When this happened to me (twice), I was advised by the police and by the consulate to wait awhile and see if the passport was found of if someone contacted me and offered to return it, which often happens. The people who steal money/documents are in business, and therefore like to maximize their profits. One way to do that is to sell the stolen documents back to the victim. The person who contacts the victim is usually an older person who claims to have found them. Sometimes this is actually the case, and other times it's just someone working with the thieves.
Go to the militsiya - either where the loss occurred, or where you are registered to live, and report the theft. The police do not like to have you report this as a theft unless they have already caught the person who did it, as it will show in their statistics as an unsolved crime. So they will encourage you to simply write that the items disappeared. Based on your report, they will give you an official 'spravka' . It's important to list all the items that are missing, and to be as specific as possible, listing items and their numbers. With this spravka, you can safely wait a month or so before trying to replace documents unless, of course, you must travel before that. If stopped for a document check, simply show the spravka and say that you are in the process of replacing your documents. It's a good idea, of course, to carry some kind of photo ID to show that you are the person listed in the spravka. Your consulate will replace your passport, but the Russian authorities will NOT replace your visa here in Russian unless you can show them your old passport. They will only issue you an exit visa, and will require that you get a new invitation and go out of the country to get a replacement visa, based on a new invitation. The first time my passport was stolen, it was never returned. I waited a month, got a new passport, got the exit visa, a new invitation, etc., and went to a Russian consulate in a nearby country to get a new visa to replace the old one. The second time, I waited a month, applied for a new passport and then got lucky: when I went to the consulate to get my new passport, they told me that someone had just called to report finding my stolen passport, which I retrieved from some pensioner the same day. I asked the consulate whether they could simply take back the new passport and let me continue using the old one, with the Russian visa. They said 'no', stating that once you report to them that a passport is missing or stolen, they notify Interpol and others, and that they have no effective way to un-notify them. As a result, I would run the risk of being stopped, arrested, etc., by foreign authorities somewhere in the world if I were to use a passport that had been officially reported to them as being stolen. So my consulate cancelled my old passport, but let me keep it. I then got a replacement visa here (without having to leave the country) by showing the Russians my new passport, my old passport, and the spravka from the militsiya. It is a good idea to let your consulate know how to reach you here, should someone contact them to report finding your passport. ----- Original Message ----- From: Serge Rivet (Hotmail address) To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 9:12 AM Subject: Expat List frenchman without passport Dear Listers, One of my friends, a French man, got his documents (Visa + Passport +money +Cdt Cards + .) stolen Do you know what he should do ? He had a work permit - should he anyway quit the country ? Can't the Russian authorities get a copy of your visa or re-print it ? Best Regards, Serge Rivet + 7 916 453 30 55 Owner at Conseo [EMAIL PROTECTED] skype : rivetmoscow www.conseo-cis.com This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. If you have received this email in error please send it back to the person that sent it to you. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of its author and do not necessarily represent those of CONSEO or any of its subsidiary companies. Unauthorized publication, use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this email and its associated attachments is strictly prohibited. Consider the environment. If you need to print this email, please use both sides of the page before recycling ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Expat mailing list [email protected] http://www.lists.ru/mailman/listinfo/expat http://www.expat.ru/forum/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.13/1165 - Release Date: 12/2/2007 8:34 PM
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