How to get Belarusian citizenship in 2026

Five years instead of seven, but you give up your Russian passport. The general and simplified procedures, roots, marriage, fees of about $165 and real timelines to the passport.

In detail

Since 11 July 2023 the road to a Belarusian passport has been shorter: five years with permanent residence instead of seven. For Russian citizens the first step is easier still - they get permanent residence on the strength of Russian citizenship alone, with no temporary status in between. The hard part is elsewhere: Belarus does not recognise dual citizenship, and the application must come with a renunciation of the Russian one.

So an honest answer to how to get Belarusian citizenship starts with another question: do you need it at all. A Russian with Belarusian permanent residence already works without permits, runs a business and enjoys almost every right of a citizen. Below are all the legal paths to the passport, timelines, fees in dollars and the traps, under the Belarusian citizenship law as amended in 2023.

How to get Belarusian citizenship: three paths

Belarusian law and treaties offer three roads to the passport. They differ less in price than in time: from two months of review to five years of living in the country plus up to a year of waiting for a decision.

Restoration of citizenship stands apart, for those who were once Belarusian citizens and lost it. It is also reviewed within two months.

Step one: permanent residence in Belarus for Russians

For Russians the launch pad is almost free. The Russia-Belarus agreement on equal rights of citizens of 24 January 2006 makes Russian citizenship a ground in itself for permanent residence. Other foreigners need, for example, seven years of legal residence or a close Belarusian relative to get the same.

How the paperwork goes

1. Enter Belarus and find housing where you can register.
2. Gather the documents and apply to the citizenship and migration unit where you live.
3. Wait for the decision: the whole procedure takes about two months.
4. Collect the residence card, the document confirming permanent residence.

You will need an application and autobiography, photos, a passport, a criminal record certificate, fingerprinting, a medical certificate and proof of housing. Certificates expire quickly, so plan the filing so that no paper goes stale in the queue.

The money: about $30 for reviewing the permanent residence application and about $30 for the residence card, about $60 per adult in all. Amounts use the National Bank of Belarus rate of 6 October 2026.

With permanent residence a Russian works without a work permit, opens a business, gets healthcare and education on a par with Belarusians. Only the vote and a Belarusian passport are missing. Life and taxes after the move are covered in the overview Belarus and on taxes in Belarus.

What Belarusian permanent residence gives

Permanent residence puts a foreigner on a par with citizens in almost everything. The law lists:

• employment and business without separate permits;
• social security, including pensions;
• healthcare and education on general terms;
• property and personal rights, including buying a home in Belarus.

In effect the difference from a citizen comes down to three things: elections, a Belarusian passport and military service. That is why permanent residence is the final stop for many Russians rather than a waypoint.

The general procedure: what you need for Belarusian citizenship

Five years of continuous residence with permanent residence is the main condition, and it is counted strictly. The period stays continuous only if absences from Belarus did not exceed 90 days in each calendar year. A business trip or other circumstances beyond the applicant's control do not break this limit.

• age 18 or over;
• 5 years of continuous residence in Belarus after permanent residence;
• lawful income at least at the subsistence minimum for yourself and dependent family members;
• knowledge of Belarusian or Russian at a conversational level, checked by a written test;
• respect for the Constitution and laws, no offences;
• no other citizenship, or an application to give it up;
• an oath after the decision to admit.

For a native Russian speaker the language test is the easiest part: Russian is a state language in Belarus on a par with Belarusian. The 90 days abroad a year, though, regularly wrecks the plans of people who love long holidays.

The application is addressed to the President of Belarus and filed with the internal affairs bodies where you live. Review under the general procedure takes up to a year.

How to get Belarusian citizenship under the simplified procedure

The fastest route for a Russian is family. Belarus is party to an agreement with Russia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on a simplified procedure for acquiring citizenship. Under it a Russian citizen who lives in Belarus permanently or moves there for permanent residence gets the passport without the five-year term if a close relative who is a Belarusian citizen lives permanently in Belarus.

Close relatives are a spouse, parents and adoptive parents, children, brothers and sisters, grandparents and grandchildren. Applications under the agreement are reviewed within three months. The agreement's other condition - birth or residence in Belarus before 21 December 1991 - does not apply to Russian citizens.

Registration: roots and a Belarusian degree

Registration is even shorter: it is reviewed within two months. It is open to:

• people born in Belarus or permanently living there before 12 November 1991;
• their spouses and descendants;
• graduates of Belarusian universities who have worked in Belarus for at least three years;
• children living in Belarus with one parent who is a Belarusian citizen, on the parents' application.

If a grandmother lived in Minsk before the Soviet Union broke up, her grandchild may be closer to a passport than they think. Records of the ancestors' birth and residence are worth digging up before the move: archives work no faster than the migration service.

For those born or living in Belarus on 12 November 1991 who lost citizenship by taking another before 17 August 2002, the 2023 law opened simplified restoration instead of full naturalisation.

Dual citizenship of Belarus and Russia: giving up the passport

The Union State does not mean a common citizenship. Belarus and Russia have no dual citizenship treaty, and on admission Belarus requires that the applicant has no other citizenship or has applied to give it up. The exception is when leaving the previous citizenship is impossible for reasons beyond the person's control.

Russian law has a renunciation procedure, so a Russian citizen will have to go through it. It is not a formality: renouncing Russian citizenship takes months, and coming back later is harder than leaving. A detailed breakdown is in dual citizenship of Belarus and Russia.

Belarus does not recognise foreign citizenship held by its own citizens. A Belarusian with a second passport is treated in Belarus as Belarusian only, including for military service: men in Belarus are called up from 18 to 27.

Belarusian citizenship for citizens of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and other countries

Russians are the luckiest: only they get permanent residence on citizenship alone. Other foreigners face a longer road to the passport, because they first need a ground for permanent residence.

Citizens of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan benefit from the same simplified agreement as Russians, and they have two conditions instead of one. Either a close relative who is a Belarusian citizen living there permanently, or birth or residence in Belarus before 21 December 1991 as a citizen of the former Soviet Union. Review takes up to three months.

Citizens of Ukraine and other countries get permanent residence on the grounds of the law on the legal status of foreigners. The most common are:

• a close relative who is a Belarusian citizen living in the country permanently;
• family reunification with a citizen or permanent resident of Belarus;
• 7 years of legal residence in Belarus on temporary permits;
• a ground for citizenship by registration, such as birth or residence in Belarus before 12 November 1991;
• former Belarusian citizenship.

After permanent residence the conditions are the same for everyone: 5 years, language, income, giving up the previous citizenship. For a foreigner with no special grounds the whole path takes more than ten years, so first check whether a family or registration shortcut exists.

How much Belarusian citizenship costs

Belarusian state fees are tied to the base value, a notional unit for fees and fines, worth about $15 in 2026. The whole path from permanent residence to the passport costs about $165 in state fees per adult.

This leaves out translations and notarisation, certificates, the medical check and renouncing Russian citizenship with its own fee. Belarus does not require money in the bank, but income at least at the subsistence minimum must be proven.

Timelines: how long until a Belarusian passport

The longest part of the road is not the paperwork but the five years of living there. The law caps review at a year under the general procedure, three months under treaties and two months for registration and restoration.

The decision on admission is taken by the President of Belarus, with a citizenship commission preparing the cases. Refusing the oath after the decision cancels it.

Who is refused Belarusian citizenship

The law lists the cases in which review of the application stops. Most of them can be foreseen:

• the applicant no longer meets the conditions, for example spent more than 90 days a year abroad;
• they face criminal prosecution in Belarus or abroad;
• they were deported or expelled from Belarus;
• three or more administrative penalties within a calendar year;
• false information or forged documents;
• service in the army, police, security bodies or other state bodies of a foreign country;
• admission runs against Belarus's national security interests.

Three speeding fines in a year are formally enough to stop the review. Five years of waiting are worth becoming a very careful driver for.

Documents for Belarusian citizenship

The citizenship file is thicker than the permanent residence one, and almost every paper in it needs translating and certifying. The core is:

• an application form addressed to the President with four 3 by 4 centimetre photos;
• an autobiography;
• the passport and the residence card;
• birth, marriage or divorce certificates;
• proof of lawful income;
• a document on leaving the previous citizenship or on applying to leave it;
• a criminal record certificate;
• the result of the Belarusian or Russian language test;
• the receipt for the state fee.

Simplified grounds add documents on kinship with a Belarusian citizen, on birth or residence in Belarus before 12 November 1991, or a Belarusian degree and proof of three years of work. Children aged 14 to 18 need their own notarised consent and the other parent's consent.

How a Russian gets Belarusian citizenship: a step-by-step plan

1. Check the simplified grounds. A citizen relative in Belarus, Belarusian roots before 1991 or a Belarusian degree cut the road from six years to a few months.
2. Move and get permanent residence. For Russians on citizenship alone, in about two months.
3. Live there 5 years without long trips. No more than 90 days abroad in each calendar year.
4. Prove income and pass the language test. Income at least at the subsistence minimum, language at a conversational level.
5. Apply to give up Russian citizenship. Without this the citizenship application will not be accepted.
6. File the application to the President with the internal affairs bodies where you live and wait up to a year for the decision.
7. Take the oath and collect the passport. A biometric passport costs about $30.

Until the renunciation is complete, the person formally holds two passports. A Russian citizen must notify the Russian interior ministry of a second citizenship within 60 days.

Belarusian citizenship for a child

A child gets Belarusian citizenship by birth automatically if at least one parent is a Belarusian citizen, wherever the child is born. No separate paperwork is needed.

A child born in Belarus to foreigners with permanent residence gets Belarusian citizenship only if the parents' countries do not give it theirs. The child of Russians gets Russian citizenship, so it will not get Belarusian citizenship by birth. It can be arranged later by registration, once one of the parents becomes a Belarusian citizen.

What has changed in Belarusian citizenship since 2023

A new version of the citizenship law took effect on 11 July 2023. The main changes for foreigners:

• the residence term with permanent residence was cut from 7 to 5 years;
• language knowledge is checked by a written test;
• all new citizens take an oath;
• registration opened to Belarusian university graduates with three years of work;
• simplified restoration was introduced for those who lost citizenship before 2002;
• review times were capped: up to a year, up to three months under treaties, up to two months for registration.

Many old guides still say seven years. That rule no longer applies: if a leaflet says seven years, it was written before 11 July 2023, and its other figures are best not trusted either.

Taxes for a Russian in Belarus with permanent residence or a passport

For the tax office citizenship changes almost nothing: days decide everything. You become a Belarusian tax resident by spending more than 183 days in the country in a calendar year. A resident pays income tax on worldwide income. How to count the days and leave Russian tax residence is covered in tax residency and the 183-day rule.

• 13% on annual income up to about $115,000;
• 25% on the part from $115,000 to $200,000;
• 30% on everything above.

A Russian with an employment contract of at least 183 days pays resident rates from the first day of work under the Russia-Belarus protocol of 24 January 2006. A Russian pension is not taxed in Belarus. All rates, contributions and rules for entrepreneurs are on taxes in Belarus.

Common mistakes on the way to a Belarusian passport

• Long trips. More than 90 days abroad in a calendar year, and the five-year clock starts again.
• Counting from the first day in the country. The five years run only after permanent residence.
• Applying to leave Russian citizenship at the last moment. Without it the citizenship application is not accepted, and the Russian procedure is slow.
• Administrative penalties. Three in a calendar year stop the review.
• A missed simplified ground. A citizen relative or roots before 1991 save years, but people often remember them only after five years of waiting.
• Expired certificates. Criminal record and medical papers are valid for a limited time, and the file has to be rebuilt.

Does a Russian need Belarusian citizenship

For most Russians a Belarusian passport adds less than it takes away. With permanent residence you can already live, work, run a business and use healthcare and education on a par with citizens. The passport adds the vote and a Belarusian document but requires giving up the Russian one.

Belarusian citizenship makes sense for those tying their whole future to the country, or for those without Russian citizenship. For everyone else permanent residence is usually enough.

Alternatives: a second passport without giving up the Russian one

If the goal is a second passport rather than life in Belarus, look at countries that do not require renouncing your previous citizenship. Armenia allows dual citizenship. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are Eurasian Union neighbours with their own rules. All options are in second citizenship, and countries where two passports can be held legally are in the overview dual citizenship in 2026.

How we help

Murblz specialists check whether you have a simplified ground, arrange permanent residence and handle the citizenship application through to the oath. If you do not need a Belarusian passport, we say so straight away.

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