Variant: small coat of arms.
In 1719, in connection with the introduction of the poll tax and conscription duty, travel certificates were introduced. In 1724, rules were established on peasants’ absences from their villages and feeding letters and pass letters were introduced; these described the height, face, and distinguishing marks of the person released. The former were issued to peasants leaving villages for seasonal work within their own districts, as well as to landlords and stewards. The latter were issued to persons traveling to other districts. Population movement was supervised by local administrative bodies and the police. Peasants found without documents were subjected to corporal punishment and sent back to their owners.
From 1763, the passport acquired significance as a means of collecting passport fees. Passport fees were introduced in 1763: for one-year and shorter-term passports—10 kopecks; for two-year passports—50 kopecks; for three-year passports—1 ruble. At the beginning of the 19th century, for townspeople and peasants the passport fee for a one-year passport was already 6 rubles, and for 5 years—70 rubles in assignation rubles. In 1825 and 1894, passport fees were significantly reduced; in 1894 they were also introduced for the privileged estates; in 1897 they were finally abolished.
From 1803, instead of feeding letters and pass letters, printed passports valid only within Russia were introduced for merchants, townspeople, and peasants.
From 1809, address offices were established within the city police in Saint Petersburg. All persons working for hire in the capitals were required to register at an address office and obtain an address ticket there. When changing jobs or place of residence, as well as upon expiration of the ticket, registration was required; moreover, a ticket was not issued without a favorable reference from the previous place of work. Persons suspected of unreliability could be expelled from the city by the police.
In 1837, the Address Office was transformed into the Address Expedition, and an address desk was opened under it “to provide all and any who wish with the necessary information about the place of residence of a person staying in the capital.” A similar address desk appeared in Moscow as well, but only in 1861, “following the example of Saint Petersburg.”
From the 1830s until the end of the 19th century, the main law defining the rights and duties of the police in enforcing the passport regime in the empire was the “Charter on Passports and Fugitives.” The Charter’s main rule (Art. 1) stated that no one may leave their place of permanent residence without a legally issued permit or passport. The law required all persons to present passports when traveling from one province to another at checkpoints established in cities, and upon arrival— to the police. Nobles not in state service could go without passports; for them, the document was a certificate of noble status. For peasants and townspeople, three categories of passports were established, issued depending on the person’s distance from their principal place of residence and the term of validity (up to 3 years maximum).
The passport register was compiled by district police officers; for peasants—by volost administrations. Travel certificates, travel warrants, passports, residence permits, and others were recorded there. They contained the following information: surname, given name, patronymic, rank/status, age, religion, marital status—the composition of the family. Other variants of passport registers are also found, listing such data as: house number, surname, given name, patronymic, rank/status, where the person arrived from, when the passport was issued, in whose house the person lives, a trade permit, a craft, when and where the person departed. They are kept in regional archives: in the holdings of district police officers and volost administrations.
The system of issuing passports changed; what remained common were their short terms of validity.
From 1883, homeowners were required to notify the police of all arrivals and departures in all cities, settlements, and small towns, submitting their passports to the police for registration.