Border Post | Customs and Immigration

October 2nd, 2023 by our.overland.adventures

Mongolia > Russia. Utter drama, crossed border the day after the golden eagle festival so very busy. Arrived at 13:00, entered customs area at 16:00, entered Russia at 18:30. Biggest wait was at the car import window as there were many many Mongolians entering Russia and the computer crashed.

Firstly pick up migration card and plastic card at the small white container like building next to the first barrier, best do this while still in pine. Fill this out and drive through the barrier when it's your turn. Then park your car at the right side directly after the barrier and go to the white building there with all your documents. Once done drive further to the next buildings under the roof, go inside (building on the right) for passport control and receive entry stamp. Go back outside for car check, once done drive towards the last barrier but don't go through. Instead park your car on the right side and walk back to the customs area. Now go to the window on the left side for temporary vehicle import. Once done go back to your car and drive through the barrier. At the barrier show passports and vehicle import document, and give plastic card you received at step 1. Finally, you're good to enter Russia.

October 2nd, 2023 by busleven

From Mongolia to Russia, two people (EU) with car and dog.

First we waited two hours untill we were able to enter the Russian customs zone. It was very crowded and the system to import cars was broken, so all went a bit unusual. First got a small white paper and migration card at the entry gate. Drove though the barrier and went to the white container at the right. Here a lady wrote our names in the big book.

Then very quick car check, didn’t had to show the medicine box this time. At the white offices on the right we got our passport stamped in by a friendly officer, no interrogation or questions. For the dog we went to the very relaxed veterinary who scanned the passport of dog and owner, didn’t ask for a health certificate.

Last step was importing the car. It was chaos and the border was about to close, but in the end we found a lady that helped us out in the office that is normally for leaving Russia. After 2 hours we left the border area. Total crossing time from Mongolia to Russia was 7 hours.

September 4th, 2023 by instagram.com/toughlens

Arrived at the border at 08.45. Around 20 cars in front of us. Separate lines for trucks and cars (trucks left, cars right).

Waited for two hours before we were allowed to enter the border area. Customs and passport check in the same room. For some reason, we never got an import document for the car when we entered the customs union in Kyrgyzstan. The guy asked for the document, but when we didn’t have it, he just put our details in the system - took 30 minutes.

After that we waited another 30 minutes for passport control. No questions (for once) about jobs or anything, and we got the exit stamp.

Pretty superficial car check and were officially out of Russia. Took 3,5 hours in total.

August 31st, 2023 by lowry.brandt

Arrived at Russia border at 10:15 on a Thursday (2 people- German/American + dog). We lined up on the right with 10 passenger cars ahead of us (the left line had five big trucks) and we were allowed to enter at 10:45.

Short five minute visit to the vet office to have our dog’s passport photocopied and stamped then entered vehicle/passport control (up a small flight of stairs on the right). At the first station, we were asked for the import paperwork we received in Kyrgyzstan and wanted to know the current kilometers of the vehicle. This process took about 15 minutes before we could enter passport control.

After a very thorough one hour “interview”, we had to remove all the contents from our vehicle and by 12:15 were allowed to leave.

2 hours total.

August 23rd, 2023 by our.overland.adventures

We arrived Wednesday at 10:30 and there was no line at all. Russian exit took less than an hour. Super nice people. Most time consuming was our car import document from Kyrgyzstan. We seemed not to be in the system so he had to do it Al manually. Passport and car check were both quick and easy. Tip: take a pic of your odometer. They wanted to see how much kilometers were on our car

August 11th, 2023 by busleven

Easy but time consuming border. Leaving Russia with two people (EU), dog and car took 3 hours.

We arrived the night before and slept in line to be one of the first with some Mongolians. Unfortunately a big Russian tour group arrived the next morning and got priority. After one hour we were allowed to enter. Directly got some brief questions outside about our trip and jobs. Then visited the vet and show dog passport, customs control for export of the car (remember to bring your import document from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan or Russia). This took the most time as it was pretty crowded. Quick car check and got asked specifically to get out the medicine box. Exit stamp passport and we could leave. Everybody was friendly and professional.

August 8th, 2023 by AppaOverland

We arrived at 8 in the morning, 50 cars in front of us and a bunch of Russian ATV's. About 20 cars stayed at the border overnight, so I would've done the same, had I known prior.

We were at the checks at 13:00; all finished at 13:30.

Also the roads between border posts are fully paved now.

August 8th, 2023 by onerideaway.ch

Little tip, when crossing the border from russia to mongolia, sleep in the line the night before. In the evening there were already about 10-15 car in line and this morning there are about 60 cars waiting. It s not the sexiest spot but it’s not to noisy. I guess because of the summer holidays the border is packed.

October 4th, 2022 by giannachivalentina

The border is open from 9am till 6pm, the mongolian site as well. We arrived at 7 in the morning, there were 6 cars in front of us. It took us 4h to exit russia. They interrogated us and wanted to know everything about our lives. It took a while but was ok.

September 28th, 2019 by hestervdgeer

(RU-MNG) Arrived at 09:10, entered the gate at 09:25 and left at 10:15. Pretty straightforward procedure of passport control and car control. I think the queues are worse in high season.

Warning: We heard from friends crossing this border (same direction) that they had problems because they carried Tramadol (heavy painkiller) which apparently is illegal without the right Russian documents. They were held for 7 hours at the border and got registered in a system.

Road between last border check and Mongolian border is gravel, you can drive 25 km/h.

September 12th, 2019 by dagiundtobi

Took us approximately 1 hour. Only a few cars and and trucks. Very smooth and friendly.

August 19th, 2019 by Elki

To avoid the queue and long waitings, arrive the evening before and crossing from RUS to MGL: park right at the Stop-signal (white, almost invisible line on the tarmac)
We arrived Sunday evening around 6pm, stayed the night in our camper … and were number one on Monday morning.
Customs procedure: RUS very professional and friendly … a bit slower on the MGL-side but easy
Be aware: border is closed on Sunday and we understand it closes the other days at 17:30

July 30th, 2019 by instagram.com/wegimbus

Crossed the border leaving Russia. We were there at 7am and were the 7th car. Border opens at 9. We left at 10.30.
As previousely described it is pretty painless and a slow procedure. Most spoke reasonable English and were helpful. Stay calm and friendly.
Russian campervan in front had to unload and scan everything. We only had to open the roofbox and all drawers.

July 23rd, 2019 by rickydeagrela

Things went generally well checking out of Russia.
People before me complained that they were waiting a long time.

July 18th, 2019 by diereise.org

10 cars before us in the queue. arrived at 9, finished at 11.30.
easy control!

July 18th, 2019 by vostatekj

I strongly recommend coming the night before. At 21:00 there were already 10 cars in front of us. We got in with the first batch. They wanted some customs declaration which we didn’t have, but they let us through. Car check was really brief, everyone was friendly and helpful. Total time 75 min.

June 17th, 2019 by contact.agatheetmathieu

We arrived on Sunday evening and slept on the road in front of the stop sign (we were told to stay here by the border guy)
To go through Russia we needed to show the temporary import document from Ouzbekistan (5 countries before ...) car check was painless
Going through was slow as the trucks and buses go first and it took us 4 hours to get in Mongolia better arrive around 7am in the morning to have a good place in line.
On the Mongolian side they stop for lunch at around 13:00

September 3rd, 2018 by scarlett.mansfield

Not open after 5pm or on Sundays. Pretty painless. We came from Mongolia which took 35 minutes to pass through (but we arrived at 8am so we were the 10th car in the queue), drove 25km no mans land, then took an hour to pass through Russia. By the way, when you’re given the ‘passenger declaration form’ the driver just has to fill out the same form twice, the passenger doesn’t fill anything out.

July 28th, 2018 by desertfox.com

we came at night and slept in our car outside the border in the line of cars allready (we were the 5th car in line). the border opens 9 am and there was allready line of 30 cars behind us at that hour. we passed the border in one hour. the border is very slow and the check for the car was long one!

July 15th, 2018 by brunomorandi

Is missing important information about this border as everybody has to know that this post is closed on Sunday and also during Naadam festival in Mongolia (11 and 12 July) plus few days before or after...

July 3rd, 2018 by polaris-overland.com

Border opens 0900 we arrived 0920 and at least 20 cars in front of us. We crossed out of the Russian side about 1400.
No drama just slow getting the cars through

June 25th, 2018 by sixwheelseast.com

The border opens at 9 AM. Try to get into the right lane, the left one is for trucks. We didn't have any problems getting out of Russia, but it still took multiple hours. Lots of waiting, plus the customs guys wanted to look in every single box in the car. Our 3 month temporary import into the customs union has expired 7 months ago, but no one even mentioned this.

January 1st, 2014 by 2xperience.nl

Border between Russia and Mongolia