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Music and Art at the Ukrainian Institute of America
Posted by Dan on April 24, 2001 at 09:17:36:
In Reply to: Registration -- What About Business Visas? posted by Larry S. on April 24, 2001 at 08:57:41:
If you are there on a Business visa, then an official of the business that sponsored you is responsible for getting you registered. Just as, if you are there on a Private visa, the person sponsoring you is responsible for registering you. Note that the invitation letter is no longer required for citizens of American and EU countries - but the sponsorship remains insofar as actually getting the OVIR registration.
I really do not think the OVIR officer was seeking a bribe. They were telling you the rules accurately.
My solution (I am also on a Business visa - 3-year, multiple-entry) is to get my registrations performed at a hotel. There is nothing to say that a business traveler cannot stay at a hotel - and given that the hotel will register your stay anyway - it seems simple enough to have the registration accomplished through a hotel. Having said that - I typically use a service that works with the hotel to get my passport registered. All I do is supply the entry document, which is later stamped with the appropriate registration stamp and signature by the hotel and returned to me.
I hope this helps.
- Dan
: I have a business visa. Last June, 2000 I went to Kiev and rented an apartment from someone who did not provide the OVIR registration service. I then dutifully went with a translator to OVIR to register my presence in Ukraine and get the registration stamp. I ended up having a significant degree of difficulty.
: The OVIR office said that I had a business visa and therefore should be having my passport presented by an official from the company that extended the invitation to me for me to get my business visa. The OVIR official I dealt with even said that her office registered private visa's all the time but she could not ever remember having registered a business visa. Finally, due to the persistence of my translator and due to the fact that I am no longer affiliated with the company that originally extended me the invitation for my business visa, after about an hour the OVIR official relented and agreed to register me.
: Has anyone heard of this requirement? I know that the most obvious explanation for OVIR's reticence to stamp my passport was hope of a bribe. However, I tend to think the concern expressed was sincerely held even if not a correct understanding of Ukrainian immigration law. If you are reading this post and can help, I would appreciate any insight you have that might explain the OVIR officer’s reticence and also any advice you have for the easiest way to register a business visa in the future.
: Thank you.