Belarusian passport
The front cover of a contemporary Belarusian biometric passport
TypePassport
Issued by Belarus
First issued1996
2006 (updated)
2021 (biometric)
PurposeIdentification
EligibilityBelarusian citizenship
Expiration10 years

A Belarusian passport (Belarusian: беларускі пашпарт, romanized: bielaruski pašpart, Russian: белорусский паспорт, romanized: belorusskiy pasport) is issued to citizens of Belarus and is used for both external and internal travel. Unlike Russia, there are no internal passports in Belarus. Passports are issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Belarus and by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to citizens who live abroad.

"AB" series passports are assigned to Brest Region, "BM" series passports - Vitebsk Region, "HB" series passports - Gomel Region, "KH" series passports - Grodno Region, "MP" series passports - Minsk city, "MC" series passports - Minsk Region, "KB" series passports - Mogilev Region, "PP" series passports are assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Passports can be issued to citizens at any age. Upon turning 14, every citizen is encouraged to obtain a passport. Belarusian passports have blue covers.

Article 14 of the "Treaty on the Union between Belarus and Russia" expects the future introduction of identity documents of the Union State.

History

Until Belarus established its independence, Soviet passports were used. In spite of the fact that Byelorussian SSR citizenship (like citizenship of all other soviet republics) was recognised by the USSR, Soviet passports never mentioned Byelorussian SSR citizenship. Soviet passports issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Byelorussian SSR (as well as birth certificates) had records in both Belarusian and Russian.

Information

A Belarusian passport contains the following information, printed in Belarusian, Russian and English:

  • Given name, surname and patronymic name (the latter only in Belarusian and Russian)
  • Date of birth
  • Identification number
  • Sex
  • Place of birth
  • Date of issue
  • Date of expiry
  • Authority
  • Holder's signature
  • Signature of the authority issuing the Passport
  • Code of issuing state (BLR)
  • Official seal
  • Place of residence
  • Visas (if any)
  • Consular stamps (for those who live abroad)
  • Information about children under 16 (if any)
  • Information regarding marital status and the spouse's details (if any)

Moving abroad permission stamps

Before 1 January 2008, Belarusian citizens had to apply for permission stamps in their passports in order to cross Belarusian borders. Permission stamps were given if there were no specific legal restrictions for their moving abroad.

In 2002, the Constitutional Court of Belarus stated in its decision that permission stamps were not constitutional.[1] The Council of Ministers was ordered to propose a different kind of a citizen border control by 31 December 2005.

By a Presidential decree issued on 17 December 2007, permission stamps were finally abolished.[2]

Visa requirements

  Belarus
  Free movement (Union State)
  Visa free access
  Visa on arrival
  eVisa
  Visa available both on arrival or online
  Visa required prior to arrival

As of 19 January 2023, Belarusian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 79 countries and territories, ranking the Belarusian passport 69th in terms of travel freedom according to the Henley Passport Index.[3]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Passports of Belarus.

References

  1. ↑ "Constitutional Court decision on permission stamps". Archived from the original on 2006-01-05.
  2. ↑ "Presidential Decree abolishing permission stamps". Archived from the original on 2008-01-18.
  3. ↑ "Global Ranking - Passport Index 2023" (PDF). Henley & Partners. Retrieved 19 January 2023.


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