Phone registration in Uzbekistan

Exactly.
If you don’t declare the IMEIs at the airport, you’ll later have to pay 30% of the phone’s value just to get it declared at customs, and only then can you register it in UZIMEI – which also has a separate fee.

@salman Thanks a lot Salman, your help is really appreciated.

Good day, everyone! I just want to get full clarity, truly sorry for repeated questions, just want to know for sure:

1. When flying into Uzbekistan, do you have to declare your mobile phone(s) and IMEI? Is it mandatory to avoid paying a 30% duty when leaving with the phone?
   Or is it optional – just to prevent the SIM slot or the phone itself from being blocked on a future trip?
   And do you have to pay duty when leaving Uzbekistan with your own used phone, regardless of whether you declared it or not?

2. When leaving, do they check phones and match IMEIs to any declaration???

You don’t need to declare your phone when arriving in Uzbekistan unless you:

• Plan to stay longer than 60 days
• Intend to return regularly with the same phone

For most tourists and short-term visitors, no declaration is needed at all. You only need to declare if you plan to use an Uzbek SIM regularly while in Uzbekistan.

There’s nothing to pay when leaving, and no one checks anything.
If you didn’t register your phone, it just means that after 60 days, your Uzbek SIM will stop working on that specific device – that’s it. Basically, declaring is only needed to frequent travelers to Uzbekistan and long stayers (60 days +).

Привет.

Я был с телефоном в РУ, но не регистрировал IMEI. 

Вопрос: Если я куплю туристическую E-SIM в Билайн.уз, будет всё работать?

E-Sim также имеет свой отдельный IMEI. Если ранее вы заезжали с данным девайсом но пользовались физической SIM то данный слот будет уже заблокирован для пользования любой узбекской сим-картой. Если купите E-Sim то он проработает 60 дней и потом тоже будет заблокирован. Для неузбекских сим-карт все будет работать как и прежде. 

I am a citizen of the Russian Federation.
I bought a Beeline SIM card in Tashkent. Inserted it into my phone, which is 5 years old. I submitted an online application on the “imei customs uz” website to register the device. Some time after submitting, the application changed to the status “Registered,” indicating that I must pay a customs fee of 317,000 soums.
Is it really necessary to pay customs duty for a used phone?

Why do you even need to register the IMEI?

In two months I won’t be able to use it in Uzbekistan.

Are you planning to stay in Uzbekistan for more than 60 days?

I come here regularly for work.

Since you didn’t declare the phone for free at the airport, now you have to pay the duty. On your next trip, declare your phone at customs and you won’t have to pay the fee.
You need to declare your personal device if you plan to use a local SIM card. If you don’t plan to use a local SIM, then no declaration is needed.

You only need to pay for the device in which you’re going to use an Uzbek SIM card.
This is done upon arrival, before passing through customs. You fill out a special paper form (take it in Russian — everything is clear there).
To fill it out, you will need your passport, the address of the hotel where you are staying, and the IMEIs of the phone’s SIM slots. You can fill it out in Russian.

Indicate the value as no more than $1000.

You submit the completed form to a special window. As a rule, there is a line of about 15 clueless people who slow everything down and create complete chaos (unfortunately). So don’t hesitate — just go for it. At the window, they will take your smartphone and passport to check the IMEI and passport details. They will enter everything into a special database. All of this happens right in front of you.

Then you go through customs.

About half an hour later, the entered IMEIs appear in the databases of all payment systems, and you can pay the fee (193,000 soums) at any mobile service shop with PayNet. Two minutes after payment, the IMEI is unlocked and you can use the Uzbek SIM card.

…If you walked past customs and forgot to fill out/submit the IMEI registration form, you carefully return to the red corridor and apologetically say you forgot. They’ll send you back to the same window, you fill it out, they enter it into the database, you leave the red corridor, and then go pay. But your fee will already be 217,000 soums (for forgetfulness).

After that, you will never need to register this IMEI again, and it will work with any Uzbek SIM card no matter how many times you leave and re-enter Uzbekistan.

If you decide to insert and use an Uzbek SIM card in a new phone — the entire procedure starts from zero again.