After the 1861 liberation of the serfs in the Russian Empire, the peasant was legally declared to be as attached to the former tax-paying estate or having a rural station (sel'skoe sostoianie).

Membership in the peasant community, the legally mandatory reception of allotment land, arrears, and collective responsibility characterized this rural station, and the passport system and residence permit enforced it.

The internal passport was issued only in the local district office and was valid for the entire empire while the identification card (Russian: Свидетельство) was valid only within 30 verst (approximately thirty kilometers) of the place of registration - thus internal passports were critical for obtaining work outside a farmer's own district.

The Soviet passports ceased to be valid as means of personal identification since mid-2004, but it is still legal (though barely practical) to have one.

Nevertheless, under the new regulations, permanent registration records are stamped in citizens' internal passports just as were propiskas.

This misconception is partly reinforced by the fact that the existing regulations for registration make it an onerous process, being dependent on the will and consent of landlords and which effectively prevents tenants from registering themselves.

The final transfer took place on 1 January 2006, after the establishment of the territorial authorities of the Federal Migration Service of Russia.

Thus, currently, the issuance and replacement of passports are carried out by the territorial bodies of the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs at the place of residence, stay or application of citizens.

If a citizen is imprisoned, administration of a penal entity should return passport or render obtainment of a new one upon completion of punishment.

A citizen must immediately report the loss of a passport to a territorial body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

It is forbidden to confiscate a citizen's passport, except in cases provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Until a new passport is issued, a temporary identity document, the form of which is established by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, is provided at the citizen's request by a structural subdivision of the authority competent in the area of migration.