Belarus introduces five-day visa-free regime for citizens of 80 states
Belarus President
Aleksandr Lukashenko signed Decree No. 8 “On the introduction of the visa-free
entry and departure for foreign citizens” on 9 January.
The
document introduces the visa-free entry through the border checkpoint at the Minsk National Airport and the visa-free stay in Belarus for up
to 5 days for the citizens of 80 states.
These
are 39 countries of Europe, including the entire European
Union, Brazil, Indonesia, the USA,
Japan,
and other countries.
First
of all, these are favorable countries in terms of migration, Belarus’
strategic partners which have introduced visa-free regimes for Belarusian
citizens on a unilateral basis. New regulations also apply to the non-citizens
of Latvia and stateless
persons of Estonia.
The
document aims to raise the number of business trips, tourism and private visits
of people with regular passports and will not apply to foreigners on official
trips with diplomatic, service, special and similar passports.
A valid
passport or other document permitting foreign travels, money (equivalent to at
least two base amounts for each day of stay in the foreign currency or
Belarusian rubles), medical insurance in the amount of at least €10,000
operational in Belarus
will be needed for the visa-free entry.
The
citizens of Vietnam, Haiti, Gambia,
Honduras, India, China,
Lebanon, Namibia, Samoa should also have a valid
multi-visa to the EU states or the Schengen Area with a mark confirming the
entry to their territory, plane tickets with a confirmation of the departure
from the Minsk National Airport
within 5 days after the date of the entry.
The
visa-free regime does not apply to people arriving to Belarus by plane from Russia
and planning to go to the airports of Russia (these are internal flights
with no border control).
The
decree will enter into force in a month after its official publication.