving party to register the visitor, he is entitled to do it independently. In this case, you will need to attach the consent of the host party to the application and copies of your own documents.

Fines and other penalties for lack of registration

A foreigner who violates the period of stay without registration may be subject to an administrative penalty – a fine. If the regulatory authorities find a violation, a citizen of another country will be fined from 2 to 5 thousand rubles. In addition, after this, a foreign citizen may be required to leave Russia. If a foreign citizen commits exactly the same offense in the federal city of Moscow or St. Petersburg, or in the Moscow or Leningrad region, the fine is significantly increased – from 5 to 7 thousand rubles.

It should be noted that not only a foreign citizen who violates the migration legislation can be fined, but the host party as well. If the host party is an individual – a citizen, he will be forced to pay from 2 to 5 thousand rubles of fine. The responsibility of the official will be from 35 to 50 thousand rubles. A legal entity that has committed a wrongdoing will have to pay from 400 to 500 thousand rubles.

If you are planning to get TRP or PRP, you should not violate migration legislation, since deportation from the country or just a record about few administrative violations within a short period of time may be the ground for refusal of permits’ issuance.

Registration time for particular cases

The law provides for cases when the period within which a foreigner can stay in the Russian Federation without registration can be changed. Such details include registration of newborns, since if foreigners have a child in Russia, they have to register him/her within 7 days after receiving the birth certificate. Of course, the law does not require parents to run to the Ministry of internal Affairs a week after the birth of the baby: this is difficult.

However, if a child is not registered with migration authorities within 7 days after receiving the certificate, parents will be fined for violating migration legislation, so you should not delay the procedure. Considering the fact that birth certificate is usually issued within a month after the child’s birth, the total period of stay of a newborn without registration is about 5 weeks. 

When is it necessary to re-register

In some cases, foreigners have to re-register with the Ministry of internal Affairs, even if they did not leave the country. These circumstances include:

• Extending or obtaining a new work visa. In this case, the registration is automatically canceled, and the period of stay in the Russian Federation without a new registration is only 3 business days.
• Change of personal data: last name, first name, and other passport data. You also have to re-register if the information about the position that the person holds has changed. In these cases, the visitor has only 3 business days to re-register.

Terms of registration for permanent and temporary residence

Presence of temporary residence permit or permanent residence permit does not remove the obligation to register at place of residence. Moreover, it should be done within the same 7 days from the moment of receiving TRP or PRP. However, each case has its own peculiarities that should be taken into account.

Thus, the law requires foreigners who live in the country temporarily or permanently to annually confirm to the migration service that they are still in the Russian Federation. At the same time, you need to provide information about your income, as well as specify where and how often you left the country during the past year.

Foreigners who have permanent residence permit in the Russian Federation can confirm their stay in the country online, and only once every 5 years they must personally attend the Internal Affairs bodies to confirm their stay.Permanent residence permit is valid throughout the country, while temporary residence permit is valid only in the region where it was issued. Therefore, a foreigner cannot simply move to another region, changing his/her place of residence at the discretion. If he does so, he will have to start processing the documents again: submit an application for registration within the prescribed period, and then, if he intends to stay, re-issue the TRP. Of course, this does not apply to short visits to other regions, for example, for the purpose of tourism.