Minsk

[Hakan Demir]

I was in Minsk last week, stayed in Hotel Victoria. Hotel was great, totally GF. There was also a strip-club at the hotel. Just a few old WG's at the lobby. Only way to find a companion is to tip the taxi drivers outside the hotel. They even bring 2-3 girls to choose from.

Visited Next club, good atmosphere but hard to get a girl out. Been to Dankoff strip-club. Really great dancers. You may even spend an hour in Jacuzzi for 100$ or a special dance for 40$. I liked the place.

Minsk was so cold, snowing all the time and was the worst place to monger that I have been in FSU.

[Stavvrrooss]

http://www.gotorussia.net/visa/belarus_visa.htm

I used them for getting visa for Russia, they deliver.

You have prices and timelines for Belarus.

[Felix Nordic]

FN, when you say you had no problems at the border do you mean your visa wasn't checked on exit there?

If that is the case then perhaps you may have difficulties as no evidence of exactly when you last left Belarus?

VG.

Naturally the Visa was checked and stamped at the Belarus side of the border. Could you even imagine a Belarus border without a thorough passport and Visa check and collection of the declaratsia?
These guys are masters of control!

Tomorrow evening, around 23 local time I will see how it works to get another tourist VISA. Thumbs crossed. I do believe some of the information posted below not to be correct.

//Felix

P.s. I hope it will be no problems since I have a meeting with a girl at around midnight in my apartment.

[Gergiev]

As a side note I took the night train out of Minsk to Warsaw where I had a connecting flight. No problems at the border at all.

So far so good last time...

FN, when you say you had no problems at the border do you mean your visa wasn't checked on exit there?

If that is the case then perhaps you may have difficulties as no evidence of exactly when you last left Belarus?

VG.

[Felix Nordic]

Strange but somewhat relevant discussion going on here. As a frequent mongerer in Belarus I go about 4 times every year as tourist. I do the airport tourist visa all the time without problems.

Last time was on 7 of August when I obtained a tourist VISA with fast service at the airport. No problems, just a calm statement from the embassy clerk that next time I should try to get the visa in my own country. I excused and said I travel much and I came directly from Moscow. He said it was ok.

Prior to getting my airport VISA (had contact in late July) I was actually informed by my old connection (tourist agency) that they no longer could issue the usual tourist voucher for me. The rules were changed. Well, with the girl-net-work and prospects I got in Belarus I kind o felt I had to go to Minsk any way. I was coming from Moscow and Russia. So I contacted another agency and they checked it all up and told me it was no problems. They even double checked (called embassy department) for me because I was a bit worried. I dont really fancy to be stranded at Minsk airport. Their cost was slightly higher, being USD 50 instead of USD 30 (old connection).

As a side note I took the night train out of Minsk to Warsaw where I had a connecting flight. No problems at the border at all.

So far so good last time...

I actuallt go to Minsk on Saturday and then it all will come forward how the new situation is. I am going to apply for tourist visa again at the airport. I got the papers needed, but with more detailed instructions from agent and to specify an inviting organisation. I have never done that before.

Let us see how it goes...

Will report as soon as I know.

//Felix

[Guderian]

Also Barba is right. Its possible to get a visa at the airport. I am often in minsk and always doing it in that way. I arrived there with several different airlines and I am there as a tourist.

How to do its described here:

http://www.allbelarus.com/visas/

[Guderian]

Yes in the train from Berlin to Moscow there is a passport control in brest of cause. But that is not the question here. I think its clear in my posting that I am writing about people who enter such a train in minsk and want to go to moscow. Because in this trains there also will be a passport conrol at the border between belarus and russia.

[Kurenda]

Barba you confused two things here.
At the airport it's easy to get business visa especially when there's interest for belarusian side. Even doesn't matter which airline you take.
Gettings tourist visa at the airport is much harder - I wrote about it down.
If you take the train from Berlin or Warsaw passport control will be in Brest. There they will for sure take notice if you'll get out in Minsk or go to Moscow.
If you go to Moscow you will need transit visa for Belarus. In Moscow it's the same. They will take notice where are you going and act accordingly.

[Member #4491]

It was actually quite convenient to obtain visa directly at the airport when arriving in Minsk.

You will need to have valid passport, one passport size photo, cash to pay for visa fee (140$) and an invitation letter from a company. In addition you need an application form that you can fill in at the airport.

The invitation letter must be an original and the simplest way is to have the inviting company to send the letter directly to the Consular office at the Minsk International Airport, and send you a scanned copy that you print.

You will also need to obtain a 2 euro health insurance that are sold by the pretty girls right where you arrive at the airport.

Took all in all about 30-40 minutes before i was through. Everyone where very friendly, and the female guards smiled and giggled a lot when I flirted with them.

Barba

[Guderian]

-----
If you exit by taking the train to Russia, there is no passport control on the train, therefore no evidence of the day you left Belarus.
-----

That is only partly correct.

In the direct train minsk moscow is normaly no passportcontrol.! But there are trains which come from berlin/warsaw which are stoping in minsk and also going to Moscow. In that trains there is a regular passportcontrol.

Be carefull guys!

[Ash1001]

Thanks guys. These belorusskis sure ain't messing around

[GandJim]

Thanks Kurenda for checking and confirming what SourHoney told me. This is what we should all do! In summary, it's possible with Belavia in special cases, but just not worth the hassle.

I just want to add something concerning exiting Belarus through land border, especially if you have a short-term visa of only a few days: If you exit by taking the train to Russia, there is no passport control on the train, therefore no evidence of the day you left Belarus.

If you then stay in Russia for a period exceeding the allowed stay in Belarus (because you have a Russian visa for a longer stay), and come back to Belarus on another trip months or years later with a valid visa, you can still be in trouble. The Belarus authorities will suspect that you stayed in Belarus for a period longer than allowed on your previous visit and then exited through Russia.

Visa issue is not a joke in Belarus. One last thing: Once in Belarus, you must register your visa. No problem if you stay in a hotel but, if you rent an apartment and forget about this formality, you can be in deep shit.

Jim

[Kurenda]

Just checked with people I know at belarus MFA about visa at the airport.
It's possible but not not worth the hassle.
1. You must book a return flight with Belavia (national airlines of Belarus) only and they are very expensive. They will let you to board the flight but again it can be a problem to explain why you don't have a visa.
2. You will have to pay for the visa after arriving and the cost is 60% more on the price of the visa you pay at the embassy. Paying is in cash only.
3. There's no guarantee you will receive the full term visa (like 30 day) this is left at the discretion of official person issuing a visa. In practice it means you can get 30 day visa but also much shorter like 1-2 weeks usually.
4. You'll have to wait at the airport (usually for a long period) until everything is checked, mostly the reason of your visit - of this reason will depend the length of the stay.
5. The visa sticker has a different look than normal visa so it's easy to recognize. With airport visa you must exit the country via airplane. If you try to exit through land border this is a problem. Also it seems with this airport visa you can stay in Minsk only and visiting other city is a problem.

If you came from country with belarus embassy you can get visa at the airport only for urgent reasons. This reason must be something reasonable like sickness or death of your relative in Belarus. In most cases it is issued for "political" reasons and such. For example EU people wanted to monitor elections at Belarus but were refused. At last minute they were allowed and all of them were issued visas at the airport and their visas were for 72 hours with all of them leaving the country right after elections.
If the visa at the airport was a normal thing there would be more foreigners in Belarus (not just for mongering reasons). They have strict rules and they will not change. As I was told airport visa is mostly used by formed belarus citizens who took citizenship of some other contry . If any foreigner find it hard to get belarus visa it's even harder for former citizens of Belarus. Many of those people told me they have problems getting their visas at the embassies so they get their visas at the airport even this is more costly.

[Eros74]

Sorry, I immediately deleted my message, as it was not my intention to write something wrong.

Thanks for the correction.

[Bez Bezarra]

I've never seen the airlines NOT check to make sure you have a visa, before they even let you board their flight. They know whose country's passports require a visa for entrance.

Lufthansa checks your visa first, in the USA, before you board even to Frankfurt, if your final destination is Russia or Belarus. They check again in Frankfurt before they give you a boarding pass on your Russian or Minsk flight.

What's the point of bringing you to a country they know you won't be permitted entrance, when they know they're just gonna have to haul you back out. Rather than taking you to jail, the Immigration authorities hold you in the airport and force the airline that brought you there, to put you on their next flight back at the airline's expense.

The airline pays the price for being stupid enough not to check your documents in the first place. That's why they check first. Maybe its different if you have a diplomatic passport, but if its simply a personal passport, they don't have to let you board without required visa, and they shouldn't anyway.