The following information is adapted from, and is only a small part of, the information contained in the recently published guidebook,   Russia, Belarus & Ukraine by Rail   by Athol Yates (June, 1996).

Visas, Customs, and Border Crossings

Visas are the biggest hassle when visiting Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Visa regulations change regularly and even the border guards and police of each of the countries often do not know the latest law. Therefore readers are advised to check with their travel agents or the relevant embassies before actually embarking on a trip. Although it may be possible to visit another of the former CIS counties with a Russian visa, it is best to get a visa for each of the countries you are visiting. It is false economy to think that this is a waste of money - consider the cost of wasting days standing at an embassy in Moscow, Kyiv or Miensk. In addition, it is often easier and cheaper to get a visa in your own country.

Your visa is very important as you will need to show it when staying at a hotel and often when buying a rail ticket.

Many of the overnight trains from St Petersburg or Moscow to the Baltic states and Europe cross the Russian border after midnight. Make sure your visa does not expire a few hours before you cross the border or you may have problems leaving the country. Children up to 16 years old do not need their own visas. Their names have to be included on the visa of the person responsible for them.

Important Note:   The information presented below, especially the duration and the prices of visas, varies depending on the country of issue, and changes regularly.

Visa Tips

• When you are requesting an invitation to visit Russia, ask for it to cover several days on each side of your planned stay in Russia, as extending visas later is time consuming and expensive.
• It is best to have every city that you intend to visit listed on your visa as some hotels will not let you stay since you are not "authorised" to be in their city.
• Take your visa invitation and 3 extra passport-size photos with you in case you have to extend your visa or replace it.

Visa Invitations

To get a visa to Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, you need either an invitation or some written document that confirms your accommodation details (usually booked accommodation vouchers). Both of these must state your passport details, the duration of your stay, and the cities you will visit. If you are going on a package tour, your travel agents will organise everything and you will see none of the paperwork.

Invitations can only be sent by registered companies in these countries and must contain the registered address of the company, the name, passport data, & itinerary of those who are invited. If a tourist company invites you, the company must be registered as a tourist company by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and have a special licence number. That number must be written on the invitation. Normally local travel companies will only issue an invitation for those days that you have paid for as you are their responsibility until you leave their country. However there are a number of travel companies that are willing to just send you the invitation and the rest is up to you, although as you have to be registered, you must visit the company that issued you the visa and it is best to do this as soon as you arrive.

Normally, faxed invitations are accepted by the consulates.

Visa Information

Visas to Belarus are required by virtually all nationalities including Americans, Australians, Britons, and Canadians. Visas have to be obtained before arriving in Belarus. As of 1 April 1995, visas were no longer issued at Miensk-2 International Airport or at the border crossings of Brest and Hrodna.

Russian visas are acceptable for transit through Belarus such as on the Warsaw-Moscow train. However if you are travelling from Moscow to Brest, and hoping to buy a cheap suburban rail ticket from Brest to Warsaw, you will only be sold one if you have a Belarusian visa.

If you are going from Belarus to Ukraine, your Belarusian (or Russian) visa will be taken from you as you leave Belarus.

There is no border control on the Belarus-Russian border. This poses a problem if you have entered Belarus on a Belarusian visa as your Russian visa will be unstamped when you enter Russia and you will not get a customs form. Therefore you should tell your conductor and get them to organise it.

To get a Belarusian visa, you need a completed Visa Application Form, valid passport, and an invitation or booked accommodations vouchers.

Belarus Visa Cost

Type	Duration	Costs Around the World
Single entry tourist	30 days	$20 (Moscow), $25 (Beijing)
Single entry private	30 days	$60 (Moscow)
Single entry business	30 days	$60 (Moscow), $25 (Beijing)
Transit	1 day	$60 (Beijing)
Double entry tourist		$90 (Beijing)
Double entry business		$110 (Beijing)
Multi-entry business		$250 (Beijing)

Update (September, 1996):   From the Belarusian Embassy in Washington, DC, USA, a Single entry visa costs $50 US for 7 day processing and $100 US for same day processing. Similar prices/time for New York City, NY, USA, as well.

Registration

All visitors to Russia must register with the local police or OViR within 72 hours of arrival. Some Ukrainian and Belarusian consulates also advise travellers to register with the local police or OViR/VVTA but this is not mandatory, only highly recommended. If you are staying at a hotel, this is automatically done by the hotel staff. If you are staying less than 72 hours you do not need to register. The company that issued you the invitation has to register your visa. If you are late in registering, you may be fined. If you do not register at all you can be fined at the border and the amount of the fine is totally subjective.

When you get registered, you get a stamp on the back of your visa.

In the Soviet-era, it was important to have registration stamps covering every day to indicate your movements. Nowadays it is only necessary to get one stamp.

OViR and Extending Visas

To extend you visa, you have to battle with OViR in Russia and Belarus, and VVTA in Ukraine. These are the Ministries of Internal Affairs departments for registering and extending visas for foreigners, and issuing residential permits and passports for locals. They are an annoying remnant of the Soviet big brother.

To extend a visa, you normally have to bring along a letter from the organisation that originally issued your visa stating the details of the extension. Sometimes an international train ticket is acceptable. In addition you have to show the bank receipt of the extension cost paid into the OViR/VVTA account. This means that you have to pay before you queue up which may mean you waste your money if your application is rejected. As the bank will normally be nowhere near the OViR/VVTA office, and the office is only open for a few hours a day, this process can take 2 days.

It is essential that you check that your visa can be extended before you pay the money as some OViR/VVTA offices will not extend some types of visas.

Custom Forms

When arriving in Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia, you must fill in a customs form stating your foreign currency and valuable goods such as cameras and radios. It is better to write down too much rather than too little for when you leave, customs officials may scrutinise the form closely and compare what you wrote down and what you have now. If you could not have bought the "newly acquired" goods, they will confiscate them stating that they are stolen. This is obviously a scam but an effective one as you have limited time to argue before your train or plane departs.

If you arrive by airport your goods may be X-rayed.

To prevent customs officials watching you as you count your cash, count it beforehand so you can fill in the form quickly. However, occasionally the official may want to see the cash anyway.

If you lose the customs form, you are liable to an apparently arbitrary fine which may be 10% of your hard currency cash.

Goods forbidden to be taken out of the country include antique samovars, icons and paintings, gold and silver items made before 1968, military medals, coins, and local currency. There is a lot of discretion by the customs official in the definition of antiques so be careful. The only way you can prove that something is new and not an antique is for it to bear the Ministry of Culture's export stamp. So look for this stamp before you buy.

Border Crossing Procedure

Strict border crossing procedures are maintained between Eastern Europe and Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. However between the former republics of the Soviet Union, border crossing is invariably lax or non-existent.

The first step in crossing from Eastern Europe into one of the former republics of the Soviet Union is for the border guards to check your passports and visas. Your visa will be stamped, one of the 3 leaves of the visa taken, and a stamp placed on the last page of your passport. In the trains, they will look under your seats and in the luggage area above the corridor for stowaways. As they carry guns, be polite.

The next step is for customs forms to be given out and completed. The customs officers may check what you have written, look into your bags, and when they are happy with everything, stamp your customs form.

On a train at the Eastern European borders with Ukraine and Belarus and between Russia and China, the bogies are changed due to the different railway gauges between the former Soviet Union and the rest of the world. This process involves lifting the carriages individually, and rolling out and replacing the bogies.

The border guard, customs, and bogie changing process can take 2 hours.

When leaving the country, the reverse procedure applies.

During the entire border crossing procedure, the toilets are locked and you often cannot leave your carriage. So make sure that you go to the toilet before you arrive.

Belarusian Embassies

• See also Belarus' Ambassadors to Other Countries Web page

• See also Embassies Web page

Return to A Belarus Miscellany Topic List

Search the A Belarus Miscellany Web site

Original content and overall form ©1996-2004 by Peter Kasaty : All Rights Reserved. Last Updated:  2002/02/24
Quoted Text, Graphics, Links, and Linked Content belong to their respective owners.