Visa for Belarus

Visa for Belarus

Every EU citizen (or EU passport holder) can apply for visa in any EU country. Non-EU citizens (or non-EU passport holders) have to apply in their home country.

The are several requirements you have to meet to successfully apply for a (group) visa.

Documents required for the visa application:

• a duly completed visa application form;

• a photograph of yourself - size 35x45mm, full face, against a light background, photos older than 6 months are not accepted!);

• a foreign travel document (passport) - has to be valid for 90 days after the expected departure from Belarus;

• a medical insurance contract - with coverage in Belarus for a minimum of 10 000 EUR (You need a letter/email from your insurance company that states you are covered in Belarus for the dates you will be in the country. It is not enough to simply show your policy coverage. You will need to print this letter and send it with your application.);

• visa support documents (confirming the purpose of the visit);

• a confirmation of the paid consular fee.

To apply for the group visa the group must consist of at least 5 people and not more than 30 people.

The price of the group visa is 10 EUR per person. For the individual visa it's 60 EUR (people of some nationalities have the price lowered to as much as 25 EUR). Consular fees in Euro are listed here (in Russian): http://mfa.gov.by/upload/123/1.pdf

A consular office makes a decision about granting a visa within 5 working days (can be shortened to 2 working days for a higher/double price).

For a short term visa (type C) we can obtain support documents confirming the purpose of the visit which can be either tourism or private purposes.

To get support documents for the purpose of tourism we need to ask:

• a Belarusian tourist company to send to the consulate (and a copy to us) an application with a commitment of the company that we will comply to the rules of stay in Belarus (here is an example: https://www.dropbox.com/s/e1pgnxrreziyqdt/exampleinvitationfromtouristagency.pdf?dl=0 );

• a rural tourist business to send to the consulate an application with a stated purpose, period of stay and the services provided to us and a commitment of the company that we will comply to the rules of stay in Belarus.

To get support documents for the private purposes we need an original invitation issued by the Citizenship and Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus.

For the purpose of tourism we can stay in Belarus for 30 days, for private purposes it is 90 days (but we shoudln't stay there more than 30 days).

After we enter Belarus we need to register our passports at a local Passport and Visa Office of the Ministry of Interior within 5 business days. Actually we need to register at a Passport and Visa office every 5 days, not only once.

An important thing to consider when we enter Belarus as a group is that the same people that enter together must leave together. If someone is planning to stop at Minsk and leave the group, he must get an individual visa.

Links:

http://mfa.gov.by/en/visa/ Page of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus. Contains all the requirements for a visa application.

http://www.minskguide.travel/belarus_travel_tips/belarus_immigration/how_do_i_apply_for_belarus_tourist_visa.html

http://shantidom.by/visa/ Instructions for getting visas.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/belarus/travel-insurance