This situation is a serious violation, entails administrative responsibility under Art. 18.8 Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, as well as a lot of time and material costs necessary to leave Russia.
If the visa of a foreign citizen expired not more than 3 days or 72 hours (according to paragraph 3 Art. 67 of the Decree of the Government of Russia of 09.06.2003 N 335 "On approval of the Regulations on establishing the form of a visa, the procedure and conditions for its registration and issuance, extending its validity, restoring it in case of loss, as well as the procedure for canceling a visa"), then in this case a foreign citizen will be able to buy a ticket for a trip outside Russia, moreover, the airline can even register him for a flight without any problems.
However, at the time of passport control, a foreign citizen will be denied passage to the transit zone for subsequent departure from Russia due to an expired permit document.
This issue must be resolved at the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Ministry of Internal Affairs. This authority is represented at every major international airport of Russia. First, you need to contact an employee of the migration department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with an explanation of the situation and a request for assistance in leaving Russia.
An employee of the migration department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will draw up a protocol on an administrative offense and write out a corresponding fine, which must be paid immediately.
In parallel with this action, you must find the Consul of Russia at the airport, explain him the situation and request for help with leaving Russia.
You necessarily need to contact the inviting party (person) who assisted in issuing the invitation for the foreign citizen.
The inviting party (if it is an organization) must write an e-mail on the company’s letterhead addressed to the Director of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia in a free form, with a request to extend the validity of the expired visa for a period sufficient to leave Russia, explaining the reasons for late departure, by attaching air tickets, copies of documents of a foreign citizen and any other documents that are proof that a foreign citizen was not able to leave Russia in a timely manner.
If you receive a positive resolution, you must pay the state fee for visa extension and contact the Consul for visa extension.
However, it is worth noting that each case is considered on an individual basis and a visa extension may be refused by an employee of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Ministry of Internal Affairs (in practice, visas are extended if the visa has expired for not more than 1 day).
In case of receiving a negative resolution from the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, leaving the country is possible only by a court decision.
Now we will describe the procedure in case a foreign citizen has overstayed his visa for more than 72 hours.
First, you need to contact the Embassy of your country in Russia in order to get a certificate stating that a foreign citizen is not wanted and does not have any claims from the state of his citizenship to him personally. In addition, it is necessary to ask the Embassy’s staff to apply for the so-called “transit” visa (hereinafter transit visa) for the foreign citizen to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. As a rule, Embassies are reluctant to make this application, with the exception of countries such as Israel and the United States, which rarely refuse their citizens such a request.
After receiving these documents from the Embassy, you must apply to the territorial division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is responsible for issuing visas and invitations in the subject of Russia, for a transit visa to go outside Russia.
But in case of refusal of the Embassy of the country of citizenship there is nothing left but to apply to the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the place of migration registration of a foreign citizen (or at the place of his actual stay) with an explanation of the situation, the attaching documents (including those that justifying untimely departure) and a request to assist in leaving Russia.
Moreover, the key word is “request”, as the officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs do not like to get in touch with foreign citizens who have violated the period of their stay in Russia that they have allowed and this involves a lot of time for preparing documents.
The employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs draws up a protocol on an administrative offense, and prepares documents for sending to the court, which will decide how the foreign citizen will leave Russia, as well as the measure of administrative responsibility for the violation.
After preparing the documents, the foreign citizen goes to court, where he will have to explain the reason for his delay. At this stage, a foreign citizen can provide any documents confirming the presence of extenuating circumstances of the delay in Russia, such as the need for emergency treatment, a serious illness or death of a close relative living in Russia, or the occurrence of force majeure circumstances (extreme and unavoidable circumstances under these conditions), as well as natural phenomena.
It is worth paying attention to the fact that a foreign citizen may need an interpreter if he does not speak Russian or English.
In accordance with Art. 147 of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Russia, the question of choosing a candidate for an interpreter is resolved by the court, taking into account the opinion of the persons participating in the case, and he is warned about the liability provided for by the Criminal Code of Russia for a deliberately incorrect translation and gives a signature about this.
Law enforcement officials report the need to provide an interpreter from the defendant, which incurs additional material costs (hourly payment for the services of an interpreter). It is worth noticing, that cases are being considered on a “first-come, first-served” basis and not always in one day.
If the court appoints a state interpreter, the process can be extended for the terms of searching for a suitable specialist.
A possible court decision may be the imposition of administrative responsibility in the form of a fine. The amount of the fine is from 2 to 5 thousand rubles, in Moscow, Moscow region, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region - up to 7 thousand rubles.The court may decide that this foreign citizen is not guilty of not leaving the territory of Russia on time, and then he should contact the territorial division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for obtaining a transit visa for leaving Russia.
A court decision can also make a decision on the expulsion of a foreign citizen from Russia. The order of execution of this decision is described in Art. 32.10 of the Administrative Code of Russia. Expulsion can be either compulsory or controlled independently.
If there is a decision on expulsion from Russia, the Department of Internal Affairs of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia refuses to issue a transit visa, referring to the possibility of leaving Russia on the basis of an existing court decision on the expulsion of a foreign citizen.
In difficult cases, when a foreign citizen does not have documents and / or money to leave, he can be placed in a temporary detention place, where he will stay until he has the opportunity to buy a ticket and leave.
It is important to note, that after a court decision on forced or controlled independent expulsion, a foreign citizen will be prohibited from entering Russia for up to five years.
It is worth paying attention to the fact that the presence of family members on the territory of Russia may affect a court decision. The decision to expel a foreign citizen from Russia with a subsequent ban on entry is unlikely to be made by a judge in connection with these circumstances.
So, leaving Russia after the visa expires is a very long and complicated process, requiring considerable financial and time costs of both the foreign citizen and his inviting party. In this connection, we strongly recommend that you follow the visa validity period, constantly remind the foreign citizen of his obligation to leave Russia before the visa expires, as well as the serious consequences and the possibility of further entry into Russia. Anyway, we recommend contacting professionals who will help make the right decision and minimize risks for both a foreign citizen and the inviting party.
For more information, please contact the consultants of the Confidence Group company.
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