Belarus is strategically located between Russia to the east, Latvia and Lithuania to the north, Poland to the west, and Ukraine to the south. If you want to go to the Schengen states for a weekend, it’s a short trip you can take.

After spending some time in Minsk, you’ll notice that the local people are simple, humble, highly educated, and tolerant, so it is definitely a good choice to settle in Belarus. For more travel visa information, you can visit Visa Express. 

Belarus is a relatively small country with a total population of a little over 9 million people, and the current immigration policy is that foreigners can get a one-year multiple-entry visa and a visa on arrival for a short period of time if they buy a house there.

If you want to obtain a green card, you can apply after 7 years of residence and at least 9 months per year.

Of course, Belarus is not comparable to Australia and America, but the simplicity of the legal status process and the short period of time do make us, who are used to wandering in CIS countries, feel quite friendly.

For legal questions regarding a residence permit or doing business in Belarus, contact our legal consultant.

One of the simple ways to stay long-term in Belarus legally is by purchasing local property.

Here is how the process looks like from the eyes of an actual immigrant obtaining a residence visa.

Getting Residence Visa in Belarus: Step by Step

Step 1

After buying a house, from the Real Estate Administration Богдановича 153 (153 Bogdanovich st.) will get three documents, a copy of the original property certificate, a house plan, and a closing contract, these three documents need to be saved, registered utilities, network, security systems, and most importantly, for visa procedures to show the originals of these three documents.

Step 2

After the closing, the original landlord is usually given some time (about a week) to move in and cancel the account as well as the utilities, phone, Wi-Fi, and security system.

After the appointed time, after handing over the keys to the original landlord, you can go to the regional office (78 Bogdanovich street) and register your information.

After the community registration procedure is completed, you can take the stamped registration paper to the immigration office (3 Viery Charužaj street) and apply for a one-year multiple-entry visa and a one-year visa on arrival.

The immigration office is located near the vegetable market (Kamarouski rynak) and is very easy to find. However, it is important to pay attention to the working hours of the immigration office, which is closed on Sundays and Mondays. The following is the address and working hours of the immigration office.

Businesses and industries worth investing in Belarus

Step 3

Go to the fourth floor of the immigration office, give the real estate license to the beautiful visa officer in the office, explain the intention of doing a one-year multiple-entry visa and visa on arrival, they will give two application forms to fill out (one in Russian and one in English), basically to fill in the basic information about the individual and the address of the house. There are also samples on the table in the hallway, so you can refer to them for how to fill them out.

After filling out the application form, the visa officer will issue two invoices, one for 69 rubles and the other for 22 rubles (11.5 rubles if you need to expedite), which you will take to the Belarusian bank in the market to pay the fee.

The bank staff will also ask for a translation of the real estate certificate and passport, and then transfer the money to the designated account of the immigration office. Finally, just give the receipt to the beautiful visa officer at the immigration office.

Of course, for a one-year visa, you will need additional documents: one-year emergency insurance of 170 Euros at the designated place: ул. Кульман 31 / 31 Kulman st. (this insurance cannot be used for local medical treatment, but only in case of an accident in Belarus), and a certificate of deposit of 7000 USD (a Western Union receipt is also acceptable.)

The one-year visa and visa on arrival usually take three weeks if not expedited, as the visa on arrival takes 2 weeks and the one-year multiple-entry visa takes another 5 days. I told the immigration officer that I needed to go back to my country because of an emergency, and my ticket was already booked.

They were very nice and let me come over in a week to pick up the visa and visa on arrival, not at all the imagined feeling of the CIS countries’ low efficiency. (Immigration does not receive passports, after a week to come directly stick visa pages on the line).

Step 4

Anxiously waiting for a week, finally arrived at the time. I’m afraid there are a lot of people in line, early in the morning to go to the immigration office, in fact, do not worry about it, I came alone to handle it.

The number of times to do the visa in the country, feel that the visa page both sacred and bureaucratic, I did not expect the beautiful visa officer, in front of my face took out two hand-filled visa page tear that sticker glue according to the passport paste-up, in the middle also pulled away to re-paste a few times (paste the middle estimated bubbles, haha).

However, there are other friends reflecting that other regional immigration offices in their area have poor service, no special window for foreigners, and low efficiency, and if they do not speak Russian, it will be even more troublesome.

Check where you can learn Russian in Belarus

Learn more about getting a visa to Belarus