Once upon a time it was sufficient to pay some Rubles and to have a stamp on a piece of paper to have an acceptable registration for Russia. But the times have changed and since January 3rd, 2014 it is a legal crime if you are registered with under a fictitious address. However, the law may be on your side when you are not obviously breaking the rules.
You just have got your work permit and Russian Visa and you are already on the way to Russia, not knowing what hurdle you have to master next. It is the registration of you in Russia. Without proper registration, you will get problems and probably a fine when leaving the country. Usually many visitors of the Russian country try to avoid the pain of making a correct registration. To avoid waiting in queues at local administration offices they use the service of companies, which provide a registration paper fast and uncomplicated for a small fee. The bad news, you might get in huge trouble by doing so any further.
From a legal point, it was never allowed being registered at a fictitious address. However, it was tolerated. Now, being registered at a "virtual address" will be treated as a criminal offense. The person processing such a registration is facing huge fines from 2.000 to 5.000 Euro and jail up to three years. The person, being registered, will be sentenced guilty and fined as well, if it is provable that the person knew that the registration happened under a virtual address.
Simply being registered that doesn't work anymore since January 3rd, 2014. The registration is still obligatory, however, being not registered has much fewer consequences than being registered on a fictitious address. But it is getting even more complicated: The Russian law about the registration of migrants says that non-registered foreigners even might not be fined at all, at least theoretically.
What is important to know: It is the duty of the receiving side to register a foreign person in Russia. This can be the inviting person or institution. Usually this is the host or landlord as the place of stay factual counts as the decisive criteria. The good point is that you don't have to go yourselves to the registration office. The landlord should do that. Nowadays the registration can be done easily by public postal service. You are only required to hand over a copy of your passport and migration card you received at the border to Russia to your landlord.
In reality, there had been some cases where people had been sentenced guiltily for registering not correctly even when copies of passport and migration card had been provided to the landlord. And, there also had been cases when people were found innocent in the same matter. It is an unpleasant reality that the legal entitlement and a factual jurisdiction are from time to time far away from each other in Russia. Also, because the landlord is obliged to run the registration of the hosted person you will very often hear at negotiation stage when renting a flat that the flat can be rented only without registration.
If you rented a flat already, there are things you can do to make sure you are more on the safe side than breaking the rules. What you need to do is handing over copies of migration card and passport to your landlord. If the landlord doesn't want to accept these documents, you should send them by registered postal service with receipt confirmation and stating a list of contents. The dilemma is that your landlord might try to put you on the street. But there is hope in the Russian legal system, and if you have a signed renting agreement in your hands this cannot be done easily and fast.
You just have got your work permit and Russian Visa and you are already on the way to Russia, not knowing what hurdle you have to master next. It is the registration of you in Russia. Without proper registration, you will get problems and probably a fine when leaving the country. Usually many visitors of the Russian country try to avoid the pain of making a correct registration. To avoid waiting in queues at local administration offices they use the service of companies, which provide a registration paper fast and uncomplicated for a small fee. The bad news, you might get in huge trouble by doing so any further.
From a legal point, it was never allowed being registered at a fictitious address. However, it was tolerated. Now, being registered at a "virtual address" will be treated as a criminal offense. The person processing such a registration is facing huge fines from 2.000 to 5.000 Euro and jail up to three years. The person, being registered, will be sentenced guilty and fined as well, if it is provable that the person knew that the registration happened under a virtual address.
Simply being registered that doesn't work anymore since January 3rd, 2014. The registration is still obligatory, however, being not registered has much fewer consequences than being registered on a fictitious address. But it is getting even more complicated: The Russian law about the registration of migrants says that non-registered foreigners even might not be fined at all, at least theoretically.
What is important to know: It is the duty of the receiving side to register a foreign person in Russia. This can be the inviting person or institution. Usually this is the host or landlord as the place of stay factual counts as the decisive criteria. The good point is that you don't have to go yourselves to the registration office. The landlord should do that. Nowadays the registration can be done easily by public postal service. You are only required to hand over a copy of your passport and migration card you received at the border to Russia to your landlord.
In reality, there had been some cases where people had been sentenced guiltily for registering not correctly even when copies of passport and migration card had been provided to the landlord. And, there also had been cases when people were found innocent in the same matter. It is an unpleasant reality that the legal entitlement and a factual jurisdiction are from time to time far away from each other in Russia. Also, because the landlord is obliged to run the registration of the hosted person you will very often hear at negotiation stage when renting a flat that the flat can be rented only without registration.
If you rented a flat already, there are things you can do to make sure you are more on the safe side than breaking the rules. What you need to do is handing over copies of migration card and passport to your landlord. If the landlord doesn't want to accept these documents, you should send them by registered postal service with receipt confirmation and stating a list of contents. The dilemma is that your landlord might try to put you on the street. But there is hope in the Russian legal system, and if you have a signed renting agreement in your hands this cannot be done easily and fast.
About the Author:
Michael Haase is the owner and Managing Director of RUSCONSULT24 a Russia Consulting company based in Moscow. RUSCONSULT24 consults and provides services to foreign companies based in Russia. The services include the outsourcing of bookkeeping, application for work- permits and Russian visa and search for human resources. Visit RUSCONSULT24 at the links above for more information.
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