Rules of Employment and Stay of the Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons on the Territory of the Republic of Belarus
Updated June 2009
According to the Belarusian legislation foreign citizens in the Republic of Belarus are the persons who are not citizens of the Republic of Belarus and who can prove their belonging to the citizenship of another state.
Foreign citizens who hold citizenship of two and more states are considered in the Republic of Belarus to be the citizens of that state under documents of which they have entered the territory of the Republic of Belarus.
Stateless persons in the Republic of Belarus are considered to be the persons who are not the citizens of the Republic of Belarus and who cannot prove their belonging to the citizenship of another state (Article 1 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus № 2339-XII dated June 3, 1993 “On Legal Status of the Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons in the Republic of Belarus” in the redaction of the Laws № 41-3 of July 19, 2005 and № 300-3 of December 26, 2007 (hereinafter – the Law)).
The above listed categories of persons, in their turn, are divided into the permanently residing, temporarily residing and temporarily staying on the territory of the
Foreign citizens and stateless persons are considered to be permanent residents in the Republic of Belarus if they have a permit for permanent residence in the Republic of Belarus issued by the organs of internal affairs.
Upon receipt of a permanent residence permit foreign citizens and stateless persons acquire the right to carry out labour, entrepreneurial and other activity which is not prohibited by the legislation of the
A different procedure is stipulated by the effective legislation of the
Foreigner residing temporarily in the Republic of Belarus is a person who obtained permit for temporary residence in the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter – permit for temporary residence) in the order established by the legislation of the Republic of Belarus.
Foreigner staying temporarily in the
These categories of foreigners need to comply with the following requirements:
- obtain a visa to enter the
- an employer organization needs to obtain an appropriate permission (license);
- an employer organization needs to obtain a special permit for a foreigner (hereinafter – special permit) that gives him the right to carry out labour activity in the Republic of Belarus;
- registration of stay on the territory of the Republic of Belarus must be accomplished.
It is necessary to note that certain category of foreigners carries out its labour activity on the territory of the Republic of Belarus without obtaining by an employer organization of an appropriate permit (license) as well as without special permit that gives him the right to carry out labour activity in the Republic.
To the certain category of foreigners we can refer:
- the director of commercial organization with foreign investments, employees of the Representative Office of a foreign organization as well as some other foreigners.
However, one should distinguish employment at organizations – legal entities of the Republic of Belarus, which are the residents of the Republic of Belarus, and employment at representative offices of foreign companies which are not residents of the Republic of Belarus.
1. Procedure of employment at the organizations – legal entities of the
Law of the Republic of Belarus #169-3 of June 17, 1998 "On External Labour Migration" (as amended) establishes that legal entities need to obtain special permits (licenses) in order to carry out an activity related with attraction of foreign labor force in the Republic of Belarus.
The order of obtaining licenses is regulated by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus # 17 dated 14.07.2003 “On Licensing of Certain Types of Activity” and by the Regulations “On Licensing of Certain Types of Activity” adopted by that Decree.
At present, the government body that issues licenses for the carrying out an activity relating with the attraction of foreign labour force to the Republic of Belarus and employment of citizens of the Republic of Belarus abroad (hereinafter – license) is the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter – the “MIA”).
License is issued by the MIA for the period of 5 years. Upon expiry this period may be prolonged on request of the licensee for other 5 years. Period of validity of the license commences from the date when MIA passes a decision on issue of the license (paragraph 16 of the Regulations on Licensing of the Activity Related with the Attraction of Foreign Labor Force to the Republic of Belarus and Employment of the Citizens of the Republic of Belarus Abroad adopted by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus # 1335 dated 17.10.2003 (as amended)).
In order to obtain a license it is necessary to pay license fee in the amount of 8 basic units that is equivalent to 280 000 BYR or 80 Euro or 100
License is issued within one month from the day when necessary documents were submitted to the MIA.
Employment of the foreign citizens without an appropriate license is illegal.
Law grants the foreigners temporarily residing and temporarily staying on the territory of the Republic of Belarus the right to carry out labour, entrepreneurial and other activity which is not prohibited by the legislation of the Republic of Belarus only under a special permit obtained in the order established by the Council of ministers of the Republic of Belarus. Thus, a juridical person-employer also needs to obtain in the established order a special permit for the employment of a foreign citizen.
For the obtaining a special permit a juridical person addresses to the Department on Citizenship and Migration of the Department of Internal Affairs of Minsk City (Regional) Executive Committee (hereinafter - Department on Citizenship and Migration). The special permit is issued for the period of one year, within 15 days after submitting documents. A fee in the amount of five basic units is collected for the issue of the special permit, which is currently equivalent to BYR 175 000, or USD 60, or EUR 50 (paragraph 1.2 of the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus # 1258 dated 16.09.2002 “On Regulation of the Labor and Entrepreneurial Activity of the Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons Temporarily Residing and Temporarily Staying on the Territory of the Republic of Belarus”; paragraph 21 of the Appendix to the Law of the Republic of Belarus # 1394-XII of 10.01.1992 “On State Fee” ).
Employment of the foreign citizens is regulated by the Belarusian legislation and is formalized by means of conclusion of a labor contract and issue of a respective employer’s order. A juridical person-employer within a month after conclusion of a labor contract must register him in the Department on Citizenship and Migration.
Members of the migrant worker’s family (spouse) and under-age children) may enter the Republic of Belarus together with him or join him during the period of his labor activity, if this is stipulated by the labor contract concluded with him.
2. Employees of the accredited representative offices of foreign organizations.
As it has already been mentioned above, it is not necessary to obtain above-mentioned permits for employment at a representative office.
The Permit to open a representative office of a foreign organization issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter – Permit) usually contains data on how many foreign workers can be employed at the office (usually not more than 3 foreign employees).
Employment of the foreign citizens at the representative offices of the foreign organizations accredited in the Republic of Belarus, as well as other labor relations between a foreign employee and the representative office may be governed by the legislation of the respective foreign state as well as by the legislation of the Republic of Belarus.
3. Registration of foreign citizens.
All foreign citizens temporarily staying and temporarily residing in the Republic of Belarus reside on the territory of the Republic of Belarus if they have the following document:
registration mark
or
permission for temporary stay.
In order to pass the registration the foreigners within 3 days after arrival in the Republic of Belarus (excluding days off and holidays) must submit their passports to the bodies authorized to carry out registration in the place of the foreigners’ residence (hereinafter – the registration bodies). Foreigners are obliged to reside in the Republic of Belarus only in the place where they were registered by the registration bodies. Registration bodies are hotels or respective departments of MIA. Registration of a foreigner is carried out if one possesses a migration card that has a mark on entry of a foreigner to the Republic of Belarus of border troops about entry of foreigner into the Republic of Belarus and document for traveling abroad.
In case of change of the place of residence a foreigner must register within 3 days at the registration bodies in the new place of residence (paragraph 18 of the Rules of Stay of Foreign Citizens and Stateless Persons in the Republic of Belarus adopted by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus # 73 dated 20.01.2006).
Citizens of states with the visa regime of entry into the Republic of Belarus are registered for the term indicated in their personal appeal or petition of hosting organization but no more than the term of validity of the visa of the Republic of Belarus.
Liability for violation of the registration procedure is stipulated by the Article 23.55 of the Code of the
Thus, violation of the rules of stay on the territory of the Republic of Belarus by the foreign citizens, i. e. residence on the grounds of invalid documents, failure to comply with the established procedure of registration, or change and choice of the place of residence, failure to depart after the term of stay expires, as well violation of the procedure of labor, entrepreneurial or other activity results in issue of an official warning or forfeit in the amount up to 20 basic units (BYR 700 000 or about USD 250).
Address and contact phones of the Department on Citizenship and Migration of MIA: Republic of Belarus, Minsk, Gorodskoi Val str., 2, tel.: 218 52 63, 218 79 28.
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