How to check a Russian citizen’s passport for authenticity and validity

What are the requirements for the validity of a foreign passport?

Today, Russian citizens can choose between an old-style passport and a new, biometric one. An old-style passport is issued for 5 years, and a biometric passport is issued for 10 years. At the same time, a biometric document has more degrees of security and contains the owner’s fingerprints, so it is easier to cross the border with it. And although there is no urgent need to obtain a new document, it should be borne in mind that in the near future the old-style international passport will go out of use, so it is advisable to acquire biometrics.

At the same time, it is still more profitable for the child to draw up an old-style document, since in the event of a significant change in the baby’s appearance, the passport will have to be changed.

The main indicators of the validity of a foreign passport are:

• day, month, year of issue and expiration date;
• the authenticity of the specified full name, date of birth (all this information is contained on the page with personal data).

At the same time, anyone who is planning to travel abroad should take into account that each country has its own requirements regarding the validity of a foreign passport.

Therefore, before booking tickets or a hotel, you need not only to check the validity of your passport for traveling abroad, but also to clarify the conditions for entry into the country you are going to visit on the embassy’s website.

For example, some countries issue a visa if there are at least 6 months left before the expiration date of the passport, while for others 90 days are enough. However, in any case, in order for you to receive a visa, the legitimacy of your identity document abroad must be at least 30 days.

In what cases is it necessary to check the validity of a foreign passport?

The need to check the validity of a foreign passport may arise when planning to cross the Russian state border. This may be due to the following need:

• planning a vacation outside the country;
• obtaining education in foreign educational institutions;
• planning a trip abroad related to professional activities;
• making pilgrimages to holy places for believers located abroad;
• the need for treatment in a foreign clinic.

Not only the owner of the document is interested in checking a foreign passport. Depending on the purpose of crossing the state border, hotel employees or property owners, as well as employers, may be interested in the validity of the document.

Reasons for termination of passport validity

• Expiration date specified in the passport. The expiration date of the travel document is placed on the first page. The validity period of a document allowing a Russian citizen to travel abroad is regulated by the Federal Law of the Russian Federation on the procedure for entering and leaving the country. According to existing legislation, the validity of a foreign passport depends on its type. A foreign passport can be issued for a period of 5 years (old-style passport) and 10 years (new-style passport).
• Physical deterioration. For example, a page in a document torn out or damaged by water, a clearly damaged passport cover, etc. All printed characters on the document must be clearly legible, and the seal must not be blurred.
• The passport contains inscriptions in pen (ink), except for the “signature” column. Any other ink marks on the cover or pages of the travel document are prohibited.
• The photo on the passport does not correspond to the actual appearance of the document holder. Discrepancies can be caused by plastic surgery, injuries resulting from an accident, etc. The photo on the passport must be firmly glued.
• The international passport contains errors and typos in the writing of mandatory information about the owner of the document.
• The passport does not contain stamps or mandatory marks required by law.
• There are no free pages for affixing the necessary stamps and marks. The old-style international passport has 36 pages on which visas are affixed. Although the validity period of the new type of biometric passport is twice as long, it only has 46 pages for putting permit marks. Even if an entry visa is not required to visit the country, there should be free pages for border guards to mark the crossing of the state border.
• The document owner's signature is missing.
• The actual surname of the owner at the time of crossing the border does not correspond to the data printed on the document (the surname may change as a result of marriage or divorce, etc.).

Even if a citizen is absolutely sure that his passport is valid, in some cases insurmountable problems may arise when trying to cross the border of the Russian Federation.

A citizen will not cross the border with a valid passport if, after checking his passport data in the unified border guard database, it turns out that:

• there is a debt to government authorities to pay taxes, fines, etc.;
• bailiffs temporarily restricted a citizen from traveling outside Russia due to unpaid alimony, overdue accounts payable to the bank, etc.

Anyone traveling abroad should find out the visa requirements of the country where they plan to visit. Many countries impose restrictions on the expiration date of a passport as a special requirement.

For example, to visit countries within the Schengen visa area, the expiration date of the passport should not be less than 3 months from the date of travel. To visit the USA, the passport must be valid for at least 6 months.

You can find out about the specific requirements of the state when crossing the state border by contacting the visa center.

For what reasons can a passport be invalidated?

A valid foreign passport is a document in which the information about its owner is genuine and its validity has not expired. And if the main characteristics of the legitimacy of a document are well known, then not everyone knows about other criteria.

In particular, in order for a passport to be accepted by embassy officials for a visa, it should not contain:

• torn or removed pages, dirt;
• inconsistencies in the photo with the owner’s appearance resulting from injuries, plastic surgery, or age-related changes;
• surname inconsistency - for example, as a result of marriage.

In addition, it must have blank pages for affixing a visa stamp.

If at least one of the problems described above is identified, you should immediately contact the authorized authorities with an application to replace the document.

Is it possible to

Obtaining a second passport does not depend on the relevance of the first one. A citizen can receive it at any time. If the first document has lost its validity, the applicant can issue an old type of foreign passport. Otherwise, you can only issue a certificate with an electronic chip.

Every Russian can independently find out information about the validity of a foreign passport. The general passport has a mark on the issue of a foreign certificate. You can check the validity of your international passport by number and series via the Internet.

The date of issue and expiration date of the certificate is included on the first page. If the document meets the requirements and the end date of its validity has not arrived, the foreign passport is valid.

Before applying for a visa, you should ask in advance what period of validity the passport should have in each specific case. The best option is to check the validity of your passport online.

How and where can you check the validity of a foreign passport?

You can check the legitimacy of a foreign passport in terms of validity period yourself by studying the information contained on the first page of the document. Having information about the rules of entry into a specific country, you can determine for yourself whether you will be able to use it or not. However, other details are not so obvious, so the international passport will need to be checked for validity at the Main Migration Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (FMS) of Russia. Moreover, this can be done not only at the office of the Migration Office, but also online.

There are three main verification methods:

1. In the department of the Main Department of Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on a personal application.
2. On the website of the Main Department of Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
3. On one's own.

Each method has its own nuances, so let’s look at them in more detail.

Check on the website of the Main Department of Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

On the official website of the Main Directorate for Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it is possible to check whether a foreign passport is valid online.

You can check the legitimacy on the website of the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs only of an old-style document. This service is not provided for biometric passports.

The procedure is completely simple, it does not require registration or special skills and does not take much time - the system produces results in just a few seconds. To carry out the verification, you do not need to enter your last name, but only the series and number of your passport.

Actions are performed according to the following algorithm:

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1. We go to the official website of the Main Department of Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
2. On the first page there will be tabs with different services, from which we select “Checking invalid old-style international passports valid for 5 years.”

3. On the page that opens you will see a service whose information is constantly updated. The search for your document in the database will take place according to the series and number of the foreign passport indicated on its first page. Enter the data in the required fields, remembering to enter the captcha, and then click “Submit request”.

4. After a minute, the search result will be displayed on the screen. If your passport is found in the database, it is definitely invalid.

Despite the opportunity to check a foreign passport for authenticity on the website of the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (UFMS), it is still better to confirm the result obtained by personally visiting a branch of this government body. It should be borne in mind that the information on the Internet resource may be out of date, since updating the database is often delayed.

Personal appeal to the Main Department of Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

A visit to the territorial office of the Main Department of Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will take some time, but will give a reliable result.

Please note that contacting the migration service is only possible by registering in the electronic queue.

You can sign up on the official website of the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. To do this, you need to take a few simple steps, which you can learn more about in the article “Electronic queue for a foreign passport.”

Thanks to online registration, you do not have to stand in line - you just need to come to the department at the appointed time, which will significantly save your time.

A check at the Main Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs can take up to 30 days, since authorized employees must find out whether a person has a foreign passport, check the database of invalid foreign passports and other data. However, the advantage of such an appeal, in addition to the reliability of the result, is that the official response to your application is issued in writing. The document you receive has legal force, since it bears the signature and seal of an authorized person and indicates the date of issue.

How to check the validity of a passport yourself

You can check the legitimacy of a foreign passport yourself. To do this you need to make sure the following:

1. On the first page of the passport in the line “Expiration date” there is a date that has not yet passed.
2. The document does not have severe abrasions, torn pages, stains, worn out letters and numbers that cannot be deciphered, or third-party entries.
3. The passport has blank pages that can be used for visa stamps.
4. All personal data (full name, date of birth, etc.) in the international passport coincide with those in the general passport.
5. The photo in your passport is current and you can be easily identified by it.

It should be borne in mind that Russian legislation allows you to obtain a second passport if you have the first one. This will allow you to protect yourself in case you discover that the first document has an inappropriate expiration date or if other problems arise. Find out more about how you can apply for a second passport if you have a first one.

Submitting an application

Before checking your international passport for validity on the website of the Federal Migration Service (now the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs), you need to take into account that biometric documents are not checked in this way. Citizens should contact the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs department on migration issues in person with a corresponding application. The reliability of this method is beyond doubt. In addition, you can find out from an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs whether the foreign passport issued before the suspended conviction is valid.

A response to a registered request is given after 30 days. The applicant receives a written response about the authenticity or invalidity of the foreign passport. This method is necessary to receive an official response. It can be presented to the court and other government bodies.

Where can I check the ban on leaving the Russian Federation?

Even if everything is in order with your foreign passport, sometimes another problem arises - a ban on leaving Russia. For this reason, a check on this issue should be carried out at least two weeks before the trip. Moreover, it is only necessary for ordinary citizens of the Russian Federation to clarify whether temporary restrictions have been imposed on them, since persons restricted from traveling abroad due to duty are aware of this.

The grounds for a travel ban may be:

• debt obligation (evasion of obligations imposed by the court (fines, alimony, taxes), overdue loans) in the amount of 30 thousand rubles;
• being under investigation, probation, parole.

You can check if you are on the blacklist:

• on the bailiffs website;
• on the State Services website, separately checking court debt, car fines, and tax debt.

Checking on these sites is free. At the same time, there are private paid services, but they use the same databases as the free ones.

Signs of invalidity of a foreign passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation

A document is considered invalid in cases where:

• the photo is damaged, blurry, or the person is poorly recognizable;
• The document’s expiration date has expired (biometric – 10 years, paper – 5 years);
• there are no blank pages for applying for a visa;
• the passport is torn, heavily soiled, and has missing pages;
• the data differs from that indicated in the internal passport;
• there are corrections and drawings;
• the old surname is indicated (if you change, you must change your passport);
• marks were mistakenly placed on the wrong pages;
• the validity period is comparable to the period of stay in another country (each case must be considered separately).

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Also, a false passport is invalid. Most often this happens if the foreign document is not made in an official place, but in a private office.

Signs of a fake passport:

1. The cover is not dark red.
2. Blurry prints.
3. Insufficient number of pages.
4. Errors in personal information.
5. No watermarks.
6. Different page sizes.
7. The lamination is of poor quality, there are detachments, chips, and foreign objects.
8. Lamination is done in two layers.
9. The photo is poorly pasted, gaps in the glue are visible, and there are scratches on the surface.
10. Lack of microscopic font.

If a counterfeit is discovered, you may be detained by the Ministry of Internal Affairs until the circumstances are clarified, since this is a criminal matter. If your complicity was unintentional, and you tell where this document was made, you will be acquitted.

Checking a Ukrainian international passport is also mandatory for entering the Russian Federation if the owner decides to enter using it, without having an internal document. A passport is considered invalid if:

• the photo does not correspond to the current age of the owner;
• the passport is damaged and heavily soiled;
• the document has expired;
• There are typos and errors in the completed document.

In this case, entry will be prohibited and the person will be turned away at the border.

The following persons are not allowed to enter the territory of Russia:

• those who previously left the country through deportation;
• having an unsealed administrative conviction;
• those who have committed serious criminal offenses;
• who violated the law on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Important! Citizens of Ukraine are not allowed to stay on the territory of the Russian Federation for more than a specified period of time (depending on the reasons for visiting the country). If the regime is violated, the citizen is blacklisted and is prohibited from visiting the Russian Federation for 5 years.