Getting Schengen Visa In Belarus And How Much It Costs

So far, Belarusians have very few alternatives for applying for a visa.

"How to get a Schengen visa in Belarus and how much does it cost to get it in a visa centre?" - this is the question that a lot of Belarusians are asking at the beginning of the holiday season 2022.

Yes, it's getting harder and harder for Belarusians to go on holiday to Europe. It is not possible to get Shengen visa through the visa centre of Lithuania and Poland like in the good old times. You can of course consider visa-free options and use the moment to go, for instance, for exotics to Vietnam. Back in March 2022, "visa-free travel" to Vietnam was introduced for Belarusians. Whereas, the authorities of Indonesia have recently toughened the entrance rules for the Belarusians and introduced a tourist visa on arrival in this island country.

If you want to go to Europe, you can try to find the way to get the Schengen visa. It is really hot in the visa centres now: getting through and asking for a manager's consultation is already a victory. The readers of "Komsomolka" reported what the specialists of the visa centres tell them about the chances to get a Schengen visa.

"There are no guarantees, it depends on a case".

One of the capital visa centre has specified that now Greece and Austria accept documents in Minsk for the end of June or July. There is also an option of Italy, but the documents can be filed for September. Or you can consider Spain with documents filed in Moscow. The decision is made within 7-14 days.

- Austria makes fewer refusals, the Greeks do more. On the whole, we receive more than half of refusals so far for these countries. There are no guarantees concerning visa opening; everything is very individual. The consulate makes the decision. Our advice is to apply to the visa application centre in Spain or Italy: this has a higher chance of success. So far, we have not received any refusals in Spain, - the manager advised me by telephone.

Now, let's speak about the price of the matter. The expert stressed that the visa application fee does not depend on the country where you apply. At the moment, it is 35 €. The visa fee for Greece is 30 €, for Austria - 50 €, for Italy - 15 €.

The fee for the agency's services is 200 roubles. It also offers escorting people from Minsk to Moscow to apply for a visa in the Spanish visa centre. The fee for this service is 450 rubles. The price includes a round-trip transfer (by bus or by mini-bus, depending on the group size) and filing of documents. Such tours seem to be in demand. The nearest dates offered by the agency are from July 20 to 29. They offer such tours on payment in advance.

"No one has yet been refused".

Another Minsk agency accepts documents only for Spain with filing in Moscow.

- We do not work with Greece and Austria: they have very bad record there. At the moment there is only one option - Spain. Fortunately, we have not had any rejections here so far. But keep in mind that June is already booked. We haven't started booking for July yet. But sometimes free vacant places appear, so there is a probability to appeal in June, - they explained to another our reader there.

Visa tours are not offered here. One has to plan the trip to Moscow on his own. It will be necessary to prepare the pay statement and an account statement, which will reflect all income-expenses during the three months. According to the expert, the documents will take an average of 10 days to be processed. The passport can be returned through a courier service or it can be sent to any Moscow address of friends or relatives.

- The cost of the agency's services is 250 rubles if you apply with a regular Booking accommodation reservation. If you apply with our paid reservations, it's 400 roubles, - they added on the other end of the line.