Question 1

Do I need to provide completed visa application form?

Accepted Answer

Check the airport route before you apply. Belarus operates a separate 30-day visa-free regime for citizens of 76 countries who both arrive and depart through Belarusian airports (Minsk National, Brest, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev, Vitebsk). The foreign ministry states the scheme and its conditions but does not publish the list of 76 countries anywhere this page could read, so check with a Belarusian mission or the State Border Committee whether your nationality is included, if it is, and you're flying, you may not need this visa at all. Two conditions apply to everyone on that scheme: it doesn't work if you arrive from, or fly on to, an airport in Russia (those count as internal flights with no border control), and it excludes diplomatic, service and special passports. If you do apply: one duly completed application form, submitted to a Belarusian diplomatic mission or consular institution, or to the Foreign Admissions Division at Minsk National Airport. A decision takes 5 working days, or 2 as a matter of urgency.

Question 2

Do I need to provide foreign travel document?

Accepted Answer

The passport itself. Note for the visa-free airport route, if it applies to you, the rule is stricter than for the visa: there the passport must be valid at least 90 days beyond your intended departure, and an ID card is explicitly not accepted for crossing the Belarusian border.

Question 3

Do I need to provide one photograph, 35 × 45 mm, taken within the last 6 months?

Accepted Answer

Belarus is specific about this one: 35 by 45 mm, taken no earlier than six months before you submit, full face, with the face taking up roughly 70–80 percent of the photo.

Question 4

Do I need to provide consular fee: eur 60, or eur 35 under the eu visa-facilitation agreement?

Accepted Answer

EUR 60 for all visa types and any number of entries. Citizens of 25 named EU states, and stateless people permanently resident in Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania, pay EUR 35 under the Belarus–EU visa facilitation agreement. Children under 14 are exempt under the Tax Code, or under 12 where the EU agreement applies. Applying urgently (a decision in 2 working days) doubles the fee. The fee is not refunded if the visa is refused.

Question 5

Do I need to provide visa support documents: unless your case is one of the published waivers?

Accepted Answer

Normally required. A consular officer may waive them in three published situations: for citizens of countries with no migration threat applying for a short-term visa of up to 30 days for business, tourism, private affairs or sport/cultural/scientific/educational activities; and, for citizens of countries with migration threat, where you hold either a valid multiple-entry EU, Schengen, Canadian or UK visa, or an EU, Schengen or UK residence permit, whose validity exceeds the requested visa's expiry by at least 90 days, the residence-permit route requires applying at the Belarusian mission in that country. The ministry states it gives no help in obtaining or delivering support documents, so arranging them is entirely on you.

Question 6

Do I need to provide medical insurance contract?

Accepted Answer

A contract with Belgosstrakh or Beleximgarant, or with a foreign insurance organisation. If you end up entering visa-free through an airport instead, the published minimum there is coverage of at least EUR 10,000 valid in Belarus for the whole stay.

Question 7

Do I need to provide any additional documents the consular officer asks for?

Accepted Answer

Listed as its own item on the ministry's document list rather than as a footnote, the officer can require more, and the decision rests on what you actually submit.

Bermuda → Belarus: Short-stay tourist

Required documents

Identity

Financial

Purpose of travel

Insurance

Other

Why applications on this route get refused

Sources