The bill “On status of foreign citizens and people without citizenship” has passed the first reading. It states that the tourists are allowed to stay in the country for up to 10 days without registration. Today this term is only 5 days.

The bill was presented to the parliament by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Nikolay Melchenko. According to him, last year Belarus hosted 5 million foreigners, among which 100,000 took advantage over visa-free regime.

In order to make the country more attractive for foreigners, the following changes are expected to be introduced to the bill “On legal status of the foreign citizens and people without citizenship in the Republic of Belarus”:

  • foreigners will be allowed to stay unregistered in Belarus for 10 days (now they have to register if they come for the time period of over 5 days);
  • high-skilled workers can get the permission for part-time residence for the time period of up to 2 years;
  • the relocation allowance that the government issues to such worker (about BYN 430) is to be returned if the contract is terminated pre-term;
  • such workers can get the permission for full-time residence after 4 years (today it’s 7 years).
At this time, foreign citizens that are planning to stay in Belarus for over 5 work days are to register at internal affairs bodies at their place of stay in the country or at the Unified Portal of E-Services, without turning personally to the internal affairs bodies.

Source: TUT.BY