Caravanistan

I managed to get myself self registered without staying at a hotel, hostel, etc. Here's what happened:

I arrived in Tashkent on the 21st and stayed with my couchsurfing host. I asked him about the new registration system but he was just confused as I am. We tried using the website www.emehmon.uz and found out he can register me but he has to give his info about his place of residence, etc. and also he can only pay the money with an Uzbek card, something that he doesn't have. I also tried using the app EMEHMON (available for Android only) to try and self register but it turned out to be impossible.

So we found the post by gaetandzoni on this forum:

Kamolov Ma'ruf Raufovich
Bukara region departement for tourism development
Chief specialist of "international relations" section
@ : [email protected]
+998-93-474-7774
+998-91-418-0778

and decided to call the guy. Very friendly guy picked up but he sounded bewildered on how I got his number. I told him I found it on the internet but he proceeded to help me anyways. Since I didn't want to have my couchsurfing host give his information and I wanted flexibility on where to stay, I told Ma'ruf that I wanted to camp for long durations and want to self register. He tells me to go to a hotel, tell them about the new registration process and to call him so that he can guide them on what to do.

So, I went to several hotels but with no luck. Even with Ma'ruf guiding them, they either seemed adamant or just didn't understand. There was one hotel though who suggested I try registering at a 5 star hotel since their own hotel hasn't registered into this new system yet.

Next day, I went to a big fancy hotel called "Grand Mir Hotel". There was also a working atm inside! I talked to the receptionist about registering and he said he had heard about it but have no idea on what to do. So I called Ma'ruf again and he guided the receptionist. A few minutes later, the receptionist asked for my passport and visa (I had a printed out copy of my evisa) and asked how many days I would be staying in Uzbekistan. Since I really had no idea, I said 24 days and then he calculated the city tax that I had to pay which came out to 221,160 soms (about $28.35 USD). So basically, I pay about $1.18 per day. Not too bad. The receptionist printed out the filled out registration form and I was finally free from the headache of this new registration system! I was finally free to roam around the country freely without having to register at a hotel every few days!

End point:

You have to register within 3 days. I entered Uzbekistan on the 21st and registered at the hotel on the 24th.

If you're in Tashkent, go to a big fancy hotel or at least to Grand Mir Hotel to get yourself self registered. The receptionist may not be the same guy so if they are confused, tell them to call the Ministry of Tourism on what to do or maybe have them ask their manager. If that doesn't work, call Ma'ruf as a last resort as I don't want the poor man to be bombarded with 100 phone calls a day to help guide people on registration.

I assume if you are in Bukhara, it would be easier since Ma'ruf is based there.

If you are in other cities, I would suggest trying to register at the big fancy hotels.

Also, I never mentioned anything about couchsurfing so I don't know if mentioning this will change anything though.

I will update you guys on when I leave Uzbekistan and if the guards check for registration and if they accept it or not. Hope I have helped many people who are desperate for any info about this new self registration system!

Hey ! After spending two whole days trying to fine a cheap solution to register (we know we’ll probably not be controlled but as many people i guess, we’d rather travel quietly), we finally tried to go on that website, www.emehmon.uz.
At first we didn’t even give a look because we had read it was to complicated, maybe impossible

BUT

It happens that it’s not that difficult at all :
- at first you click SIGN UP to create an account with a local phone number (it can be any number, you won’t need it except for creating your account)
- then you go on MY LIST and add the informations about yourself, passport number, visa number and so on... (don’t forget to fulfil More Informations also). The KPP number doesn’t seem necessary. About visa type i entered S1 (single - one entry), and guesttype : other.
- once completed you click on the little green circle beside your name in the list and click pay. Then comes the touchy part : You have to pay on line with an uzbek credit card ; we were with that man, Maruf, who helped us (though it’s not his job at all, actually ! We explained to him why he received so many phone calls for help, he didn’t even know but said he doesn’t mind, it’s only once a week and he’s pleased to help. He even showed me a picture of you Gaëtan and Priscilla !). Then he paid for us in exchange of cash but of course you can ask any person who has an uzbek card. Those are directly linked to a phone number and to confirm the payment you’ll have to enter a code received at that number.

That way we paid only 170 000 Som each (21$) for 18 nights. The service of Maruf (INTERNATIONAL RELATION SERVICE) didn’t even know you could proceed that way but it seems to work. Anyway they kept saying that this system is too tricky and that it should soon change !

Until, I hope this message can save time to anyone else

Very important - please update the page

You need to register EVERY DAY from your third day onwards. You can no longer do every third day like previously. We were unsure about this and asked multiple people including tourist police and they said every third day, but at the border we were arrested and told we would need to pay a fine or be deported because we were missing our last two days. After waiting a few hours one policeman told us he would do us a favor and we could go and register for the night and we could go through until his shift was over. He also said hotels would register us for free, without staying there. But when we went to a hotel, they said this wasn't possible and they refused to register us at all, saying they would get in trouble. Even after phoning the border policeman they wouldn't register us. All other hotels we called also refused. The border guy told us to come back and he would try to get us a smaller fine the next morning. When we got back to the border, we didn't see him, so we tried going through again and another guy let us through with no problems. If you're going to try risking it, at least make you register on the day you're leaving, it's the most important one according to the border guys. But I wouldn't risk it.

Hiya, just to add our report, we didn't try the self-registration method, but we stayed 8 days and had 3 days of registration slips. There were NO problems leaving apart from the lengthy swatches of our campervan. The hotel owner we spoke to in Fergana says that he thought it was all becoming redundant.

I'm sorry about your troubles though, sounds horrible.
Jamie

Hi Jamie,
Can you please share the hotel information in Fergana, and the owner's name, if possible?
I will be travelling to Fergana this Fall..
And how much you paid for registration/hotel... Do hotels still issue registration cards?
Did you travel from Tashkent to Fergana and back?
Thank you.

Hi Nora,

The hostel we stayed in Fergana was really lovely, we actually camped in the closed parking area behind it in our campervan and he allowed us to use a shower and toilet. It was called Hostel Sakura, and the owner was really really lovely, he is called El. Despite was lonely planet says about Fergana we actually really liked it, its a non-touristy town and there is a great restaurant nearby called Pub Number 1.

Hi Trunks, sorry to hear about the trouble you had. Can i ask what border crossing that was at?

Just a quick update on the new system. Instructions outlined above worked perfectly. You need to pay within 30 minutes of saving your details though, so maybe make sure you've arranged a payment method beforehand. We went to the tourist office in Khiva, they hadn't heard of the new system so we gave them Maruf's number and after getting a rundown were happy to let us use their computer and credit card and printed us a copy of our registration. €15 each for 14 days. Hopefully goes ok upon leaving!

Wow Trunks, sorry about what happened to you. Last night, I was at the border crossing Dauyt, and nobody seemed to care about registration slips. Nobody even mentioned them - which is good, as I had very few

Registration : we did not use the online system ourselves, but all the hotels we have been ( 4 hotels during 7 nights in 15 days : we camped the other nights) used this system to register us. So they pay a fee where entering our details and that's why they usually charge a little bit more. They can find you on the system with your passport number.

They still give you an informal registration paper slip. Keep them all.

My wife and 2 years old kid took a plane from Tashkent back to France, and the Custom officer asked the registration slips of my wife. He didn't ask about my kid (we actually didn't have any, as we never payed extra in hotels, only rooms for 2 people, low age kids don't count).
I crossed the land border alone the next day and I was not asked for the registration. So it depends. I don't know what would have happened at the airport should my wife had not her papers...