Migration registration: the first days’ formalities in Russia

• The visa: it authorises entry to the territory and sits in your passport.
• The migration card: handed to you at the border, it records your entry. It must be kept intact for the whole stay.
• Registration at the place of stay: the notification of the address where you live, of which a detachable slip is given to you. That slip is the proof you will be asked for.

Losing the migration card or the detachable registration slip triggers a long and avoidable replacement procedure. Keep them with the passport, not in a coat pocket.

This is the least understood point: the notification is filed by the party hosting you. In university housing, the residence administration or the international relations office handles it. In a private flat, it is the landlord who must do it.

That difference has a major practical consequence: private accommodation offered by a landlord who refuses to file the notification is not an option, whatever the price. Ask before signing, not after.

The deadline for filing the notification after arrival is set by Russian regulations and it is short: only a few days. We do not publish a number of days here, because this kind of deadline changes and an outdated figure on a web page would put you at risk.

Do it differently and more safely: within the first hours after arrival, contact your university’s international relations office and ask for the applicable deadline, the list of documents and exactly where to present yourself. That is their job, and theirs is the only up-to-date answer.

The classic mistake is believing registration is settled once and for all. It must be redone in several situations.

• After every exit from Russian territory followed by a return: holidays at home, a trip to a neighbouring country. You receive a new migration card, and the notification must be renewed.
• At every change of address: a room in another residence, a move to a flat.
• When the covered period expires, as your right of stay is extended.

A student who goes home to Tunisia for the summer and returns in September must redo the procedure. It is not optional, and forgetting it is the most frequent source of administrative trouble among international students.

Beyond the regulatory obligation, the detachable registration slip is the document you will be asked for in everyday life.

• At the university, for administrative enrolment and access to the residence.
• When opening a local bank account.
• To obtain a student transport card in some cities.
• At any administrative check.

Make a digital copy as soon as you receive it and keep it accessible on your phone as well as the original.

• Keep the migration card received at the border, unfolded and unlost.
• Report to the international relations office as soon as it opens.
• Have the residence or the landlord file the notification of stay.
• Collect the detachable slip and photograph it.
• Take the medical examination required by the university.
• Take out the health insurance policy required locally.
• Complete administrative enrolment and collect your student card.

Those seven lines fill the first week. Nothing else should come before them.