Self-employed businessmen obligated to report on foreigners

Self-employed businessmen will have to inform law-enforcement bodies that they rented a flat to a foreigner.

The rule can be found in decision No. 214 of the Interior Ministry published on the National Legal Internet Portal.

In accordance with the document, “interior affairs bodies should receive information about foreign citizens and persons without citizenship temporarily staying in Belarus and living in flats offered on rental/subrental agreements by companies and self-employed businessmen providing rental services.”

Until now, only hotels, resort and agritourism facilities had to give this information to the police, Interfax writes.

As Interfax learnt from the Minsk main police department, more than 50,000 foreign citizens and persons without citizenship are registered in Minsk. “Most foreigners came to the Belarusian capital from Russia. Most foreigners in Minsk are citizens of Ukraine, Turkmenistan, China and Lithuania,” the police say.

“About 7,000 police reports have been made this year over violations of migration rules. More than 480 foreign citizens were deported and 100 foreigners were expelled from the country,” the police inform.