Crossing a Russian Border

Arrival

     This manual will help you smooth your arrival and departure from Russia. Before travelling to Russia, you should verify the latest requirements with the nearest Russian Embassy or Consulate since Russian immigration and visa laws change regularly. In order to cross the border without any difficulties, stick to the following

STEP-BY-STEP BORDER CROSSING GUIDANCE:

     Make sure you have all the necessary documents, including Passport, which should be valid for 6 months beyond intended stay; Tickets and Documents for return or onward travel; Russian visa (if required); HIV Certificate (if required); Medical Insurance (if required); other documents
Before you leave for Russia, you should make several copies of your passport and visa.  Leave one set at home with your emergency contacts and keep an additional set with you, but separate from your actual passport.  Having these copies makes replacing your passport and visa easier in case of theft or loss. 

     Upon arrival, you will need to first go through immigration and then customs.  Forms need to be filled out for each of these processes.  Migration cards will be passed out during the flight to Russia (if you are arriving by land or sea you will usually need to ask for a card at the immigration post).  Cards consist of two parts printed either side-to-side or top/bottom.  Although these sections are identical, they both need to be filled out and can be filled out in either English or Russian. 

     The card should be straightforward to fill out, but here are some hints:

- Under Given name(s), print both your first and middle names.
- Leave Patronomic blank.
- Remember to list dates by day, month, year.
- For Passport or other ID, write passport and fill out the number.
- For Purpose of Travel, underline or circle tourism/business.
- Under Name of host person or company, write the name of company, which issued your invitation.
- Under Duration of Stay, fill it out from the current date to the departure day indicated in your visa.

     Having filled out the card, you will need to queue in line to go through immigration.  Make sure you choose a line that is for foreign nationals.  An immigration official will take your passport and migration card from you and stamp your passport and card, removing one half of the card and placing the other half in your passport. It is very important that you do not lose your migration card.  If you do, you will need to pay a hefty fine.

     After going through immigration, you will need to retrieve your luggage and fill out a customs declaration form.  Generally, tourists have nothing to declare and customs officials do not collect forms from people passing through the green channel (for people with nothing to declare).  If you do have something to declare, you will need to get in the red line, present what you are declaring and have your customs form stamped so that you can then take this item out of the country when you leave. 

Items that need to be declared include:
 
- Amounts of cash larger than $2,000 (if you plan to exit the country with this money)
- Weapons
- Narcotics
- Items of particular value including jewellery, artwork, or antiques
- Musical instruments.

If you do not declare these upon entering the country, you may not be allowed to take them out with you.  Money only needs to be declared if you are planning on leaving the country with a large sum of money, as you cannot leave the country with more money than you brought in without paying taxes.  Personal computers (if you bring only one) and IPods do not need to be declared.  Bringing in items such as narcotics and weapons without permission, whether they are declared or not, may lead to your arrest.

The customs form is straightforward to fill out and is usually available in several languages. 


Departure

     Leaving is very similar to entering the country, except that one first goes through customs and then immigration.  When going through customs you will need to declare any artwork or antiques (including old books) you have purchased.  Generally anything made prior to World War II is considered an antique and will need special permission in order to be taken out of the country.  For more information on what you can and cannot get out of the country and how to get a permission visit www.vch.ru. 
    Those who filled out a customs declaration form on their way into the country will need to go through the red channel, presenting their declaration from when they arrived and the items declared.  If you have lost your declaration, you may not be able to bring those items out of the country.  If you declared nothing on the way into the country and have bought nothing that you need to declare upon departure you can pass through the green channel and proceed to flight check-in.

    Having checked in, you will need to go through immigration, where your passport will be stamped and your migration card removed.  On the departure date make sure you have a Registration Mark in your Migration Card – otherwise you may be fined. State fee is about $50 or 1500 rubles. On departure your passport should also be stamped with the so-called "exit-stamp". After this checkpoint you will be in the international area.