Updated on 13.05.2019
Belarus has strict migration legislation. Many tourists by being ignorant of it have been fined. Because of that we recommend you to have a close look at the legislation.
The majority of foreign citizens are allowed to enter Belarus only if they have a visa for Belarus. When a visa is issued, a migration card is provided in addition to it. Do not lose it!
Types of visas:
Short term visas are the most commonly used type of visa (up to 90 days). There are single, double or multiple visas.
Long-term visas are usually valid for one year and allow multiple entry. These visas are suitable for:
And the third type: transit visa. It is issued for a period of up to one year and gives its holder the opportunity to cross Belarus within two days.
How to obtaining a group visa:
Where and how to get a visa?
Application, invitation, travel voucher:
To get a tourist visa you need a travel voucher issued by a Belarusian travel agency.
Without a travel agency, a visa to Belarus could be issued only to travelers who have friends and acquaintances in Belarus (only in this case, you will no longer need to make a tourist visa, but a guest visa, and the voucher will be replaced by the invitation).
Tourists who come on business trips are recommended to have an invitation from an organization whose activities are of interest to the guest of Belarus.
Cost of visa:
Keep in mind that visas issued at Minsk-2 National Airport cost about 2 times more than the usual rate.
At the consular office at Minsk-2 National Airport visas can be issued to people who travel to Belarus from the countries where there are no consular offices of Belarus and no visa support is available. The consular center works 24/7.
The only tricky moment here is that one should have an invitation, an application, or a tourist voucher.
Therefore, when travelling to Belarus from the countries that have no Belarusian consular departments or diplomatic missions, it is best to contact a Belarusian travel agency that provides visa support for foreign citizens in advance.
Tourists usually send requests for visa support service to such agencies and provide their personal data (surname, name, birth date, passport number, passport expiration date, citizenship), as well as main travelling locations and accommodations (e.g. hotels). Plus, the duration of stay in Belarus should be specified.
A travel agency that provides visa support for a tourist, is responsible for issuing an invitation for him or her. It should also provide a tourist voucher that is forwarded to the consular service at Minsk-2 National Airport afterwards.
Upon arrival at the consular department located at the airport, the tourist can be sure that the documents from the receiving party are already there, so the only things left to do are to fill in the application form and to pay the consular fee.
If hotel reservation has been made in advance, then visa application process by a travel agency should take about 3 working days. Otherwise, search for a suitable hotel is performed and payment for it is done as well (this is an important thing to be able to apply for a visa), afterwards visa processing is performed.
Citizens of 74 countries can enter Belarus without a visa for a period of not more than 30 days upon arrival at the Minsk National Airport.
More direct rules and list of countries you can check on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus http://mfa.gov.by/en/visa/visafreetravel/
To enter the visa-free regime, you must arrive directly to the National Airport Minsk-2 and have with you:
For citizens of Vietnam, Haiti, Gambia, India, Lebanon, Namibia and Samoa, a mandatory additional requirement is the presence in the document for traveling abroad a valid multiple entry visa of the EU or Schengen zone with a mark of entry into their territory, as well as air tickets with confirmation of departure. from Minsk National Airport within 30 days from the date of entry.
Very important (!):
This procedure of visa-free travel does not apply to persons arriving in Belarus by flights from Russia, or who intend to fly to Russian airports (these flights are internal, border controls are not exercised on them).
The term of a visa-free stay is calculated in whole calendar days. The first day corresponds to the date of arrival, the last one – the date of departure, regardless of the time of arrival or departure.
Foreign citizens who plan to stay in Belarus for more than five working days will have to register with the internal affairs bodies at their place of residence in the country. For stays in hotels, hostels, sanatoriums and other collective means of accommodation, registration is carried out by the administrations of these places by default at the time of check in.
Hrodna and part of the Hrodna region has a special visa-free regime. If you are a foreigner, you can enter into the territory Belarus from Poland or Lithuania and go to Poland or Lithuania for 10 days without obtaining a visa.
Since January 1, 2018, Brest and part of the Brest region have visa-free status. Foreigners can enter this territory from Poland and come back to Poland for 10 days without obtaining a visa.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus considers registration of foreign country citizens as a very important process. Please pay attention to it! Unfortunately, many tourists run into serious issues because of the registration routine failure. The complexity and, from our point of view, the excessive strictness of the procedure are restraining the development of tourism in Belarus.
Foreigners must register at the place of their stay not later than 5 days after their arrival.
Public holidays and Sundays are excluded from day count. The registration is performed on the same day when it is requested.
When the location of stay is changed, one should go through the registration process again. For example, if you enter Belarus, within the first 5 days you must stop at a hotel or at your acquaintance’s place and perform this procedure. Then you can travel for 4 days, and you are free to cycle or to drive and to camp out . After that, when the 5th day comes, you should check in at an accommodation in the next city where you arrive and perform the registration again.
Please don’t put off the procedure till the last day! You’d better register on the 4th day. Among the employees of the offices that perform registration, there are only a few people who speak English. Therefore, the procedure sometimes takes more time and if one comes in order to register on the 5th day, one day may not be enough to complete the procedure. And if you are late, you will have to pay a fine!
Citizens of the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Latvia, Ukraine and the Republic of Kazakhstan are allowed to stay on the territory of the Republic of Belarus for 30 days starting from the arrival day without registration. For the citizens of the Russian Federation this period is longer, 90 days.
Online registration on a single portal of electronic services portal.gov.by
For cyclists we recommend this very simple registration form.
If you register through the website portal.gov.by, then all data must be filled in the form in your account. The procedure is free. You will need to fill in the following information:
Registration Instructions on portal.gov.by:
Registration using your email address is done in the section Registering from any device with Internet access. After registration, the user gets access to his/her personal account.
In the “My Services” tab in the personal account, select the “Citizenship and Migration” category, order the corresponding service (200.12.14.1), fill out and send an electronic application to the authorized body for registration (you can fill in the application in Russian or English).
As a result, the user receives a notification of acceptance of the application, or a refusal in the section “Current Services“. A registration message (or refusal to register) will also be available in the user’s personal account. Also there is a video manual in Russian.
Registration at a rental apartment / when staying at someone’s place
This option is quite simple. When you are living at a rental apartment, or at an apartment of someone who invited you, for example via CouchSurfing or Warmshowers, you may register for the whole period of your stay in Belarus at once. To do it you will need to go to a registration office that corresponds to the place of stay together with your host. Be sure to clarify in advance to which migration office the apartment corresponds to. In Minsk, for instance, there are 9 such ofiices. The procedure itself will require 1.5-2 hours in case there is no queue.
In a hotel, health resort or recreational institution
You don’t have to go to the office that performs registration, the staff will do what is required for you. However, hotel registration is only valid while you are staying at this hotel. When you change the place of stay, you have to go through registration again as described above.
Registration at a farmstead is also possible, but, as a rule, it is more challenging since the owner has to visit a registration office, and many owners wouldn’t agree to do it for 1-2 people who are planning to stay at their place for one night.
Registration when buying a travel tour
If you travel using the services of a travel agency, you can avoid re-registration at each place of your stay if you buy a travel package with an itinerary. Foreign citizens who arrive in Belarus for touristic purposes and who travel within Belarus according to the programme of a tour, register in a registration office in the first place of their temporary stay for the whole period of the tour.
The required documents
Foreign citizens and people without citizenship who are temporarily staying or residing in the Republic of Belarus are required to have a contract of compulsory medical insurance concluded with a Belarusian insurance agency (“Belgosstrakh” or “Beleximgarant”) or a health insurance from a foreign insurance agency for cases when emergency medical assistance is needed.
Requirements for medical insurance contract concluded with a foreign insurance agency:
