Registration of Tourists in Belarus

In this post I will explain most of what you need to know about registration when you travel to Belarus as a tourist on a visa valid for no longer than ninety days. The information comes from my personal experience, acquired along the several trips I've taken to that country. Along these lines I will mention Russia several times, since both states are direct inheritors of the same system and their rules are pretty much the same, varying mainly in the deadlines and ways to register, but the particular details I will provide down below apply only to Belarus.

General considerations

The so-called "registration" ( регистрация in Russian, pronounced registratsia) is a pain in the ass, and a deterrent against tourism - most of all, travelers. In case you do not know, Russia and Belarus are control-freak states (probably worse than the totalitarian regimes Western countries are turning into): they want to know the whereabouts of every person within the borders of their territories, all the time; and although this goal might, of course, justify the existence of such measure as requiring of every single individual within the country to officially be registered at the address of their residence, I have not yet grasped what is the real purpose of extending such requirement to simple tourists or travelers that simply come visit the country for just a few weeks, then return home; most of all considering that the disadvantages of such control greatly surpass -in my opinion- the benefits, as the registration hassle effectively discourages thousands of foreigners every year from visiting Russia or Belarus and staying around for a while. The kind of tourists most affected by this measure is, of course, those who -like me- do not travel on a planned route or on a tourist program and prefer to move freely at their own discretion and whim, maybe just a few nights in each place, taking long-distance trains, driving their own van or sleeping in a tent, at a chance rental room or at some friendly local's place. For such type of foreigners, the registratsia is a big no-no, a huge hindrance, when not an unsurmountable obstacle. I am very much afraid Russian and Belarusian governments do not want the likes of me wandering around, or in the best case have never thought of us, thereby losing lots of tourists and the millions of precious rubles these would spend in the country.

Reading some Russian legal sites, I have come across the theoretical justification of the registratsia, which goes like this:

"Registration of residence of a foreign citizen in the Russian Federation: goals and objectives: The state records and summarizes information about foreigners: how many of them live in the country, what they do for a living, for what reason they come to the Russian Federation and much more. This information is needed to create an effective migration policy, to conduct statistical observations. Migration registration deals with the issues of foreign citizens in Russia. It is an organized state activity for the collection and analysis of information about foreigners. Registration of foreign citizens in Russia at the place of residence and place of stay is one of the tasks that accounting solves. Every foreigner is obliged to register with the Ministry of Internal Affairs if he comes to the country for a more or less long period. Registration of foreign citizens in Russia solves security problems. It helps the authorities to maintain order, and at the same time allows visitors to avoid problems with the law."

So, apparently, governments who do not implement the registration system (most countries in the world) cannot properly maintain order(!), create migration policies, collect information about foreigners or conduct statistical observations. It is meaningful to note that the "more or less long period" the legal justification talks about is just one week. Thus, a visit to Russia for -say- ten days is considered "a long period" by the legislators.

To me it seems obvious that such explanations are rubbish, and the main alternative I can think of as the real objective for the registratsia is pure and simple people control, to which the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus do not hesitate in sacrificing -or at least hindering- freedom of movement, same of residents as of tourists, and in giving up millions on foreign income. There might also be another reason for keeping still in place this outdated Soviet-era creation, despite the fact that nowaday's development in information technology, computing and electronic data-collecting systems would render it almost totally unnecessary: Russian and Belarussian governments employ, in their Migration and Citizenship departments, thousands upon thousands of officials (known in Russian as chinovniks) committed to deal with registrations, and perhaps the authorities would not know what to do with this legion of employees were the registratsia to be eliminated. Besides, it also works as a source of income for the state (albeit always a lot less money than what it would profit from removing that obstacle to tourism) via registration duties and the many fines those chinovniks impose on the poor devils who missed this or that deadline. And, lastly, it serves as a white check to police or administrative arbitrariness, when not plain corruption. But all of this is, of course, pure speculation on my part.

What the law says

So, let us focus on the registration in Belarus, beginning with the law that regulates it, which is Resolution nr. 73, 20-01-2006, and its subsequent modificaions. The relevant articles are the following:

Art 10: Foreigners arriving to the Republic of Belarus [...except those not subject to registration] are obliged, in the term of ten calendar days, to register in their actual place of residence, either applying personally at the registration authority [Ministry of Foreign Relations or, more commonly, the local section for Citizenship and Migration], or through the inviting organization [hotel, etc.], or via electronic registration in the portal of e-services. The stay in Belarus is counted in calendar days. Art. 11: When changing the place of temporary stay [and unless travelling on an organized tour], the foreigner, within the three working days counted from the date of arrival to the new residence, is obliged to apply for registration at the local section [for Citizenship and Migration] in the new place of residence. Art. 29: Persons or organizations who invited a foreigner to enter in Belarus should take measures for his proper registration. Those who have provided for a lodging or other place of residence certify his stay in Belarus according to this law.

A few relevant notes on these regulations:

The initial term for registration upon arrival to Belarus is ten calendar days. That is: if you arrive -say- on day 5th in the month, the last you can register is day 15th. But whenever you change your place of stay (meaning: any new address, not just a new locality), the term is only three working days. That is: if you change to a new location on a Friday, the latest you can register in that address is Tuesday. Sundays and official holidays do not count, as well as the days you spend on a transport (provided you can prove you were traveling). Thus, if you take a night train from A to B, departing -for instance- on Tuesday and arriving on Wednesday, your term for registering in B begins this day. It is also important to note that if you stay in the country no more than ten days you have no obligation to register, regardless of whether or not you have stayed in different addresses.

Online registration through the portal of electronic services (portal.gov.by) is only possible during the first ten calendar days after your arrival in Belarus, and it is only meant for your first registration (not the subsequent ones) during every of your stays in the country. In the online form you need to fill in there is a mandatory field for entering your arrival day (and you cannot possibly fool the system, because it is connected with the migration database and they know exactly when you crossed the border), and there is no field for entering your "date of arrival to a new address". Thus, although a very convenient registration way for the tourist, and free of charge, unfortunately it is a only-one-use tool.

Registration at your hotel or tourist facility is also free of charge (plus, they take care of the process), but if you stay in some private address you need to go to the local registration office and pay a fee of 0.5 basic units (as of this writing a b.u. equals 54 BYN). Also mark that cities and bigger towns have more than one local section for Migration and Citizenship, and you must head to the one that corresponds to your address; therefore you will have to ask your host, or else you'll find quite diffcult to learn which is the office you need to go. By the way, normally your host does not need to go with you for registration at his place, but your presence is mandatory (unless you give a power of attorney to someone else). Except for online registration, which is paperless, the other two involve getting a printed document that justifies you are properly registered.

If you obtained your visa to Belarus on the basis of a personal invitation, or when staying in any private lodgings (including rental rooms or apartments), your hosts are as liable as you for your registration, except that the fines awaiting them if you break these migration rules are ten times those awaiting you. So, be responsible.

Interpreting the law

Whatever the real goals of the registratsia are, this system has obviously not been thought taking into account the tourist who moves often from one address to another, be it in the same locality or in different ones. If you always stay in hotels or commercial accommodations there is nothing to worry about, since they will take care of your registration. But if you go around renting private rooms or apartments, or staying at friends' or relatives', then you'll obviously try to minimize the hassle, time and cost of constantly heading to the local sections for getting yourself registered up to date; but this can bring you some trouble.

Let us go with an example. Say, for instance, you are staying -properly registered- at a hotel in Brest, then on a Friday afternoon catch a bus to nearby Kobryn, where you have rented a private appartment for three nights, and on Monday take an express train to Orsha, arriving on Tuesday for staying a week at your friends'. Now, the question is: were you obliged to register in Kobryn? Let's see:

Since the term is three labour days and you got there on Friday, your deadline is Tuesday, but as you leave the city on Monday it seems to you pretty absurd (and doubtfully legal) to register in an address you are no longer at. Sure, you can always register as soon as you arrive to Kobryn, but if possible you want to avoid unnecessary and annoying visits to the local sections. Thus, given that you spent only two working days in Kobryn, your best logic strongly suggests you to skip that registration altogether and register directly in Orsha once you get there. But then again, because you arrive at your friends' on Tuesday, according to article 11 of the law above your new deadline is Thursday. So, on the morrow, you go along with your friend, ready to fulfil your migration obligations on a clean conscience, to the appropriate local offices in Orsha. There, the chinovnik asks you to produce your last registration, and seeing it expired on Friday and today is Wednesday, decides to penalize you with a fine of 0.5 b.u., and your friend with another one of 5 b.u. Why?

The answer lays in the interpretation of the law. Your best understanding told you that, since (when changing the place of stay) you have three working days for registering in the new address, then if you stay no longer than that time in any particular place you are not obliged to register there at all. This not only makes a lot of sense, but also is quite consistent with the fact that, according to the very same law, you are not obliged to do any registration whatsoever if you stay in the country no longer than the initial 10-day period. However, the officials (at least in my personal experience) interpret the law differently. According to them, article 11 means that under any normal circumstances you can not stay unregistered longer than three working days in a row. And thus, if in order to break that period you need to register anywhere even if only for one day, you must do it.

And why did they fine your friends? Because they should have made sure, before hosting you, that your registration was in order. And here I must categorically state that, if the above interpretation seems to me quite questionable, this one is plain abusive, as it may force a tourist to sleep on the street if, having failed to comply with the rules (even unwillingly), he is denied being hosted at the place he has already agreed on, and maybe even paid for; which is totally absurd; the more so when considering that hotels and other tourist bussnisses are exempt from that obligation: they can take you regardless of your previous registrations. But those chinovniks love to place fines on people and, as said, the registratsia is a blank cheque for arbitrariness.

Practicalities and conclusions

Let me begin this last section with a question that comes to everyone's mind when learning about the registratsia thing: What happens if you do not register at all, or fail to do it for longer than you are allowed to? The answer is simple: on leaving Belarus, you will absolutely be asked for your registration certificate(s) by the border officer, and if he finds irregularities you will most likely get heavily fined, much more than you would at a local registration authority. In case you cannot (or refuse to) pay the fine, under Belarusian law you can be denied exiting the country (in other words: be legally kidnapped) for a number of weeks, and then banned from entering again for a number of years.

A question whose answer I ignore is whether or not foreign tourists are required to carry on them at all times, along with the passport, proof of registration. I'd dare say not, but I am not sure, so do not trust me on this. What I know for sure (because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website explicitly says so) is that you do not need to carry proof of online registration (as a matter of fact, the portal of electronic services does not provide any official-looking "printable registration", but just a blank page with only a few text lines on it, the likes of which you could just type in a text processor). Therefore, if some policeman wants to check your documents on the street (it never happned to me) it's always possible to say you are registered online. Besides, some hotels will only provide you with a registration upon check-out (although they should do it upon check-in). So, I would not worry much about this.

Something important to know is that subsequent registrations can overlap. That is, you can be registered for a number of days (or even till the end of your stay in Belarus) in one address, then change your plans and go somewhere else and register there again... or not. I mean: theoretically you should, but since the main concern for you (as it's the only one moment you'll surely get into trouble in case of irregularities) is to arrive at the border check-point, upon leaving the country, with justification enough of having being registered anywhere for most of your stay, you can reasonably skip overlapping registrations. Just use your brain and make sure you are not unregistered longer than three woking days in a row.

Therefore, and taking into account all of the above, my strong advice is to make use of the online registration (naver later than ten days after you enter the country) and register in your first place of stay for all the length of your visa period, same if it is a hotel or a private apartment. This way you are always on the safe side and can relax or even forget about this problem; and, as a matter of fact, such is the advice I was given by the very officials at the local section: register in one place for the whole length of your sojourn in Belarus. Then you can move wherever you want and register again (or not, I insist, using your good judgement). It is always easier to justify why you are not staying at the address you are supposed to, than justifying why you do not have a registration. Later on, if you return to the addres you stayed in the first place, you are already covered by that registration and (theoretically) do not need to do it again. Once more: I am not sure what the real objetive of submitting tourists to the registratsia pain is, but in practice the government only seems to show interest in it by the time you leave the country.

Once on the border check-point, the officers can easily check on their system if you have registered online or not; therefore, if you did it that way, there is no need to provide any justification: suffice to tell them about it (although it does not hurt to print a copy of the online registration piece of text and keep it with you). Now, as to hotel registrations, my guess is they (the officials) do not know; otherwise they would not need to ask you: it would be enough for them to check it on the system.

I hope this guide is of any use to someone. If you happen to know something I do not, or want to make some question, or are sure some of the above is incorrect, please write in the comments below or send me an email, and I'll reply or edit this article accordingly.

By the way: as for Russia, rules are very similar, but I must say I am not so familiar with them. I know that (as of this writing) there is no electronic registration (which is a pity), that the deadline for first registration is seven days instead of ten (though in this case I'm not sure if holidays count or not), and that the deadline for re-registration when changing place of stay is five working days. Also I know that fines for breaking the migration rules are sensibly higher than in Belarus.