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I am staying in Russia for a period of 15 days, travelling to:

- Moscow         for 6 days (Arrived by flight - Staying at hostel)
- Murmansk       for 5 days (Moscow to Murmansk by flight - CouchSurfing)
- St. Petersburg for 4 days (Murmansk to St. Petersburg by train - CouchSurfing) 

Leaving Russia from St.Petersburg into Tallinn by Simple Express bus.

From what I read online, I do not need to register if I am changing cities (and living in each city for less than 7 working days)

I have all the travel documentation with me however I am still afraid about being asked at the border about registration while departing.

Do they ask for registration at the exit border?

I am currently in the Moscow part of my trip and four days have already passed since I've arrived. I am staying at a hostel in Moscow and CouchSurfing in the other two cities.

*EDIT: I arrived in Moscow on 4th August afternoon. I just asked my hostel if they could register me now, they said it is not possible since Friday has almost ended and it takes three days to register so I can only be registered on Monday (But I'm leaving Moscow on Monday 7am for my flight to Murmansk.

So registration is not possible for me - what should be my plan of action now ?

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  • Are you leaving from Pulkovo? – Gayot Fow Aug 7 '15 at 10:34
  • I'm leaving by Simple Express bus into Tallinn from St.Petersburg – YD8877 Aug 7 '15 at 10:36
  • Sorry, I forgot to ask: which of those three places issued your invitation? – Gayot Fow Aug 7 '15 at 10:39
  • None of them. I got the invitation from a travel agency which is not affiliated with any of these places. – YD8877 Aug 7 '15 at 10:42
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    Would you please update your question with these bits of info? They are relevant, thanks. – Gayot Fow Aug 7 '15 at 10:50
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Made the border crossing into Estonia at Ivangorod-Narva by Simple Express bus. Nobody even batted an eyelid for the registration.

Also in St.Petersburg, the hostel I stayed at said the same thing - You do not need to register if you are staying at one place for less than 7 business days.

So I guess that rule is widely known. For all the other people out there who are worrying about getting registered, just keep your travel receipts / tickets to show if you are questioned (in the rare case).

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This was resolved in chat. I will leave a basic summary here for anyone who was following the question.

Chat summary

  • I think the OP should register, taking a contrary view to other sources the OP has consulted;
  • The two couch surfing hosts are required to register the OP;
  • It doesn't take a long time to register, certainly not 3 days; more like an hour;
  • Both the host and the guest can be fined if the host does not register the OP;
  • The OP is leaving Russia by train. Based upon the way registration paperwork flows through the system, this provides an almost foolproof opportunity to lie about it at the exit control;
  • When in Russia the best policy for travellers is to play it strictly by the book.

The cost of registering depends upon the local authority; I would guess in Murmansk the cost would be about EUR 5; and in Peter it would be about EUR 20. But those are guesses whose purpose is to give an indicative range of what kind of money we're talking about.

The fine for not registering is about EUR 100 and may possibly attract a ban of 5 years. For those wanting to lie about having registered, leaving by air is a whole lot more risky than leaving by train.

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    I answered a similar question here. To put things short, in OP's scenario there is no legal requirement for registration, but if there's a willing host, it would do no harm to do so. The registration fee is the same everywhere in the country. – ach Aug 13 '15 at 21:15

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