Experienced travelers know that before any trip abroad, you must first check that you have all the necessary documents. A foreign passport is the most important of them, because if it is missing or it loses its legal status, it is impossible to cross the border even of those countries with which the Russian Federation has a visa-free regime. You need to know how to check the validity of a Russian citizen’s international passport in order to avoid potential problems at passport control.
Why check your passport?
If you are planning to travel to any foreign country in the near future (with the exception of states whose territory is entered using internal passports of the Russian Federation), and are not the holder of an international seafarer’s certificate or a diplomatic/service passport, it would be useful to check the validity of your foreign passport for departure abroad.
Even if your previous trip to the same country went without any problems, the loss of legal status by the document will automatically cancel out all plans and force you to urgently re-register. Only after receiving a valid document in your hands will you be able to go on a new trip abroad. Responsibility for the condition of foreign passports rests with their holders.
It is worth considering that even an invalid passport, provided that you have a valid one, can benefit its owner. Many diplomatic missions, when deciding whether to issue or not issue a permit to visit the country, are guided, among other things, by the history of the applicant’s previous trips. A previously obtained visa to the USA or a Schengen country will significantly increase your chances of obtaining another such permit.
But if your passport contains a visa to visit a territory that the country you want to go to considers unfriendly, this can significantly complicate the exit process.
Obtaining a foreign passport through the public services system
In order not to waste time waiting in queues at passport and visa control services, every Russian citizen can use the electronic format for submitting applications for a foreign passport. The best option for quickly obtaining an additional identity card is to use the government website.
This portal is specially designed for submitting questionnaires electronically. This is the least expensive and most convenient option for obtaining a passport. Using the Internet, you can apply for a foreign passport of an old or new type. To do this, you need to register on a popular service - enter contact information, provide an email address or phone number and activate your account. It is possible to use a unique digital electronic signature obtained through the system of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications.
Another option for obtaining a foreign passport on the government services website is to use a universal electronic card, which contains the unique signature of the owner. When applying for a foreign passport through the government services website, you need to select the type of document - a biometric passport or an old-style ID card. Features of passports:
- The validity period of a biometric passport is 10 years, a regular passport is 5.
- The number of pages in the identity card is 46 and 36, respectively.
- Passing the border according to the document - fast or standard.
- Information about children is not indicated in the biometric passport.
The state fee for obtaining a certificate for adults is 3,500 rubles (biometric), 2,000 rubles (regular).
The state fee when receiving a child's document is 1,500 rubles and 1,000 rubles, respectively.
Having assessed the advantages of biometric and standard international passports, the citizen chooses the appropriate option. In all respects, a biometric ID card is more advantageous. It has a high degree of security and is valid for ten years, but obtaining a biometric passport requires more funding.
Why does a passport become invalid?
A valid foreign passport is a document that fully complies with the requirements of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of March 14, 1997 “On approval of samples and descriptions of forms of basic documents identifying a citizen of the Russian Federation outside the Russian Federation” No. 298.
Loss of validity occurs in the following cases:
- expiration of the validity period specified in the passport;
- presence of damage (missing or torn pages, traces of exposure to aggressive environments, fire or liquids). Please note that the law does not directly establish acceptable damage to a foreign passport, so any noticeable defect should be a reason to apply for a replacement document due to damage;
- the presence of inscriptions and marks not provided for by law;
- errors in the document form or lack of necessary seals, signatures (both of the owner and the authorized person) and other details;
- discrepancy between the information given in the document and the identity of its owner (this includes errors in writing personal data, a change of surname without replacing the passport, a clear discrepancy between the photograph in the document and the appearance of its bearer).
A foreign passport that runs out of free pages for visas will also lose its validity.
Both an old-style international passport (valid for 5 years) and a document with biometrics (valid for 10 years) must meet these requirements.
It is worth considering the validity period of the passport separately, because some countries have special requirements for this parameter. For example, to enter all Schengen states, the document must remain valid for another 3 months from the day your trip ends.
Please note that a new international passport must contain up-to-date biometric data on the chip, otherwise you will not be able to use it to pass through control points equipped with chip scanners. Errors in these data, although unlikely, are not excluded. In addition, unlike other document parameters, the data recorded on the chip cannot be independently verified.
You can replace your international passport, if it is invalid, directly at the departments of the Main Department of Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at your place of residence or using the State Services portal https://www.gosuslugi.ru/.
Types of international passports
Currently (2018) there are two types of foreign passports:
- a new type international passport (biometric international passport) - issued for 10 years.
- old-style international passport - issued for 5 years.
The differences between the new and old passports are shown in the table:
| Peculiarity | New sample | Old sample |
| Contains an electronic chip with data about the passport holder (all passport data, photos and fingerprints) | Yes | No |
| Validity | 10 years | 5 years |
| Passage across the border | fast | in general order |
| Enter information about children | it is forbidden | Can |
| State duty for adults | 3500 rub. | 2000 rub. |
| State duty for children under 14 years old | 1500 rub. | 1000 rub. |
| Taking fingerprints when registering and receiving a passport | Necessarily | not required |
Online check using the GUVM website
One of the most efficient and convenient ways to determine the legal status of a foreign passport is to check it using the service on the website of the Main Directorate for Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation https://guvm.mvd.rf/services/passport.
To check a foreign passport for authenticity on the website of the Main Directorate of Migration Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (FMS) of Russia, you need to go to the organization’s website and find on its main page the tab “Checking invalid foreign passports...”.
Having read the warning about the purely reference nature of the received data, enter the series and document number in the appropriate form windows, and then enter the captcha. Now, in order to check whether a foreign passport is valid online, you just need to click the “Send request” button.
If the document with the data you specified has already expired, you will receive a notification that your passport is listed in the expired database:
If the document is valid, the notification text will be different:
Any notification received will indicate the date of the last database update.
Please note that the system works precisely on the principle of searching for a document number in the expired database. This means that if you make an error in the data, the result will be a false positive, as if your document was definitely not overdue. Therefore, you should carefully monitor the correctness of the entered details.
The verification format indicating only the number and series of the document instead of the last name and first name was chosen in order to exclude the possibility of finding out the fact that certain citizens have a foreign passport by unauthorized persons.
Unfortunately, checking the validity of a 10-year passport using this service has not yet been implemented as of 2021. Most likely, this is due to the fact that the issuance of new generation passports began only in 2021, which means that they are all still valid at least in terms of validity. Holders of such documents will have to consider other means of determining their legal status.
Verification by personal visit
A foreign passport can be checked for authenticity at the migration service office based on an application submitted personally by the owner of the document. To do this, you need to make an appointment on the organization’s website https://MVD.rf/mvd/structure1/Glavnie_upravlenija/guvm or visit it during business hours without an appointment.
The main advantage of the visit is that a professional GUVM employee will check not only the validity period of your document, but also other factors (for example, whether its number is included in the database of foreign passports that have lost their legality). In addition, based on the results of the inspection, you will receive an official document with the seal and signature of an authorized employee. The main disadvantage is that the waiting time for a response can reach a month.
You can find the addresses and telephone numbers of the migration service office closest to you on the official website of the organization https://MVD.RF/folder/8712048.
Please note that you should not hypothetically ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs about how to find out whether a person has a foreign passport: this information relates to personal data.
Is it possible to check your passport yourself?
The most common reason for foreign passports to become invalid is their expiration. It is very easy to check it yourself - all the necessary information (both the date of issue and the expiration date) is indicated at the bottom of the first page of the document.
The next step is to check the availability of free pages for pasting and affixing visas.
You can also personally check each page of the passport and all the data specified in it for compliance with the other validity criteria listed above. The easiest way is to identify mechanical damage, but you will have to spend much more time searching for typos and inaccuracies.
Series and number of international passport, department code
To cross the border of the Russian Federation and stay (reside) in other states, a citizen must have a foreign passport, and the series and number of the foreign passport, the code of the department that issued the document, help in identifying it.
Currently in Russia two types of foreign passports are issued – old and new. The last form contains a microchip with biometric data. Along with text information, each passport contains some data in the form of numbers. This is the document series and number, as well as the department code. They will be discussed in this article.
Why do you need the series and number of the international passport, department code?
Russian citizens can visit a fairly limited number of countries without a visa.
Our citizens can travel to Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and some other CIS countries with an internal passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation, and for children - with a birth certificate.
A number of other countries can be visited without a visa, staying there for a certain number of days, but only after receiving a foreign passport, incl. children's All the rest, only after receiving a visa.
To obtain a visa, you need to fill out various types of forms, pre-book hotels or order air tickets. And it is in such situations that the citizen will be required to enter the series and number of the international passport, possibly the department code and other personal information.
Where is the digital data in the passport?
Each foreign passport has an individual designation consisting of nine digits, two of which are the series, and the remaining seven are the document number.
In an old-style international passport, the series and number are located on the last page of the document, on which the photograph is pasted.
In the upper right corner of the page there is a field “Passport Number”, in which the first two digits are separated by a space from those that follow them.
In new-style foreign passports with biometric data, the series and document number should also be found on the double page with a laser photograph. It is located at the beginning of the passport book, which has 46 pages, and the necessary data is also indicated in the upper right corner.
The meaning of the passport series
It should be noted that the series of international passports is not unique, as it is found in many documents. The fact is that the numbers denoting the series encrypt significant information regarding the place of issue of the document and the period of its validity.
Thus, series 51 indicates that this is an old-style laminated passport, and numbers in series 53, 70, 71, 72 correspond to a biometric document. In addition, foreign passports with the indicated series were issued by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Russian consulates.
Foreign passports with series 61, 62, 63, 64 were issued with the assistance of the Federal Migration Service; the passport and visa service issued passports with series 60.
Until now we have been talking about international passports of civilian travelers, but there are others. Therefore, official documents are designated by series 20, and diplomatic passports are designated by series 10.
Why do you need a document number?
Each form of a foreign passport is assigned a separate code consisting of seven digits, which represent a unique number. Unlike series numbers, this number is not associated with the place of issue or duration of validity, or even with the issuing authority of the document. This is just the serial number of a blank passport form and nothing more.
It is important to remember that when submitting an electronic application for an American visa, you must fill out the “Passport book number” column. Not understanding what this phrase means, many citizens have difficulty determining the details that fit into this field.
In reality, everything is quite simple. This phrase requires the indication of the serial number of the form. In the biometric passport, this is the number indicated on page 46.
If you have an old-style document and there is no such number in it, then you just need to write “DOES NOT APPLY”, which means “does not apply”.
What is a department code and where to find it
Quite often, when filling out various documents, such as visa applications or issuing bank documents, it is necessary to know the code of the department that issued the passport. It happens that the owner of the document does not know where and how to find out this code.
And such information can be easily found in the document itself: on the page where your photo and basic passport data are located. The code is located in the lower right corner of the page in the “Authority that issued the document/Authority” field: there you will see the abbreviation “FMS” and a five-digit number. This is the code of the department in which you received your passport.
In addition, it is indicated on the penultimate page of your internal Russian passport (in the stamp on the issue of the international passport).
The information where the series and number of the international passport is located, the code of the department that issued the document, will come in handy more than once in the future and now you know where to find it.
Stages of obtaining a passport
In order to freely cross the border of another state, you must obtain a foreign passport in advance. The procedure includes several stages:
- Collection of necessary information.
- Submitting an application form.
- Waiting for the result (notification).
To obtain a document, you need to prepare a high-quality photo - for an old-style passport it is taken in a photo studio, for a biometric passport - in the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. The photograph must be clear, high quality and meet the requirements.
The next step is to fill out an application for a passport. An official request can be submitted electronically on the Migration Service portal. The questionnaire includes information about yourself and your immediate family. It takes no more than twenty minutes to fill out the application form electronically.
At all stages of document preparation, the FMS website provides tips, instructions and samples. After filling out the form, you must upload a file with a photo. It is advisable to save a copy of the application so that if errors or inaccuracies are discovered, you do not have to fill out the form again, but quickly make adjustments.
The final stage is to wait for a notification (notification) to be sent to your email address within two days. The message will indicate whether the application has been accepted. After some time, you will receive another notification indicating the address where you can pick up the issued passport. The procedure is simple, quick and convenient, taking a minimum of time. Documents in electronic form are processed promptly.
The letter will contain a list of documents that must be provided to the migration authorities. After providing the original papers and collecting the necessary certificates, after a month the citizen needs to visit the migration service again to pick up his international passport.
Where to find out if your passport is ready
When applying for a foreign passport online, the user can track the status of the application submitted for consideration. To do this, you need to log into your account on the website for the provision of administrative government services.
If you fill out the form correctly and receive a positive response, the document will indicate the exact date of receipt of your passport and indicate the address where you need to personally pick up your identity card to travel abroad. Notifications are sent to your email address about changes in the status of the application form. In addition, you can check whether your international passport is ready on the official website of the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia by sending a request in the system.
