Registering with the Mongolian Office of Immigration

Those holding US passports are allowed to stay visa-free in the country for 90 days.  However, if you want to stay past 30 days, as we did, you have to register with the Mongolian Office of Immigration within 7 days of entering Mongolia.  If you stay past 30 days and DON’T register, then they’ll be happy to take your money in the form of fines. 

The lady in charge of our guesthouse was super helpful, showing us how to get to the office by bus (only 400 MNT per person, compared to the 25,000 MNT charged by the taxi for the same distance). We made our way to the bus stop armed with everything we needed to register: passports, money, extra passport photos (why it’s so important to bring some along), and the address & phone number of our guesthouse.  We peeled our eyes waiting for Bus 11 to show up.  This seems like a simple task, but it truly isn’t.  Mongolian busses are an impatient bunch.  They pull up to the stop, disgorging a load of people from the front, and letting in a crowd of people from the back door.  Then, they take off, no waiting.  If there’s already a bus at the stop, they park behind or pull up in front, so we end up running back and forth about a half block trying to see the numbers displayed on the front or side before they take off again.  Once we managed to get on the right bus, we hand our money to a uniformed woman who gives us any change we need plus ripped paper tickets.  We also showed her the address, written for us in Mongolian by our guesthouse host for the stop right before the airport (I’ll update with it when I locate it in the detritus of my luggage), and she nodded, indicating she would let us know when we were near.  If you want a seat on the bus, your butt has to have lightning-fast speed, aiming straight for any openings.  If you’re too slow, like Rick was, an old lady will just push you out of the way. 

The uniformed lady on the bus tapped me on the shoulder once we reached our “stop”, pointing in the direction of…a deserted area.  We crossed the unpaved street, heading towards what looked like an unfinished stadium and a cluster of white buildings, hoping we were headed in the right direction.  After ducking through a hole in the chain-link fence and walking around to the front of an official-looking building, we heaved a sigh of relief to discover we’d chosen correctly. 

Upon entering, on the left there’s a small desk with a copy machine beside it manned by a smartly-dressed uniformed guard who will be totally useless in answering any sort of questions and seem to not have any real function aside from looking the part.  On the right, there is a room with banks of windows.  We headed in there.  On the very right, there are two windows marked Information.  To the left of those windows is the window where you purchase your registration form.  That’s right, the registration is free, but the form isn’t.  If I remember correctly, it costs 1,000 MNT each.  You fill out the form completely, listing your basic information, your Mongolian contact information, your occupation, your reason for being in Mongolia, etc. Then you go back outside to the copy machine, where a lady helps you expertly copy your passport & the stamp inside for 200 MNT each.  On the back of that copy, we had to write a note essentially stating “My name is ____, I’m in Mongolia for vacation and will be leaving by so-and-so date.” and then signed underneath.  Finally, to the right of the Information windows, there’s a machine where you get a queue number.  When the number lights up above one of the other windows, you head there where, if you’re lucky, the officer behind it will process everything quickly, stamping your passport with a fancy new stamp allowing a longer stay.  If you’re not lucky, like Rick, you’ll be thoroughly confused and have to wander between windows hoping they haven’t just taken off with your passport.  If there are problems though, there’s one officer there who can speak pretty good English & as soon as you start wandering around looking confused and speaking in English, you’ll probably be directed in his direction as we were. 

Afterwards, we made our way to our bus “stop” which had no actual sign or any indication a bus was planning on stopping on this deserted dusty stretch of road aside from the few other people also lingering there.  All in all, a rather successful endeavor for the two of us.