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Visitors to Belarus must obtain a visa from one of the Belarusian diplomatic missions unless they come from one of the visa exempt countries.
Contents
- Visa free access
- Visa free access through Minsk National Airport
- Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park
- Augustw Canal
- Visa on arrival
- Statistics
- References
Belarus introduced a visa-free regime with 80 countries in February 2017. The visa-free regime only apply to visitors arriving and departing from Minsk National Airport (except for flights from or to Russia) and visa-free stay will be only for 5 days.
Visa-free access
Citizens of the following 21 jurisdictions can enter Belarus without visas:
Provided that there is a private invitation or a tourist document nationals of Macedonia and Montenegro do not require a visa for up to 30 days.
Citizens of China may visit Belarus without a visa if traveling as part of a group of tourists (from 5 persons) organized by travel agencies defined.
No visa is required for Belarus for holders of either diplomatic or other official passports of Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Peru, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Syria, Thailand, Uruguay and Vietnam and for holders of diplomatic passports of Poland.
All visitors are required to have adequate health insurance.
A visa-free agreement was signed with Argentina in October 2016 but it is yet to be ratified.
An agreement between Belarus and Chile on mutual visa-free visits for holders of diplomatic, service and official passports was signed in November 2016 and is yet to be ratified.
A consensus between Belarus and Hong Kong on mutual visa-free access was reached in January 2017.
Visa-free access through Minsk National Airport
On 9 January 2017 President of Belarus signed a Decree "On establishing a visa-free order of entrance and departure of foreign citizens". The document provides visa-free entry to Belarus for a period not exceeding 5 days for nationals of the following jurisdictions who may stay for a maximum of 5 days upon entry via Minsk National Airport (except for flights departing to and from Russian airports). The number of visa-free entries is unlimited. The decree came into force on 12 February 2017.
1 Including non-citizen residents of Estonia and Latvia.
2 Only if in possession of a multiple entry visa from a European Union or Schengen area member country, an entry stamp from one of these countries and a valid air ticket with departure from Minsk National Airport.
Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park
In June 2015, Belarus established a visa-free regime for foreign hikers and cyclists, going to the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park through the border checkpoint Białowieża–Pererov for a period of up to three days. A pass for a visa-free visit can be obtained electronically and is only valid for the territory of the national park.
Augustów Canal
Effective from 26 October 2016 visitors to the Augustów Canal holding the relevant document (filled out by a travel agency, the form being different for individual and group visits) are entitled to visit the areas listed as follows upon entry to Belarus via Rudawka–Liasnaja, Kuźnica–Bruzgi, Švendubrė–Pryvalka and Raigardas–Pryvalka border checkpoints for up to 5 days visa-free:
The visa exemption will remain in force until the end of 2017 unless prolonged.
Visa on arrival
The Foreign Admissions Division at the Minsk International Airport of the Consular Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues visas on arrival if the support documents were submitted not later than 3 business days before expected date of arrival. If the reason for arrival is serious illness or death of a close relative or family member visa support documents can be submitted at the moment of application for an entry visa. Fees are significantly higher than at the consulates.
In January 2015 fees for single short-term visa on arrival were as follows:
Statistics
Most visitors arriving to Belarus were from the following countries: