"Did I Hear That Right?": A Belarusian Woman Was Shocked By The Price Of A New Passport
- 19.08.2026, 14:19
- 3,148
The Ministry of Internal Affairs explained where these figures came from.
Antonina, a resident of Luninets, lost her passport. She decided to get a new one as quickly as possible, but changed her mind when she heard the price. She was told that in her city, it would cost 940 rubles to get a passport in five days. The Belarusian woman shared this story on her TikTok. In the comments, some people expressed surprise at how this could be, according to "Zerkalo".
Antonina is registered in Luninets. According to her, she recently went to her local Office of Civil Registration to apply for a new passport, since she had lost her old one. Before that, she explains in the video, she read online that expedited processing costs two base units, or 90 rubles.
“Hoping that everything would be so easy and simple, I rushed to the passport office, handed over all my documents, and said: ‘I need it as fast as possible—in seven days,’—the author describes her situation in the video.—To which they replied: ‘We don’t have seven days; we have five. And we’ll do it for 940 Belarusian rubles.’ I was completely stunned, of course. My eyes were popping out of my head. I said, ‘What? Did I hear that right? Did you slip up? Are you sure? Not 94, but 940?’ They replied, ‘Yes.’
They explained to her that the reason was that the documents had to be taken to Brest—which is about 225 kilometers from Luninets. The shipping cost accounts for the bulk of that hefty sum. Antonina was surprised by this.
“Naturally, I didn’t agree to those terms,” she admits, adding that she decided to wait. “Because I’m not an oligarch—excuse me—but I’m actually curious: is there anyone in Luninets who can get a passport quickly for that kind of money? Although I understand that if you have no choice, you’ll hand over your last few pennies.” But in any case, I think this is unfair to ordinary citizens of the Republic of Belarus living in different parts of the country. I think everything should be fixed and the same, regardless of which city you live in. And where did this price—940 Belarusian rubles—even come from? That’s an astronomical amount, in my opinion, for a passport.
In two days, Antonina’s video was viewed more than 250,000 times, with over 540 comments below it. In the comments, some people expressed surprise at the amount, while others joked that perhaps the documents would be taken to Brest, which is located in France. But there were also those who had encountered similar prices in other towns. Here are some of those comments:
“It’s really expensive in Ivanovo, too!”
“In Pinsk, seven days—135 rubles.”
“Yeah, we’re just as ‘smart’… We wanted it done in seven days, and that price includes premium gasoline! In regional capitals, the price is fixed, but beyond that, they calculate all the costs. We’re 150 kilometers from the regional capital, and we had to pay about 700 rubles.”
“Last year, my husband urgently needed to replace his passport to go on vacation: 880 rubles—and the passport was ready within five days. We had to get an ID card for 330 rubles in Baranovichi.”
“Two years ago, we got one done in the Mogilev region for 400 rubles, but they told us right away: two base fees for the passport itself, and the rest was for round-trip courier delivery.”
“I’m in a similar situation—they charged me 560 [rubles], which, as they explained, was for expedited delivery. That’s because a separate vehicle and a separate person will be assigned to handle my passport.”
“A friend of mine also paid nearly a thousand Belarusian rubles in October 2025 for expedited processing. At first, I didn’t believe it either; I thought she’d misunderstood something. But no, she had to pay. Gomel Region.”
“This isn’t a new policy. In 2023, I applied for a passport because I needed to move to another country urgently, and the cost was high then, too. I don’t remember the exact amount, but I was also shocked.”
What do they say at the passport office?
In April 2026, the Department of Citizenship and Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reminded the public: processing times for a standard passport are one month, 15 days for expedited service, and in Minsk and regional centers, it’s possible to get one even faster—in seven days. However, the processing times for a biometric passport are different: 15 business days under the standard procedure, 10 under the expedited procedure, and five under the urgent procedure.
The National Legal Portal states that the cost of a standard passport replacement is one base unit, which is currently 45 rubles. The expedited procedure costs 90 rubles, and the urgent procedure costs 135 rubles.
At the Citizenship and Migration Office of the Luninets District Police Department, where a “Zerkalo” journalist applied as an ordinary citizen, officials said they could issue a passport in one month, 15 days, or five days. In the first case, it costs 45 rubles; in the second, 90.
“And five days (about five business days) costs around 940 rubles,” the employee said, explaining why it’s so expensive: “Your only passport is sent [to Brest], they wait [until the new one is made], and then they bring it back.” In other words, [in reality] it’s done literally in a day, but [you receive it] within five days.
She explained that this same service might cost less in cities closer to the regional center.
“And since we’re, so to speak, the most remote location [in the region], it costs 940,” she noted.
As an alternative, she suggested applying for an ID card and a biometric passport. The fastest you can get them is in five days, and the procedure costs 340 rubles.
“Here, you come in person and fill out the paperwork,” the specialist explained. “We send all of this electronically to Brest, and then the [documents] are sent back to us.”
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