For the first time, the passport as a document certifying identity and the right to "leave" or cross the border, was used by the Russian state from the middle of the XVII century. and initially served as a certificate of release from prison. The decree of October 30, 1719 forbade residents of Russia to leave their places of residence and service without a legal form or passport. The establishment of the passport system in Russia is associated with the signing of Peter I in 1724 of a normative act called "Poster". The passport legislation of the XVIII century was formed primarily as a mechanism for the prosecution of fugitives and deserters. Later, the passport's functions were expanded. Thus, according to the decree of Elizabeth Petrovna of October 11, 1755, border customs were required to make notes in passports about crossing the border. In the XIX century. the legislation regulating the registration of the population and the passport regime became the legal basis of the immigration control system of the Russian Empire, which consists of three main elements that have developed in the past: border control at the entrance to and exit from Russia of various categories of the population; "places of residence", in which the place of residence of Russian and foreign citizens was established using various population registration systems; sanctions against violators of the passport regime. The active penetration of foreign entrepreneurs into the Russian Far East after the opening of the free trade zone (porto Franco) in 1856, which lasted until 1913, forced the Russian authorities to introduce special passport and visa rules in this region. On August 18, 1860, the Ministry of Internal Affairs handed over to the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia "The Highest Order with the application of the rules on issuing passports to foreigners" dated July 29, 1860. According to these rules, foreigners were allowed to enter Russia both on national passports and on special tickets iss ... Read more