Visa News
Russia drops english translation for tourists
October 13, 2005 by Administrator · 2 Comments
Travelling to Russia has always been a difficult thing to do, but now it just became harder. If you have already travelled to Russia on a tourist or business trip then you would know that the Russian authorities demand you fill out an immigration card. Usually people discover this when approaching the customs desk, with a mad flurry of pencil or pen sharing ensuing.
This confusion is only matched by the outbound journey, when said travellers realise that they were actually meant to keep one part of this document to enable them to leave the country.
Now nothing is new about that, except the Russian authorities have decided it was just too easy. Now they produce the immigration document in Russian language only! Imagine yourself on the plane, wondering how you can possibly fill in a document in cyrillic…
How did this lunacy come about? Well we’ve been reliably informed by our contacts that the development of the new immigration card can be traced back to recent Government Decree No. 413. I’ll refresh your memory, this is the one which does not specify language for the form but states that when a foreigner does not understand Russian, his card can be completed by somebody else (who is not specified). One can only imagine this would be the airline staff or other passengers, as there is little if no help in Moscow’s busy customs area.
This rule was apparently then interpreted by the joint order No. 97/88 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Security Service which
stated that the text of the card would be printed in Russian. The Federal Migration Service was given the unlucky task of implementing the new card and seems to be taking the brunt of the criticism.
However we are here to offer you what help we can. If you are travelling to Russia in the foreseeable future or know someone else who is – ask them to visit the link below and download a translation of the immigration card.
Russian Immigration Card – English
We’ll keep you informed about developments in this area and hopefully this card should soon be replaced. Good luck on your trip to Russia and as usual, if you want any advice on your visa or travel plans then contact our staff.
With over 10 years experience providing corporate and individual visas, you can trust us to ensure your travel documents are in order. 
your printed version of the Russian Immigration (or Migratory) form is very small and I cannot enlarge it or the text, on my machine. could you print it bigger, please?
The image size is actually quite large. When we print here, the output is at 26% of the origional size. I would try adjusting your printer settings to get a larger version.