(1) A document issued to aliens in addition to the national passport for a lengthy stay in a particular country. To obtain a residence permit in the USSR, an alien must, upon arrival at the place indicated in an entrance visa, appear within 24 hours at the visa and registration department of the police administration (if there is no such department, at the police precinct); he must also declare every intended change of residence (which is marked in his residence permit). At the new place of residence or at the place of temporary stay the residence permit must be registered within 24 hours or within 48 hours in rural areas. In registering documents of civil status, the alien must present his permit with a national passport; the registration is done according to the alien’s place of residence on the same basis as the registration of Soviet citizens. Residence permits are not issued to tourists or to any other foreigners who come to travel in the USSR or for a short stay, for instance, to artists or to members of various delegations. An entry indicating permission for a temporary stay in the USSR is made in the national passports of these aliens.

Residence permits are issued in the socialist countries and in the majority of capitalist states.

(2) In prerevolutionary Russia residence permits were introduced by the Statute of 1894; in cases provided for by the law, a residence permit was issued instead of a passport. The permit included the wife of the recipient and, if he wished, his children, elderly relatives, and other persons as well.