Poor Chris Guillebeau. The writer behind the popular Art of Nonconformity blog has made it a goal to visit every single country in the world, but thus far, fate has kept him out of Belarus:

Twice in the past two months I’ve tried to make it to Belarus, and twice I’ve failed.

The first time I was volcanoed, stuck in Vancouver and unable to fly to Europe. This time, I was stuck in Zürich, shut out by a Kafkaesque visa system that denied me entry one day before I was supposed to arrive.

“Kafkaesque” is a good way of describing Belarus’ visa system, which is inspired by Russia’s and equally complex. Whether you are actually visiting Belarus or just passing through, you will need a visa, and if you can’t stand the thought of having to change travel plans at the last minute, it would be prudent to get one in advance.

Here’s what you need to get a Belarus visa if you are traveling there as a tourist:

• 1 Belarus visa application form
• 1 recent passport photo
• If you will be taking an organized tour, provide a letter from the tour company confirming your reservation with them and your  itinerary.
• If you are traveling independently, you must provide a hotel reservation from an authorized Belarussian travel agency. The agency will provide you an  authorization number; write it on your Belarus visa application form.
• If you are a former Soviet/Belarussian, Belarus requires you to submit proof of how you lost your Soviet/Belarussian citizenship. Generally, you can use the documents you used to get your US citizenship.
• Your US passport

It is quite likely that you’ll have to travel through Russia to get to Belarus, so don’t forget to apply for the appropriate Russian visa as well.

RushMyTravelVisa can help you negotiate the complicated Belorussian visa process. When your submit your application through us, you get personal assistance and attention from a professional visa specialist. We walk you through the application process and submit your paperwork to the appropriate embassy or consulate, for the fastest processing possible.

Apply for your Belarus visa today!

Tags: Belarus, Belarus embassy, Belarus visa

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 11:15 pm and is filed under Destinations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.