A migration card is a document that contains information about foreign citizens entering the Russian Federation or stateless persons (hereinafter referred to as foreign citizens), which serves to monitor their stay in the Russian Federation.
A migration card is issued to all foreign citizens who enter the country through checkpoints, regardless of whether they have a visa or they enter without a visa. The migration card is filled in automatically by border guards when passing Russian passport control (at airports) or issued by airlines before boarding an airplane, by train in trains to cross the border, is also posted on stands in the passport control lounges at airports or border points, filled out in Russian before passing the Russian passport control.
The migration card is filled in automatically by customs when passing Russian passport control (at airports) or issued by airlines before boarding an airplane, by train conductors in trains to cross the border, also posted on stands in the passport control lounges at airports or border points, filled out in Russian before passing the Russian passport control.
It indicates personal information about the foreigner: name, date of birth, citizenship, passport data (information must be specified strictly in accordance with the passport). The migration card also indicates the purpose of the visit, information about the inviting party and the length of stay.
Below you can find out of the main purpose of the visits. Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 16th, 2004 N 413 “On the migration card” provides the following objectives of the visit:
- official;
- tourism;
- business;
- education;
- employment;
- transit;
- private.
In accordance with clause 2 of article 18.8 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses N 195-ФЗ a violation by a foreign citizen of the rules for entering the Russian Federation or the regime of stay (residence) in the Russian Federation, expressed in the inconsistency of the declared purpose of entering the Russian Federation actually carried out during the period of stay (residence) in the Russian Federation activity or occupation, entails the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of from two thousand to five thousand rubles with administrative expulsion from the Russian Federation or without it.
Currently, the regulatory framework contains several concepts that are close in meaning to the word “purpose”, such as: “purpose of entry”, “purpose of visit” and “purpose of trip”.
“The purpose of entry” is fixed during the migration registration and is indicated in the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of January 15th, 2007 N 9 “On the procedure for the migration registration of foreign citizens and stateless persons in the Russian Federation”. In accordance with the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated November 23rd, 2017 N 881 "On approval of the Administrative Regulations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation ..." the purpose of entry may be official, tourism, business, education, employment, private, transit, humanitarian, other.
Moreover, article 25.1 of the Federal Law dated August 15th, 1996 N 114-ФЗ "On the procedure for leaving the Russian Federation and entering the Russian Federation" provides that depending on the purpose of the foreign citizen's entry into the Russian Federation and the purpose of his stay in the Russian Federation a foreign citizen is issued a visa, which may be diplomatic, official, ordinary or transit visa or a visa of a temporary resident.
The concept of “Purpose of travel” is used when applying for a visa and is reflected in the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of June 9th, 2003 N 335 (as amended on January 19th, 2019) "On approval of the Regulation on establishing the visa form ...", as well as in the Order of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Internal Affairs Of the Russian Federation and the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation of December 27th, 2003 N 19723A / 1048/922 "On approval of the List of" Purpose of travel "used by authorized state bodies of the Russian Federation when issuing invitations and visas to foreign citizens and stateless persons." In total, these documents reflect 89 options for the purpose of the trip, based on which the type of visa is selected.
It is not so easy to determine which purpose to indicate in documents, since a person can perform several actions in one trip and only one purpose should be indicated.
For example, a foreign citizen comes with the purpose of “employment” visit, but suppose on the weekend he decides to go on an excursion to see local sights - how to determine if this action is a violation of the purpose of entry or not?
Another example: a foreign citizen, having the purpose of the visit as “private” in the migration card, as he visits relatives, receives an invitation from his organization to participate in the conference. Does he need to return and change the purpose of the visit to attend this conference and then leave and return again to continue to be with relatives?
It turns out that a person who came for the purpose of “education” visit does not have the right to meet with relatives, to go to museums and theaters, since this is not “education”?
Unfortunately, neither the Ministry of Internal Affairs nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can unequivocally answer such questions, and a large number of constant questions led to the creation of a law to reject migration cards at all.
Nevertheless, you should be very careful regarding the stated purpose of entry in the migration card, for example, if a foreign citizen was in Russia with the aim of "education" and after studying decided to get a job then he will not be able to get a work permit as the prvious purpose of the visit will be indicated in the migration card.
Obtaining permits for the implementation of labor activities is possible only by indicating in the migration card the purpose of the visit is “employment”.
If the migration card is filled out by customs representative, we recommend that foreign citizens carefully check each completed column, especially the purpose of the visit. After entering the territory of the Russian Federation, it will be impossible to change the purpose of the visit. The only thing that can be done is to leave the country and enter the Russian Federation again with the correct purpose of the visit in the migration card.
Duration of stay is another clause on the migration card that should be given attention. If a foreign citizen is required to apply for a visa to enter Russia, then the duration of stay in the migration card is set by default for the duration of the visa. A highly qualified specialist from a “visa-free” country with the Russian Federation indicates the length of stay by the validity period of a work permit, and citizens of countries that are members of the EEU engaged in labor activities on the territory of the Russian Federation indicate the duration of the labor contract. If the search for an employer is only planned, then a period of 90 days from the date of entry should be indicated.
For foreign citizens from the “visa” countries the clause of “Inviting Party” is mandatory. It prescribes information and contacts of the person who issued the invitation to this foreign citizen, on the basis of which the visa was issued. If the inviting party is absent or a foreign citizen has arrived in the Russian Federation in a manner that does not require a visa, then the visiting sights/cities should be indicated. Here you should indicate the cities that a foreign citizen plans to visit. Nobody controls the correctness of filling this column and there is no liability for incorrectness.
When changing a passport, personal data or obtaining a new visa, a migration card does not need to be changed. If the migration card was lost, then it must be restored through the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation with the mandatory fingerprint registration procedure. Then a duplicate of a migration card is issued to a foreign citizen, which he fills out on his own.
It is also important to note that the following are exempted from filling out the migration card:
- citizens of Belarus on the basis of the Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus on ensuring equal rights of citizens of these countries to freedom of movement, choice of place of residence and residence in the territories of the member states of the Union State;
- foreign citizens temporarily or permanently residing in the territory of Belarus (“Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Belarus on the use of a single migration card”).
- Citizens of the EEU countries (Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, Armenia) upon entering the territory of the Russian Federation according to one of the valid documents allowing marking of border control authorities on crossing the state border, provided that their stay does not exceed 30 days from the date of entry based on the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union.
