Border Georgia - Russia on military road | Customs and Immigration
Georgia
Details
- Verified:
- 4 days ago
- GPS:
- 42.74050, 44.62698
- Altitude:
- 1288.4 masl
- Contributor:
-
rapsvonrapsen
Amenities
Something not right?
Description
Very easy and quick (2min) on the Georgian side.
Entering g Russia was a game of patience in a slow moving queue. We arrived at 8am, left at 10:30.
Procedure is easy : Filling an immigration form, passport stamp, quick car check, filling a customs form (in duplicate) for the car, more queuing to hand it over.
The officers were friendly and helpful.There was nothing to be paid.
If Russia isn't covered by your green card, there are many insurance shacks just after the border along the road.
Why? By checking in after you’ve visited a place you let others know this place is still functional. You can also add or correct any information.
Latest Check-Ins
We travelled back from Russia to Georgia and it was a walk in the park. Two hours, no interviews, no stress and friendly staff. We travelled with our converted van and this is often regarded as a truck. I do recommend passing the trucks and go for the car lane. If you are eventually directed to go to the truck lane it still saves you hours because you cut in line. Assertiveness over politeness seems to be the order of things in nomansland.
Report Check-InBorder without problems. We came at 5.30 in the morning and left at 11. Very kind and friendly staff.
Report Check-InGeorgia - Russia. We arrived at 5 am. Georgia took 10 minutes, passenger has to walk, all quick and easy. In the Russian area, quite a few cars waiting. Van and passport control was fast. The slowest part is processing the vehicle importation paperwork. 4 hours in total. No issues.
Car insurance 15 days 3200RUB. Sim Megafon 250RUB 40gb
Georgia > Russia. We crossed the border at 5am. The border with Georgia took 20min: the passenger has to walk. We had to drive in the truck lane as a Sprinter, but no problem. Then we entered no man's land.
After 10 minutes of passing the lined up trucks, total anarchy broke out. the right of the boldest driver: overtaking at the most bizarre moments, which often led to a stalemate, which in turn caused enormous delays.
However, it is necessary to drive assertively yourself, otherwise you will only be overtaken, but stay sharp because before you know it you will be driving in reverse until you are allowed to pass somewhere.
After a 12-hour wait, we found friendly but strict Russian officers who briefly searched the bus.
Then the second stage began.
We started with a 10-minute interrogation with the standard questions: what kind of work do you do, what does your partner do, what is the purpose of your trip and your route so far.
We received the papers for the van quite quickly, once completed, we joined a queue and then waited another 4 hours for customs to process our papers.
Total time, 16 hours.
We heard that the delay (and probably some of the heated emotions) is due to the recent attack in Moskou. Just to be sure, bring food and water and don't expect good toilets; the ones there had piles of shit so huge, you could hardly enter.. We hope this is different for the next one!
We arrive early in the morning (6am), and the border crossing in Georgia is fast (Remember, passengers must go by the nearby building and can't cross with the driver). Then you must cross a very bad road full of trucks to reach the Russian border. Be careful here since it's full of traffic in both directions (We had to bypass all the trucks). Then you will arrive at the Russian border (Take always the right lane). They were friendly (Especially young officials), and one official was able to communicate with us in English so it made things easier. They gave us all the custom papers for the vehicle's temporary import in English as well. They did two vehicle checks, one on arrival, just opening doors, and another inside opening some cabinets and asking about some items, especially some medicines. They will ask you about your plans in Russia and where are you heading. Like any other border in the world. It requires a bit of patience since the border can become a little chaotic from time to time. It took us 4 hours to do that import paperwork, nobody explained how to fill up the the papers and how to deliver them. When knocking on the windows, where you're supposed to give the papers, nobody was helping us, and finally, they left. They did a shift change, so new officials arrived after an hour. Fortunately, an official decided to help us, and they got the papers and brought back the temporary import permit, together with the passport, driver's license, and migration papers. Since the border is open 24h I recommend arriving early in the morning (4 to 5 am). At 10 am there was a huge line of cars. For us it was a normal experience, nothing different from other border crossings. Speaking some Russian will help A LOT. Bring Google Translate or similar with Russian downloaded so you can use it offline. But be careful, speech-to-text doesn't work offline, so everything must be written down in the translator.
Report Check-InLa Géorgie m'a informé que nous pouvons pas obtenir de visa pour la Russie à cette frontière, Et j'ai eu aussi une mauvaise nouvelle apparemment j'ai eu un procès verbal et impossible donc de passer car pas possible d'avoir de visa même transit à la frontière vous devrait allé à l'ambassade ( Je tiens à préciser que si vous avez le permis international il ne faut absolument pas traduire ce document et vous n'avez pas bien non plus de traduire votre permis car vous avez le permis international qui lui suffis amplement et il est autorisé par le visa Russe ) Vous devrez donc juste faire traduire le papier de votre véhicule environ 30€ par documents à oui important ! car des gens que j'ai rencontré on eux des soucis avec leur enfants prévoyez des actes de naissance officiel avec livret de famille si vous en avez un mais surtout des documents originaux, pour ma part j'ai pas continué j'ai aussi un souci avec ma voiture car le véhicule n'est pas à mon nom donc il me demande des papiers tel que un documents officiel et original certifié par un notaire aie trop tard pour moi je suis déjà partir...
Report Check-InRussia —> Georgia.
One of our easiest border crossings after 10 months of overlanding. We arrived at 05.30 in the morning and were in Georgia 55 minutes later.
We arrived to very, very long lines of trucks, but we just passed them all. First, one quick passport check where he asked how many people we were. Then we got to the real border where a man asked us to wait while he took our passports, car registration and customs document. After a couple of minutes he came back and told us we were free to go to the passport and customs booth. They checked our documents and asked me to go through our route through Russia (maybe they were just curious as we had driven all the way from Ulan Ude). Then we went to another booth where a woman looked at our passports and stamped them. Then a very superficial look in the car and we were done. Took … minutes all in all.
Drive through no man’s land. We passed a loooot of trucks. Took maybe 15 mins.
Not much to say about Georgia. Passenger goes inside, driver stays in car. I drove to the passport check, he stamped it and that was everything. No car check.
Report Check-InFrom Russia to Georgia, 2 ppl (EU) van + dog. Total crossing took us 2,5 hours on a Saturday.
Due to construction at the Russian side the scene looked a bit chaotic (we had to push up low hanging electric cables in order to get further) but the process itself was uncomplicated. We waited an hour in line and then finished the paperwork for the car at the first booth. Officers were friendly and searched the car.
When we had to show the dog passport, they said something about a stamp from the vet, but in the end they forgot about it. At the second booth they stamped out our passports, we got a second check of the car and were good to go.
Georgian side was less friendly. They didn’t believe our car was a camper (it looks a bit like an old ambulance) and it had to be photographed and discussed with the boss. Then they made a problem of our diesel canister of 10 liters. After suggesting to throw it in the regular tank it was fine and we could keep it in the canister. Passengers have to cross separate, but in general the whole process was very easy.
Report Check-InRUS->GEO. This was our sixth crossing in/out of Russia and the fastest by far, only 1hr total. Arrived in Russia at 9:15, shortly before the new shift started. After a quick document and vehicle check, we could leave Russia; entry into Georgia was equally easy. FYI you can buy Georgian car insurance online, it's very easy and legitimate (TPL.ge).
Report Check-InComing from the Russian side: We have to wait one hour because we did not get a customs Dokument at the Astrachan Border. In the end they leave us without this paper. Georgian side very fast. No problems. SIM card shops in Stepanzminda are cheaper as at the border. Car Insurance also easy and quick at lots of places. Campervan 30 days 65 Lari.
Report Check-InWe arrived at 05:30 and it took us a total of 4 hours (1 hour on the Georgia side, 3 hours on the Russian side). On the Russian side there was little queue and they searched the van thoroughly (all drawers) but they were nice. The most tedious part was filling out the 3 vehicle import forms because there was quite a queue and it was a bit slow. Otherwise everything went well. Arm yourself with patience and luck!
Report Check-InWe arrived at 7:00 and were through within 2h (4 motorbikes). No queue at the Russian side. When we left it was already a lot busier, so it probably pays off being there early in the morning. You can find the customs declaration form for vehicle import online, fill it in advance, and bring two printouts.
Report Check-InCrossing this border (Georgia/Russia) took us 6 hours. We passed the Georgian border in 1 hour, then we spent 3 hours to get to the Russian border and on the Russian border another 2 hours. The longest was the process for making the temporary import of the vehicule. Make sure you don't make any mistakes while filling the form, otherwise You have to start all over. People are friendly, but it still takes a lot of time to cross this border.
Report Check-InGeorgia>Russia, same.experience as previous. out of Georgia 10 minutes, passport and quick car check on russian side took 30 minutes, but the temporary permit for the car took us 5 hours and nobody knows why. They are not well organised. anyway super friendly officers
Report Check-InRight after the border you can buy a russian car insurance at one of the small offices.
We payed about 2.300 rubles for 15 days (Toyota Hilux).
From Georgia to Russia.
The border at georgian side took us about 10 minutes (passengers have to take a separate gate through the big house on the right) and only the driver can stay with the car.
Russian side took us about 4,5 hours. A little bit of waiting to get to the border. First they checked the passports and visa. They decided to double check the visa from my husband (for this we had to go to a small office on the other side of the border. It took us about 40 minutes).
Then quick car check.
Then fill out form at customs. This took very very long because we had to fill out the form 3 times. Very annoying and super slow.
The border in general is very slow but not chaotic. It‘s not so bad, you just need a lot of patience and be prepared for long waiting times.
Georgia > Russia. Horrible experience. Out of Georgia cost us just 10 minutes. Passport check into Russia took about 30 minutes. Importing the car took 7,5 hours, god knows why. Still prized ourselfs lucky though, there was an Austrian couple that was there for 48 hours already (because they had a motorcycle om board of there camper).
Report Check-InGuys, if you want to avoid queue, just wake up early, but really early.
I slept in the place signed on ioverlander just befor the border, i wake up at 4 in the morning and around 04:45 i was there, and nobody was there, absolute no queue, Georgian side about 10 min, Russian side, a bit longer couse all the paper for the car, but in something like 2 hours i was in Russia whitout problem or waiting for queue.
Russia -> Georgia. We arrived at 8am and it took us approximately 1 hour to be in Georgia (2 persons in one car). Very easy !
Report Check-InRussia-Georgia: Russian side was quick, many control posts were open. Took maybe 1 hour including the car check. Then followed 4 hours to get to the georgian control post and being checked there. So about 5 hours in total.
Report Check-InMuch the same as the previous experience in 2022, but we are on motorbikes so could push through the queues. arrived at 7:30pm and last around 3am. Long night but nothing overly difficult, just slow.
Report Check-InGeorgia-Russia. Saturday. Georgian side took us 1.5 hours waiting time, the crossing itself was fast. Then 6 hours waiting time to get to the russian border control. Spent there another 6 hours filling out forms, being questioned, filling out more forms, stand in line to return the forms, waiting for the next shift to arrive to look at our forms... Was a hell of a day
Report Check-InCrossing Russia-Georgia. Arrived 10am at the border and after 40 minutes both borders were behind us. Don’t know if it was because it was sunday or off season, but there were almost no people crossing.
Report Check-InCrossing Georgia-Russia. We arrived at the Georgian border at 7:30 am. Entering Russia was a waiting game. We left the border at 12:30 am (total run through 5 hours). The queue in opposite direction (Russia-Georgia) was 7,5 km long.
Report Check-InWarning to big rig drivers. My truck is 10.5t. I got told to pass with cars on Georgia side. Once st kiosk they could not register a class c vehicle so I was turned around and put in the lorry line :-(
Report Check-InRussia- Georgia. Russian side: they took the custom paper, fast check of the car, stamp of passport. where few cars on a line so had to wait 40min. Georgian side, 10min. Stamp on passport and insurance 3km further on a road, was about 10€ for 15 days normal car.
Report Check-InPassed through Russia into Georgia.
No dramas, and all done in just over an hour.
Tail back of lorries for miles but just go on straight past up to the car lanes then wait in the car. An customs guy asked for declaration, took it and walked off call done.
Wait in car queue to get to the window, present passport and car passport. Russian customs inspection, open all doors etc then on to Georgia Border. Similar process, all quick, almost no customs inspection.
This time they also wanted my drivers licence on the Georgia side.
Russia Georgia crossing
Crossing on Motorcycle took just over an hour, arriving at 11am on the 18th of October. no real issues and everyone (even locals in the queue) encouraged me to move to the from of the line.
As mentioned before, Georgian side took 5 minutes. Russian side took almost 10 hours for us, so bring a good book and food. (Arrived 10am on a Tuesday.) It was mostly sitting in a queue, but we also got pulled aside for an hour at the border while they investigated our visa. Everyone was very friendly and helpful, doing their best despite our poor Russian.
Report Check-InTry to avoid this boarder on fridays during holiday's. It is crazy busy (trafic jam starts 5km before boarder) with truckdrivers and cars. You have to wait atleast 6 hours to come to the checkpoint... From Russian side atleast.
Also because it is the only working boarder between Georgia and Russia at this moment.
Total time to pass both borders: 14h 45 min!!!. At first 11h to wait in a 7 km queue on the russian side. Then 45 min in the russian border. Another 2h 15 min in the 3 km queue between the two borders, and finally 45 min in the Georgian border. We were told that this is pretty usual during summer time, when the Russians go to the beach on the Black Sea! Don't forget to take a book!
Report Check-InVery easy and quick (2min) on the Georgian side.
Entering g Russia was a game of patience in a slow moving queue. We arrived at 8am, left at 10:30.
Procedure is easy : Filling an immigration form, passport stamp, quick car check, filling a customs form (in duplicate) for the car, more queuing to hand it over.
The officers were friendly and helpful.There was nothing to be paid.
If Russia isn't covered by your green card, there are many insurance shacks just after the border along the road.