Moscow (DME) airport arrival 23:55. My Russian visa becomes valid at midnight

I have been in a situation where I boarded a plane without any valid visa.

^{(Long story, but it was a three-leg flight A–B–C, sold as a two-leg flight. The first two legs A–B shared the same flight number, same airplane, same boarding pass, same seat, but the second “leg” B was a domestic flight, so I had to go through immigration.)}

My impression is that it is partly the responsibility of the airline to check the validity of the visa before letting you board. In my situation, I had to sign a form, saying that I would buy my own ticket out of the transit country, in case I couldn’t proceed through immigration to board the domestic flight.

In your case, the airline probably has the right to deny you boarding the plane, but since they can see you have a valid visa 5 minutes after you are scheduled to arrive, I would strongly suspect that they will let you board. Their worry is to take a passenger, who will be stranded in the transit zone, because they don’t have a connecting flight, nor a visa to pass through immigration (in which case they might be made responsible for taking them back).

Well, for a palne company it’s not a problem at all, because DME is an international hub – and technically speaking you’re arriving at international airport zone on the country soil but there’s no requirement for any kind of visa to pass into that spot. You can be there even without any visa – like when you’re changing transit flights

The solution to your conundrum is to buy a fully refundable ticket from the same Russian airport on the following day. Since Russia allows for 24 hour visa-free transit you can always show your second ticket to the airport officials. And then once you’re boarded your flight cancel the second ticket and later proceed to the immigration counter without any issues.

Worst Case Scenario

You may have trouble boarding your flight in Munich because technically your visa is not valid for your arrival time, so they may not let you board the plane in Munich. They will check your visa at the gate while you try to board the plane. They may not catch it, but they could. Be prepared to take another flight, if they decide you can’t board. It will be at their discretion, and if you’re there at weird hours, they may not have many people on staff to make the correct decision in your favor.

Hopefully you speak some German or Russian, as English gets more and more scarce the closer you go towards Russia. They (Lufthansa) had to find a man in the terminal who could speak English, for me, to check my visa. Worst case is you take a later flight.

I highly advise you to contact your carrier to see if they’ll allow you to board. It shouldn’t be a problem, but it could be. Domodedovo is very slow at clearing customs, because of the volume of passengers on arrival flights.

Munich departure

In Germany, they will bus you to a tiny terminal, far away from normal passengers. I had to sleep a few hours in terminals like this, all over Europe when visiting Russia. Be prepared to wait and to be far away from any cool terminals that have nice stuff like coffee or restaurants. You will be sectioned off for security reasons (I believe). They keep you in the freezing cold (in the winter) and I had a hard time finding a place to even charge my phone (in Frankfurt). They also have to bus you to those terminals and to the plane, because you are so far removed from any real airport amenities.

Domodedovo (DME) arrival

Domodedovo takes forever to clear customs. I took a similar flight, from Frankfurt and arrived very late, just like you will.

My advice is never fly to Domodedovo, as the customs there is a free for all. If you aren’t prepared for it, please do get ready for the zoo.

You must realize that there are no real lines. You will be forced into non-Russian citizen lines, only to get pushed out of those lines, whenever Russian citizens are tired of waiting in their lines. Which is often.

It’s a very different process than USA customs clearing. In USA, the visitor is given preference and good treatment, whereas in Russia, you are pushed aside and they wave their Russian passports in your face. They will also use their children to cut in line in front of you.

Sheremetyevo (SVO) is the better airport

Sheremetyevo is much easier for clearing customs. If you travel to Domodedovo, it’ll take you 2 hours just to get to that counter. Be warned. I have never had it take less than 1 hour at Domodedovo. I’ve had it take 3 hours before too. It’s never consistent and it depends on what hour you arrive and who is working. I have had the same customs officer (a young man) twice in a row now, and he never smiles and never is friendly. Hopefully you get lucky and there are only a few planes unloading during your time, so it’s faster. There are many factors in place, but expect 1-2 hours for customs at Domodedovo, always.

Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow has never taken me more than 30 minutes to clear customs. It is much easier, cleaner, modern and the people are much nicer there. My two cents.

I think it’s important to understand why an airline does check for valid visas before an individual is allowed to board an airplane. They are, at least in most cases, fined and liable for all the costs associated with deportation of a person who doesn’t have a document proving they can enter the country.

Therefore, I do believe that you will not encounter any issues in this case. A person is allowed to stay in the transit area of the airport for up to 24 hours without a visa so I would even risk it with a few hours.

Where a problem might arise is during boarding since the automated system or a gate attendant/check-in agent might flag you as not having a valid document to enter the country. You might need to explain the situation and they might need to make a few calls so arrive early but especially if you have a western (preferably German or other EU) passport, it all should not matter.

Lastly, you can contact the airline.

Technically, your visa is not valid when you are scheduled to land so boarding is a problem.

Practically, it will be perfectly valid by the time you reach the immigration counter, so you are dependent on the discretion of check-in staff. Be nice, they will let you board.

If your flight lands early then keep sitting in your seat and pretend that you like to disembark the airplane late and then walk slowly and join one of the longer lines at immigration to try to make it midnight before it’s your turn.

I was at DME recently at it took me 1 hour to reach the counter after coming out of the airplane.