Once upon a time it was sufficient to pay some Rubles and having a stamp on a piece of paper to have an acceptable registration for Russia. But the times have changed and since January 3rd, 2014 if 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.
Having mastered the first hurdle and holding your work permit and Russian Visa in your hands you feel a short moment of happiness. However, many visitors know the pain when they arrive in Russia. They have to register themselves with the Russian local authorities to avoid problems and fines when leaving the country. As most of the visitors are not familiar with the Russian language and don't like to spend time in queues at Russian administration offices they use the services of local service companies which provide a registration paper for a couple of Rubles without any hassle. But this time is over now.
From the legal point, it was never allowed being registered at a fictitious address. However, it was kind of 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 3 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 less consequences than being registered on a fictitious address. But to make it a bit 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.
It is important to know that responsible for the registration of a person is the receiving or housing side. That might be the inviting person or institution. The decisive criteria, is the place of stay of that person. This makes the host or landlord usually responsible for the registration. You don't have to go yourself to the registration office. Registration can be done nowadays by post and it shouldn't be a big hassle for the landlord to register you. You only have to make sure that you hand over to your landlord copies of your migration card and passport.
In practice there are some cases where the foreign person handed over a copy of the passport and migration card to the landlord and anyway was sentenced guilty for not registering properly. And there are other court decisions where it was decided that the foreign person could not be sentenced as it provided the landlord with the required documents. As it happens from time to time, reality and legal entitlement are far from each other, doesn't matter that by law the host or landlord is obliged the execute the registration of the hosted person. Unfortunately, in reality you will hear at negotiation stage when renting a flat that the flat can be only rented without registration.
But there are things you can do to be legally more save in such cases. You need to make sure that you fulfilled your part of the obligation, meaning you need to provide your landlord with a copy of passport and migration card. If the landlord refused to accept these documents you should send it by registered mail with content list and receipt confirmation. You might think this is the best way to get thrown out of your flat. This is a dilemma one has to live with, but there is still the hope on the Russian legal system and with having a legal renting agreement in your hands no one can easily put on the street.
Having mastered the first hurdle and holding your work permit and Russian Visa in your hands you feel a short moment of happiness. However, many visitors know the pain when they arrive in Russia. They have to register themselves with the Russian local authorities to avoid problems and fines when leaving the country. As most of the visitors are not familiar with the Russian language and don't like to spend time in queues at Russian administration offices they use the services of local service companies which provide a registration paper for a couple of Rubles without any hassle. But this time is over now.
From the legal point, it was never allowed being registered at a fictitious address. However, it was kind of 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 3 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 less consequences than being registered on a fictitious address. But to make it a bit 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.
It is important to know that responsible for the registration of a person is the receiving or housing side. That might be the inviting person or institution. The decisive criteria, is the place of stay of that person. This makes the host or landlord usually responsible for the registration. You don't have to go yourself to the registration office. Registration can be done nowadays by post and it shouldn't be a big hassle for the landlord to register you. You only have to make sure that you hand over to your landlord copies of your migration card and passport.
In practice there are some cases where the foreign person handed over a copy of the passport and migration card to the landlord and anyway was sentenced guilty for not registering properly. And there are other court decisions where it was decided that the foreign person could not be sentenced as it provided the landlord with the required documents. As it happens from time to time, reality and legal entitlement are far from each other, doesn't matter that by law the host or landlord is obliged the execute the registration of the hosted person. Unfortunately, in reality you will hear at negotiation stage when renting a flat that the flat can be only rented without registration.
But there are things you can do to be legally more save in such cases. You need to make sure that you fulfilled your part of the obligation, meaning you need to provide your landlord with a copy of passport and migration card. If the landlord refused to accept these documents you should send it by registered mail with content list and receipt confirmation. You might think this is the best way to get thrown out of your flat. This is a dilemma one has to live with, but there is still the hope on the Russian legal system and with having a legal renting agreement in your hands no one can easily put on the street.
About the Author:
Michael Haase is the owner and Managing Director of RUSCONSULT24 a Russia Consulting company based in Moscow. The company consults and provides services to foreign firms based in Russia. The services include the outsourcing of bookkeeping, application for work- permits and Russian visa and search for human resources. Visit RUSCONSULT24 by clicking at the links above for more information.
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