Blog - Residence permit (3)!
Yesterday I received my temporary residence permit!
You might think picking up a residence permit is as easy as going by, picking it up, saying "thanks!" and going home. Not in Russia of course…
First time I came around to pick it up I was told they don't hand out residence permits on Fridays.
Second time turned out I showed up "late", because while the entire building closes at 20:00 (as per their site), that particular department closes at 19:00.
Third time there were simply way too many people, so again out of luck.
Fourth time I could actually speak to someone. Turned out the local migration service office still hadn't entered my registration into their database. And without my registration in their database, no residence permit.
Fifth time's the charm, and I finally got my desired residence permit. They took all my fingerprints, twice, prints of my hand, and one more of my thumbs, and one more of my hands, and finally I got a statement allowing me to get registered.
This wouldn't be Russia if I could take care of everything at the same time at the same place. Residence permit is one thing, but I also needed to replace my temporary registration with a permanent one. For this, we went to the passport office with ten or so different documents (my passport and notarized translation, copy, residence permit, copy, marriage certificate, copy, and a bunch more). Then we took the entire file to migration services, got a signature, went back to the passport office, and starting tomorrow I'll officially live here :)
Besides that I'll probably still need a work permit, a personal number (for taxes etc.) and an exit visa when I want to leave Russia. I'm also obliged to re-register every year and prove sufficient means of income.
There's one little light in all this bureaucratic darkness though: I received my residence permit before my visa expired :) Things could've been worse!
Even though it was a long and difficult road, I'm glad I've finally got something substantial: the right to live in Russia :) Granted: there are a lot of things still wrong here, but those are mainly one-time things I'll just have to go through. There are a lot opportunities here, there's always something going on, I'm having a very full life (and liking it!) and nothing's ever boring :)
You might think picking up a residence permit is as easy as going by, picking it up, saying "thanks!" and going home. Not in Russia of course…
First time I came around to pick it up I was told they don't hand out residence permits on Fridays.
Second time turned out I showed up "late", because while the entire building closes at 20:00 (as per their site), that particular department closes at 19:00.
Third time there were simply way too many people, so again out of luck.
Fourth time I could actually speak to someone. Turned out the local migration service office still hadn't entered my registration into their database. And without my registration in their database, no residence permit.
Fifth time's the charm, and I finally got my desired residence permit. They took all my fingerprints, twice, prints of my hand, and one more of my thumbs, and one more of my hands, and finally I got a statement allowing me to get registered.
This wouldn't be Russia if I could take care of everything at the same time at the same place. Residence permit is one thing, but I also needed to replace my temporary registration with a permanent one. For this, we went to the passport office with ten or so different documents (my passport and notarized translation, copy, residence permit, copy, marriage certificate, copy, and a bunch more). Then we took the entire file to migration services, got a signature, went back to the passport office, and starting tomorrow I'll officially live here :)
Besides that I'll probably still need a work permit, a personal number (for taxes etc.) and an exit visa when I want to leave Russia. I'm also obliged to re-register every year and prove sufficient means of income.
There's one little light in all this bureaucratic darkness though: I received my residence permit before my visa expired :) Things could've been worse!
Even though it was a long and difficult road, I'm glad I've finally got something substantial: the right to live in Russia :) Granted: there are a lot of things still wrong here, but those are mainly one-time things I'll just have to go through. There are a lot opportunities here, there's always something going on, I'm having a very full life (and liking it!) and nothing's ever boring :)