Registration, very confused
 

I have just arrived in Vladivostok on Business Visa, riding to London
I am getting totally conflicting messages on whether or not I have to register.

I'm in a Hostel that says its not needed but I checked somewhere else that says the Hotel should do it... My Hostel doesn't do it and many hotels don't either
So...do I or do I not have to register and if I do ... How do I do it if the hotel/hostel doesn't?
Appreciate help as it's very frustrating getting conflicting info

As you leave Russia ,, those sheets are the first thing they will ask for.
All hotels provide the service,, only few hostels do. You need to stay at a decent hotel once in a while to get it. Or you have to go to a local police station..
If this is not possible ,, save all your gasoline receipts ,, food purchases etc. Also if you are holding US passport ,, be on alert,, just in case.

We are in Russia now and had some similar questions that were posted elsewhere on HU.

Basically, you MUST get a registration within the first seven days of entry. If you stay at any city (hotel) for 3 days or more, you should get another registration. Our concern arose from the fact that we won't be in any other city for 3 days or more, as we're constantly moving.

We asked for, and got, registration from two hotels within the first seven days, telling the second that theirs would be our first registration. We have subsequently been given two additional registrations from hotels without asking.

Some hotels don't want to go through the trouble of doing the registrations and some do it as routine.

We are more than happy with the four that we've got to cover our journey across Russia. We have also kept every receipt from hotels that we stayed at that didn't provide registration. Some nights we wild-camp so obviously have no receipts for that, but we can say where we were and can back it up with a GPS log if necessary. Having said that, I think our four registrations will be sufficient.

[QUOTE=Bermuda Rover; Having said that, I think our four registrations will be sufficient.[/QUOTE]

Afraid ,, four quite not enough ,, they want to see your point of entry and exit.
And the progression of your trip.

unless your work for the russian government, how can you make this statement?

Arrived in Russia yesterday and spent the night at a nice hotel in Nalchik, but they did not do the registration as we were only staying one night.

Tonight we are staying in another small hotel in small town, in a half built hotel, but the 2 young girls running it will certainly not bother either with registration....

I will keep my receipts and hope for the best. As we are staying only 4 nights in Russia , before getting in Kazakh, it should be fine.

It seems that there is no set rule for that! All very confusing i agree!

Rules are rules. While the government officials know some of them .. people who travel will have the rules applied to them and learn of them (sometimes to their cost).

So .. the local cop shop sound like a good idea for 'registration'. When you wild camp - take a photo or two .. show the tent and bike with the back drop ... that 'proves' you camped .. hopefully in a scenic spot. They may enjoy the photo :thumbup1: and that gives you a more personal aspect to your travels for them.

As I understand it, the 3-day stay rule for any one city (hotel) generally applies, but doesn't apply to the requirement to get a registration within the first seven days (for that, a single-night stay would qualify for the hotel to process the registration). We had a couple of hotels quote the 3-day rule but one agreed once we told them it was our first registration.

Some hotels do the registration automatically (we now have 5 to date).

What isn't clear to me is whether or not you need to register if you won't be in the country for seven days. That will apply to us on our next two entries into Russia, so it would be useful to know. We'll try to get a registration on each subsequent entry, quoting the first entry requirement.

We're now about two days from Irkutsk and then on to Mongolia.

I was in Russia for over a nearly 2 months last summer. I entered and exited 3 different times. I was on a tourist visa so it might be different

From kazak to Barnoul the out into Mongolia south of Ulan Ude (12 days), I was not registered once, they never checked when I left.

I went into Altai Russia from Mongolia and spent 8 or 9 days camping in Altai, then went back through the same border crossing. No registration, no one asked.

I entered Russia the 3rd time south of Ulan Ude. I rode for 1 month in Russia and left from Sakhalin island. This time I was registered 2 times. Once on a little hotel somewhere on the BAM road and another time on Sakhalin island. When leaving Sakhalin, they glanced at the paperwork but didn't care about it much.

If you get to a border where they ask for registration, you can always say "I asked them to register me at this hotel but they wouldn't".

Just be safe folks ,, get it at every opportunity if you can. Better to be safe than sorry.
With me ,, every hotel I walked in ,, as I handed over the passport ,, first thing out of my mouth was stamp please then I would stamp my left hand with right fist. They all nodded. Next morning ,, it was always inserted.
Especially if you are heading west ,, towards Ukraine or Moldova. Like I've said ,, when I left Russia to Trinistra ,, the guard ,, pretty much looked at all of them ,, I had some 20 sheets.
I just can not believe ,, cities in Ukraine, with great people,, which I've enjoyed so much ,, only two years ago are now bleeding.

Joe, I'll be in Russia starting about Jun 23. Having a US passport should I expect extra scrutiny? Harassment?

I see no particular dangers, for US passport holders,,, so far.
Be more cautious of the roads,, especially the tarmac melting in the hot sun,, they are the killers. It will get hot very soon.

Bollox.

POE is stamped in your passport.

Im with Noah, Registered once on each entry where I could but didn't go out of my way. Kept some fuel receipts, some hotel receipts etc. Stayed with a policeman in Mirny for 5 nights, stayed with friends in Vladivostok for 2 weeks! Other than Yakutsk for 3 nights (didn't register) we kept moving.

Georgia - Volgograd - Kaz 2 registrations
Altai - none
Mongolia - Irkutsk - Mirny - Yakutsk - Magadan - Tynda - Vladivostok 1 registration

No questions EVER asked in the 3 months we travelled Russia.

Get what you can, but don't stress over it. take business cards for each place you stay (if you stay) and fuel receipts. If someone does ask, you have phone numbers and a trail, but don't worry about it too much.

Happy trails

G bier

have entered Russia about 300 times. One registration slip per entry (if over 7 days) is enough. I have never been hassled for more.

If you are less than 7 days, you do not need one. They will see from your entry stamp if its less than 7 days or not.

We left Russia with 7 registration forms from various hotels during our drive from west to east.

We handed over our passports and migration form at the border. Nobody said anything at all about registration and nobody asked to see the seven forms.

Seems like a lot of fuss over nothing. I expect that the registrations that we got were all recorded in a database somewhere and would have been accessible. One of the hotels told us they are not allowed to give us original registration forms, as they have to be submitted to the authorities after we check out, but they were able to provide us with copies.