Registration by Mail as of January

The Moscow Times - Tuesday, November 21, 2006. Issue 3544. Page 3.

Beginning next year, foreigners will be allowed to register their residency by mail, sidestepping some of the bureaucratic hassles endemic to the registration process, the Federal Migration Service said Monday.

From Jan. 15, a new law on registering foreigners will allow them to send registration papers by registered mail to the migration service within three days of their arrival, service spokeswoman Ksenia Gordeyeva said.

A post office receipt will then serve as confirmation of registration until the official documents are returned by mail, she said.

The migration service has touted the law, which President Vladimir Putin signed July 18, as a way of eliminating hassles, including long lines at local building-utilities administrator offices, known as ZhEK, and corruption in the form of bribes for speedy service or for the right to bypass registration protocol altogether.

But how much the new law will ease the registration process for foreigners with visas is unclear.

The government, for example, has yet to specify exactly which documents will be needed in the registration process, said Sergei Melnikov of Your Lawyer, a legal firm specializing in visa- and work-regulation issues.

"There's a whole list of statutes that have not been established and will determine how the new system will work," Melnikov said.