Visa requirements for Belarusian citizens

Belarusian citizens need a Schengen visa, which covers all member states for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, Belarus and 41 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

53 countries ask holders of the Belarusian passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Belarus without one: Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Bahrain and 48 others.

The reverse holds for 40 countries: holders of the Belarusian passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Belarus (Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Comoros and 35 others).

81 countries ask holders of the Belarusian passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 23 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Belarus.

58 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Belarus, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Belarus, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Poland (11), Russia (10), Ukraine (5) and Belgium (5).

The United States refused 27% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Belarus in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 89 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 107 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in Belarus refused 2.3% of short-stay visa applications in 2025 (all Schengen consulates worldwide: 15%). Among the 74 countries where they received at least 10,000 applications, that is the 74th highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the Belarusian passport

By continent, the Belarusian passport is visa-free in 18 countries in Asia, 16 countries in the Americas, 5 countries in Europe, 2 countries in Africa and 2 countries in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Belarusian citizens are allowed in Georgia (360 days), Antigua and Barbuda (180 days), Armenia (180 days), Peru (180 days), Vanuatu (120 days) and the United Arab Emirates (90 days).

Visa on arrival

Belarusian citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt and 27 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Belarusian citizens enter Albania, Australia, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia and 29 others. Israel, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Suriname ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Belarus’ neighbours

Ukraine and Russia admit Belarusian citizens without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: Poland (visa required), Lithuania (visa required) and Latvia (visa required).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Polish passport ranks 19th (160 destinations), the Latvian passport ranks 28th (159 destinations), the Lithuanian passport ranks 34th (158 destinations), the Ukrainian passport ranks 61st (132 destinations) and the Russian passport ranks 79th (115 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 94 can enter visa-free, 2 need an e-Visa and 102 need a visa from an embassy or consulate for Belarus.