How to get phone number under the new law

NorseVictory

In short, the process is:
1) get notarized translation of your (non-Russian) passport;
2) get SNILS (social security number) at the Pension fund office (or at MFC=Multi-functional Center=МФЦ, Мои документы). At this point you also have to have an (easily accessible) email address that would be used for registration purposes, this should NOT be a Gmail account;
3) get Gosuslugi.ru account;
4) submit you biometric data at MFC or select bank office (Sber offices typically offer the service);
5) check the IMEI number of the phone that would be used with the Russian sim-card;
6) visit mobile operator's office to renew/conclude the contract.

All the steps above have to be done sequentially, completion of a preceding step is required to proceed to the one that follows.

KO______

Thanks for that information.

This new law is strictly for foreigners and yet the website is only in Russian? And when using google translate to translate the website, it won't load.

If youve been through this, any chance you could provide more details? For example where to get your passport translated and notarized?

At this point, needing a Russian number to get a Tinkoff card, it might be too much work to go through for a SIM card for only being here a couple months.

So no credit card and no data on my phone. Is it possible to survive without those two things? All my hotels and flights are already purchased.

NomadicHedgie

I also saw this MTS document. I will ask a Russian friend about this process today.

KO______

NomadicHedgie Yeah, I have the same document from Megafon. I'll wait to hear more. I dont mind doing the work but so far every website they provide is Russian language only. I can only imagine each office visit will be a challenge for non-Russian speakers as well.

I just arrived in Kaliningrad so I'm actively trying to do this as we speak.

gavinmac

I haven't heard about a new law. Can tourists still get a sim card or esim at the airport or at a Megafon/MTS office or is there now a lot more red tape involved?

KO______

No, the new law requires any foreigner to go through the specific steps to have the SIM card activated. There is no shortcut. In March, those foreigners who already have a working SIM will lose activation and will then need to go through the steps as well.

gavinmac

KO______ Well this seems relatively insane to impose this on tourists.

KO______

gavinmac Basically SIM cards are no longer an option for the average tourist.

gavinmac

KO______ When did this law go into effect? I'm not reading much about it elsewhere. Of course there isn't much online generally about travel to Russia these days

NomadicHedgie

KO______ Why do you think the process will be impossible?

I spoke to one Russian friend, Yulia, and plan to discuss it with more. But the process seems manageable. There is a notary, an MFC, and an MTS store within a short walk of my Moscow apartment. So, on my first day in Moscow, I could visit all three to complete the process. Yulia said the MFCs are usually fast and perhaps I will be able to do much of this at the MTS store. I can email the notary before I arrive to arrange the translation.

But I will know more once my expat friends who are already in Russia complete the process.

KO______

gavinmac January 1, 2025. I don't know anything about eSIMs but I assume they also fall under this umbrella.

https://digital.gov.ru/ru/events/50725/

gavinmac

KO______ What makes sense here is just have a rule that this doesn't apply to tourists who have been in Russia less than 30 days, or implement some kind of short term "tourist" sim card that automatically expires after 30 days if you don't do the SNILS/biometric process. But they don't ask me to set policy
.

gavinmac

NomadicHedgie Someone who did a YouTube video about it says his friend just arrived in Sochi and did it all in one day. It does seem like the MFC is the main extra step here, though there is also some confusion about whether a trip to the bank is required to do biometrics before you get the SIM card (and then go to the bank to open a bank account, if that is your plan).

I did find two translation services online who seem to offer notarized translations of passports done remotely by email. You email a scan of passport, pay by PayPal, they send notarized translation. Others won't do this or require physical verification of passport as a final step.

NomadicHedgie

Cool. Thank you.

Would you share the YouTube video link and the link to services that provide remote notarized translations?

I'm not arriving until early May, so I haven't started contacting notaries yet.

gavinmac

NomadicHedgie Sure. I'm reluctant to post actual links because I don't know what's allowed or flagged as spam. The YT channel is "American in Crimea" and the video is from January 11 titled "Russian Laws for Foreigners in 2025 | Live Q&A Session."

The SIM card discussion starts at 15:08 and the vlogger mentions in a comment that someone did it in a day in Sochi. Go to the channel and click "Live" not "videos" and you should see it.

For notarized passport translations, I bookmarked spbtranslations dot com and gowinwin dot ru as companies that advertise the ability to do the process online.