The 15th February 2011, a new law required foreigners to be registered by their landlords at their factual addresses, instead of registering at the employer's address.
Confronted to this law, the Association of European Business, the French-Russian chamber of commerce and several other associations told Russian authorities that foreign residents had great difficulties making their landlords register them. They asked for the law to be canceled and they even wrote a letter to Dimitri Medvedev himself!
Less than 45 days after the date when the first law came into force, a new law was just signed by the president Dimitri Medvedev that cancels the first one and eases by the same time the registration process. The new law extends the period that foreigners can be in the country without notifying the authorities from three to seven working days. It also ends the requirement that landlords register foreign tenants at their factual addresses, reinstating instead the previous rule of registering at the employer's address.
In concrete terms, it means that any tourist can stay 10 days on Russian territory (including the weekend) without being registered! For foreign residents, it means that they don't have to rush in to be registered.
The new law also forbids police from collecting fines from foreigners carrying invalid or missing registration papers. Instead, the organization that issued the foreigner's visa invitation will be held responsible for violations. This change is aimed at preventing extortion from corrupt police officers who could otherwise demand money on the street.
In concrete terms, it means that any tourist can stay 10 days on Russian territory (including the weekend) without being registered! For foreign residents, it means that they don't have to rush in to be registered.
The new law also forbids police from collecting fines from foreigners carrying invalid or missing registration papers. Instead, the organization that issued the foreigner's visa invitation will be held responsible for violations. This change is aimed at preventing extortion from corrupt police officers who could otherwise demand money on the street.
We have to say here that it's the first time in Russia that a new law passed so quickly in favor of foreigners. The speed at which the government overturned the harsher rules has even stunned the foreign business community. In my opinion, it shows that foreign companies start to be well considered in Russia, and it's a great thing for the future.
Let's just hope now that instead of easing the registration process, they will cancel it for good, and that they will do the same for visas! I think we'll have to wait a bit for that, even if things are going on the good way! And I want to say that for the moment it's more the European Union than Russia that doesn't want a free-visa policy between EU and Russia.
French version: http://regards-sur-la-russie.blogspot.com/2011/03/changement-de-la-procedure.html
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