Diplomatic Missions Stop Issuing Passports To Belarusians Abroad

Details.

Belarusian diplomatic missions will not issue passports to Belarusians living abroad. Internal affairs bodies will keep performing these services, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cases with biometric IDs. Decree #278 On the Procedure for Issuing Documents and Performing Actions, September 4, 2023, provides the changes. The decree is available on the website of Aliaksandr Lukashenka but it has not yet been officially published and should come into force after an official publication.

At the same time, the decree provides that appeals submitted before its entry into force are considered in accordance with the previously existing procedure.

The document amends the Regulation on Identity Documents under decree #294 of June 3, 2008. In accordance with it, the issuance and exchange of a passport to a citizen permanently residing outside the Republic of Belarus and registered with a consular officer is carried out by the internal affairs body at the place of last registration at the place of residence. The rule that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues and exchanges a passport for a citizen who left the country for a temporary stay and declared the desire to obtain permanent residence outside Belarus has been excluded.

In addition, the clause on the right of a diplomatic mission or consular office to extend the validity of a passport of those abroad has been excluded.

It is also stated that the issuance of an identification card for the first time to a citizen permanently residing outside the Republic of Belarus is carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and not by a diplomatic mission or a consular office at the place of consular registration.

The exchange of an identification card and its issuance in case of its loss to citizens permanently residing outside the Republic of Belarus will be carried out by the internal affairs bodies or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

An internal affairs body or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues and exchanges biometric passports to citizens permanently residing outside the Republic of Belarus. Previously, this paragraph assumed that the issuance and exchange of biometric passports to citizens staying outside of Belarus was carried out by a diplomatic mission or consular offices.