Waiting in a land-border
 

Hello all, i'm in a place called Grebņova, one of the two (main) land borders between Latvia and Russia, the other being Terehova.
So, entering Russia (or any country) by land, you'll be mostly ask for the same things.
1) Passport (and visa, i.a.)
2) Driver license (national and international)
3) Car documents (Car ID and Intl Permit to drive abroad, i.a.)
4) Car insurance (with the Green Card of International Insurance).

An inspector will come to your car, ask you for the documents, check your luggage (just look at it, don't even open it), and leave to an office with all of those papers previously mentioned.
And then, he'll keep you waiting. The temperature is -5C, so its quite warm. And you are seating in your car. And an hour has gone. And you've tried to ask them but they don't allow you to enter the building. They say they are "verifying" your papers. How much verification do they need?
What do they do there? How long can it take?

Is important to remark that i'm LEAVING Latvia, leaving the EU (and Russians are much worse while allowing you in). But I was wondering, what do they do in those secretive buildings. There is not much to see. The papers have been used a few times before, and they are completely legal. My passport has half a dozen of Latvian Stamps and about 80 Russian stamps. So it should be no wonder for them.
But if there is any person who works in Borders or Customs, just tell me the secret: what do you do with the papers?

Cheers
Eielef @Grebņova

Maybe they wait for bribes?

Most likely. I crossed a small border crossing when it was deserted and there was a little office/waiting room with the agent who was stamping passports. He requested that I pay double of what the visa normally does, I said no and he said that it might take a while to get stamped in as they were "busy".

Called his bluff and took a seat in the room, pulling out a book to wait out five very awkward minutes until he gave up and allowed me to pay the listed visa cost without any surcharges since it was pretty clear that he didn't have anything else to do :p

Probably would have made me wait longer if they usually processed visas in an area out of sight.

I hope that the crossing went ok!

I've not done any really tough land borders while driving myself but none were that stringent. No one has ever been interested in my drivers license at a border. Had some interesting reactions at routine checkpoints in South Africa, Malawi, and Tanzania though since it's Japanese and they can't read it. But even then no passport check and didn't ask for international permit.

Germany to Czech Republic (pre-Schengen), wasn't even interested in my passport, waved past. German registered car, also no interest in the cars papers.

Czech Rep to Poland, think they glanced at my photo page of my passport, no stamp.

Poland to Germany, had to ask for a stamp there for travel memories, took a few mins as there clearly rarely use them. Again no interest in the car.

Spain to Andorra, didn't look at my passport. Andorra to France, no stamp but wanted to unzip my luggage. Spain registered car, no interest in papers.

South Africa to Swaziland and back into SA. Zero interest in car other than paying the Swazi highway tax. Passport stamps only. SA registered car, papers not checked on either border.

Everywhere else was just walking across (dozens of times HK to China and a lot in Africa like this) where no one cared much and visas issued promptly where applicable.

Only two driving crossings that have been a stop of more than 2-3 minutes: UAE into Oman (you have to stop at each country's border patrol building, go in and show a bunch of paperwork at each), and Croatia into Slovenia, where the border guard was so flummoxed by the stack of passports we handed him--one US, one Singaporean, one Bulgarian--that he kept us sitting in the car for 25 minutes, with a line of presumably fuming drivers stretching ever longer behind us. Still, no hint of actual trouble or bribery requests anywhere.

After a few minutes, I'd ask what the "expedite fee" is. 20 euro should work, right? ;)

My only truly horrific land crossings have been entering the USA. I dread it every time I approach one. (By contrast, the accompanying entry into Canada probably took 10 minutes max.) And I'm always in an American rental car with only U.S. citizens in the car.

Never had a problem with Slovenia/Croatia, either direction and at different checkpoints. We've done this one a few times, always in a German-tagged rental car since MUC is where we fly into for Slovenia/Croatia.

Within Europe, border crossings sometimes take longer if your car has tax free plates. OTOH, they make the process much faster at times, such as leaving Andorra for France.

Try walking across the border from Ghana to Togo. Similar verification happens at both sides. Truly an experience, actually.

As for what is happening or being verified, typically it is confirming that the docs are not falsified and otherwise checking the details you've provided. This could mean validating the insurance information or checking the passport against various watch lists.

Or just screwing around because they are bored.

Crossed a little used border crossing between Slovakia and Poland a few years ago. The Polish border guys were so excited to see 2 Americans that they chatted with us for 15 minutes and wanted us to go out for a beer with them after their shift was over.

Well, the whole process took over 3 hours. The Latvians were fine after 1h45, when they were sure my DRIVER LICENSE was not fake. There is a standard on how to do passports, and they have safety measures every migration officer knows. But then, a Driver License is not even the same inside our country (until 3 years ago, each CITY/Municipality, which is a subdivision of province) issued its own Driver Licenses with it's own rules. My first one was handwritten, e.g.
Those are still valid, and although I have both the official translation (by the Embassy) to Russian, it was not in Latvian so they were not interested.
They didn't even cared for opening my bags or nothing.

Then, re-entering Russia. Only Russian-Speaking agents. She asked me: why the hell you took the A13 - Grebņova border crossing instead of the A12 - Terehova. A13 is for those going to St Petersburg, A12 for those going to Moscow. I asked her if there was something wrong with my plan, and she said it was odd.
Migrations took no time. But then it came to the papers of the car.
For entering Russia on a car, one must fill a Customs Form, an A4 formulary (printed on both sides) which must be handwritten twice. Occasionally, there is a model printed of the questions in English, Polish, Latvian, etc. Here there was none, but I had 6 previous so just copied the answers.
After feeling it twice, you'll go to the office and present it to the lady, who will take her time on typing EACH of the things you wrote, including the 20 digits long VIN number, that she is never sure.
Then, she'll ask you to sign a document saying that you'll not make profit of your car (nor sell it, nor rent it, nor even use it as a gypsy taxi). This document is pretty long, in Russian only. You have to submit on a piece of paper your home address, home phone, Russian address and Russian phone, e-mail address. Similar information about the previous owner of the car. All goes with multiple photocopies of all the documents. That makes a "Dossier" with over 50 pages, which then you have to sign them all, and she'll sign them too.
While she is doing that, you have either the options of staying there freezing, going for a walk, or return to your car, but keep an eye on this lady, who will call you to pick up the papers.
I'd been waiting over 40 mins (now using Russian 4G), when she came to my car saying: there was a mistake, you have to fill the customs form again. She apologised as the mistake was hers (she used the blue stamp instead of the red one). So she let me just fill it once, and made a photocopy of it. But she double checked all the information.

And then, a very small sticker comes from a printer. This has a QR code, which is the only way you can leave Russia with your car.
Under this small QR code, there is an expiration date. 23022017.
She allowed me to keep the car for one year without leaving the country!
All my life it has been for 90 days, but as I've never broke any law, they now allow me one year. I thanked the girl and left, pretty happy. Just 700km more to arrive home...
All in all, a lovely trip, which started just 5 days ago....
http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/u...2020.03.04.png

Cheers
Eielef @MOW

Although I know I'll never be at this border crossing, I do love all of the details!! :) Sounds like a fascinating roadtrip in general, although to you it sounds like it's routine.

I'm always interested in rest areas, truckstops, and other roadside services in various parts of the world. (Whether I'm driving or have a hired driver.)

Entering the US is always miserable, whether or not you're a citizen.

OTOH, can't complain too much about discovering the Otay Mesa (Tijuana) crossing last week...

Thanks for the great story. The US border guard at this crossing asked a similar question: "Why are you crossing here?" when I took the long way around so I could ride the ferries to and from Wolfe Island, Ontario, Canada.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...0910_44577.jpg

[ETA] I forgot to remark that this crossing into the US was not miserable in the least. Not for me, anyway. My wife was not entirely thrilled with the long wait on the Canadian side while the ferry operator searched for the border guard so he could let off his three or four Canada-bound passengers and board all five of us US-bound ones. Also the CBP agent made me wait to take the picture until the other passengers had entered.

This is a pretty busy border crossing, as most in the Baltic States (I've been to two in Latvia and three in Estonia, plus one between Kaliningrad and Lithuania).
Then, the borders with Ukraine are a bit more complex. Many roads are now blocked by the conflict in the Donbass region, and the most important ones (M2 to Kiev/Kyiv and M3 to Kharkov/Kharkiv) have amazing long queues, mostly of Ukrainians. I spent 13 hours waiting to go through the M3 check point, re-entering Russia. It was just too much people, and they were understaffed.
Then I drove also the strange border at Adler going to Abkhazia. There are no stamps there, as Abkhazia is not recognised by most of the countries, and they can't stamp your passport, neither can Russians said you left from Adler. But there are customs formalities. It was pretty quick.
And then the border with Finland, massive, and the less friendly. Also very long queues, and got "randomly" checked for narcotics.
It seems odd crossing on a rural area (Svetogorsk, at the Leningrad Oblast). Was a strange situation. Myself, Argentinean (with work permit from Russia), with a car from Montenegro, with a friend from the US, with a Russian visa he got in Osaka (Japan), going to Finland on a day-trip. We didn't make it return on the day, we spent a night there, and it was by far the most expensive night ever!
Final trip was 7796km, 569l of fuel (aprox 460Eur) and only two tolls paid: one on the M9 entering Russia (3USD) and other on the A1 (Bosnia) of 4USD. No need to pay the Hungarian nor the Slovak vignettes. 22 days of hotels, room rentals, hostels and even a motel (those which charge you by hour)....

Cheers
Eielef @MOW (glad to be back home)

Awesome. And here I thought the crossing between Malaysia and Thailand (Sadao) was bad. I've now done it about a dozen times and it gets easier... but the same thing about "importing a car" etc.

Thankfully there are maybe only 4 or 5 pages of documents to fill out and the enterprising shops on both sides of the border make good money selling you 1) a coffee 2) filling out the forms FOR you 3) selling you insurance in case you need it for Thailand.

All in all you're out of pocket maybe US$5 :)

The purpose of bureaucracy is to sustain the bureaucracy. The longer it takes, the more job security they've got.

It was a national holiday in Russia. I saw the piles of migration forms and, starting the shift at 8am, i was the 4th person to cross the border (11am). So they were plain bored I think. And they couldn't figure out what I was doing in Latvia!.
It seems to be strange (even for nationals of my country) to have simultaneously many passports (three in my case). Because going to US Customs showing a handful of stamps of places like Colombia, Nicaragua or even Russia gives them a nice reason for having an extended chat with you...
Plus, Argentine new biometric passport has only 32 pages, from which the first 5 are voided. My third passport is only 2 months old and is up to page 11 full. Passport 1 is completely full (but some visas are still usable) while passport 2 has just 2 pages left. I also applied for a fourth passport which should arrive to my parents house on the next few days...

Just came back from a pretty fun trip to Moscow myself. Was my first time there and it was quite different from anyplace else I've been.

That's an interesting itinerary you had. You skirted just east of everything I've seen. Any recommendations from the places you stopped?

I would recommend the next time you go a bit further west and drive through Krakow, Prague, Vienna, Ljubljana (very nice city to visit), and possibly even end at Venice.

The longest land border crossing I had was at Buffalo on my way in to the US, really quiet day for crossing (no sports games!). Went into the little office, no one else in there. Thought 'oh this will be nice and quick' - famous last words! We sat there while the border agents did nothing. At all. Then we were joined by 3 or 4 other people. Still no one doing anything, we are just sitting there. Then suddenly we all get called over to the windows, and just as they start asking us the usual questions, a VIP and their entourage enter. We had clearly been kept waiting to give this VIP something to see, show they were busy, who knows. I was not impressed. Best part of an hour!

That's not really strange. If you are American or Canadian it should be a standard procedure to cross the borders often, and although they might look lazy (maybe they are) they can be reported. I recently reported a CBP Officer on JFK Airport because of being so kind and gentle, and for his absolute perfect knowledge of both Russian and Spanish. I sent a congratulation letter to him via the CBP website, and he received it and thanked me for that gesture.

Being a foreigner, entering Russia from Latvia, on a Montenegrin Audi, in winter, on a national holiday, early in the morning, sometimes seems strange. I've done the same with the Audi entering Romania from Hungary with two friends, one from Israel and the other Argentinean with an US Passport. That was a very strange moment when immigrations officers from Romania, new EU Member, though not yet Schengen Area member, got overwhelmed by the situation and thought we were certainly dealing with drugs. Most of my Audi was disassembled in the search of narcotics or other ilegal products. Specially as one of the guys had a pretty interesting passport, with stamps from most of Romania's entry points with Ukraine and Moldova (even by sea, train and unknown roads) but never from a "serious" country from the west.
After over 3 hours they let us in.... The Audi was put back in shape and drove us safe to Ždiar in Slovakia, for an amazing week in the High Tatras...

Sometimes, even being a native seems odd. Entering Argentina at Villazón/La Quiaca border post (with Bolivia) is mostly intense (something as Tijuana/San Diego) because of smuggling. Worse is when you have a plane to catch (from Jujuy Airport, 400km south) in less than 5 hours, and you get to the immigration queue just 20 minutes after the Ferrocarril Central Boliviano (Bolivian Central Railway) has arrived from La Paz, Oruro, Uyuni and Tupiza carrying over 1000 passengers, from them 80% continuing on foot to Argentina.
My moral is against bribing, but my friend's moral wasn't, and as he was the one hurried to get to Jujuy Airport, we skipped the queue and spoke directly with The Boss. Less than 5 minutes later we were on my car (parked in a big lot 300m from the border) driving on the RN9 south to Jujuy "Horacio Guzmán" Airport.

Last and best story was with my mother, two years ago, returning for a short trip to Valparaíso (in Chile) crossing the border at the Paso de Agua Negra, that joins La Serena with San Juan. Is not a paved one, and is only used by local traffic in summer, as in winter is blocked with snow (therefor is closed between March and December). As is one of the highest in the area (4780m or 15680ft AMSL), the check point in Chile is about 60km from the border Guardia Vieja (IV Region - Coquimbo), and the check point in Argentina is 150km after, in the city of Las Flores (San Juan Province).
So, we drove from La Serena uphill to Guardia Vieja, when we arrived at 5pm. Saw most of the modest migration and customs building closed. Went inside. A soldier guarding the place. Told us the people from migration and customs works until 3pm, and they wouldn't return until the following morning. He told us hotels were just in La Serena (206km to the West), and there was nothing besides a small town (Vicuña) just 60km before La Serena. Mum and myself decided to take the brave idea of spend the night in the car. It was an amazing experience. The guard allowed us to use the restrooms, and told us he was from a very small village, just 15km before, where we should find a house with a red roof, and the lady who owns the place would maybe offer us some food. We drove there, and the lady sold us (well, it wasn't selling, she gave us, mother gave her the last CLP we had) some bread and oranges. At 18, the generator went off, and by 20:30 it was completely dark outside. We never saw so many stars like that night. It was windy, we were pretty high above the sea level and mum wasn't very confortable. But she made some amazing photos the following morning. We had a pleasant sleep, we were invited to join the soldier to share his small breakfast (with our oranges), and at 9am, a small bus brought all the personal of customs and migrations. We crossed in no time, and in Argentina we were asked by the SENASA (agriculture control) why where we carrying oranges. We couldn't explain it in a reasonable way so they took them away.
It was the last trip I did alone with my mother, and quite certainly the best one.

PD: off the record, mum willing to taste the water of the river next to the place where we parked, felt into the river. No much water, no hurt, but a laugh attack from all, including the soldier.
http://www.dangerousroads.org/south-...gra-chile.html

Benin to Togo was similarly nutso. I've been to 132 countries and it was the worst border crossing experience (aside from Jordan - Israel).