When travelling in Uzbekistan, you need to be registered by hotels or other licensed places to stay, or need to register yourself in an online system called Emehmon.
Before 2018, people would occasionally get arrested and deported for not having enough registration slips from licensed accommodation providers.
Once the old president died and the new one came, things relaxed and border guards became very friendly. You did not need those slips anymore and the registration system was set to disappear on the 1st of July 2020.
Was it Covid or something else? Not sure, but in 2021, not registering meant not being able to get a SIM card and potentially not being able to use a train or Airbnb. Tourists had to a pay 2 million sum fine in September 2021 for not registering. In 2022, 3 tourists so far have reported no checking of the slips at the border or airport, while one reported a detailed grilling and checking of all his slips.
So it seems most of the time you don’t need them, but sometimes you do. In any case, officially, it seems you still have to register within 3 days of your arrival, both with the hotel option and the DIY Emehmon option. When registering at hotels, officially, you have to register at least every third day. When registering yourself, your registration is immediately valid for the whole duration of your stay in Uzbekistan.
If you fail to do so, you might have to pay a fine.
All reports, questions and answers are welcome in this forum Q&A. A separate article deals with questions about the Uzbek visa.
Registration at a hotel
Your hotel will give you a registration slip free of charge, a little piece of paper saying you are staying there. Keep it and show it at the border if they ask for it. You need to stay in a hotel at least every third night offically to stay registered. If you would rather not, use the Emehmon registration.
Airbnb hosts or others do not have the option to give you this type of registration slip.
Emehmon system
A new DIY registration system is in use since July 2018. The website is called emehmon.uz. There is also an Android app. If you do not want to stay in hotels, but couchsurf or camp instead, this is what you should be using. You can also register through a hotel.
The price for registration is around 10 000 som per night.
Online
- 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)
- At MY LIST, fill in the form (don’t forget to fill in More Informations, it is also necessary). The KPP number doesn’t seem necessary.
- Once completed you click on the little green circle beside your name in the list and click pay.
- You have to pay on line with an Uzbek credit card. You will need the help of a local for that.
Uzbek credit cards are linked to a phone number. To confirm the payment you have to enter a code received at that number. You need to pay within 30 minutes of saving your details, so make sure you have arranged a payment method beforehand.
Hotel
Hotels should also be able to do this for you, but most are too scared to tackle the issue. 5-star hotels are your best bet, and we know that at least one receptionist at the Grand Mir in Tashkent now knows how to do it. Best is to get in touch with Maruf Kamolov (+998-93-474-7774, +998-91-418-0778), who knows how it works and is happy to talk receptionists through the process. He is based in Bukhara and can help you there directly.