4 hours to find out if you are on foreign travel ban list

The number of travelers turned away by Belarus border guards has dropped from 30 to 15 people daily, the European Radio for Belarus has learned. Up to 400 people have been denied exit as of today.

Officials promise that the time needed to find out whether your name is on the black list or not will be reduced from 30 days to 4 hours by the end of January. Today, you have to approach the Department of Citizenship and Migration in order to get this information. Lidziya Ivanchykava who heads the department at the Interior Ministry, told the European Radio for Belarus, that this should be done in person. Written requests delivered by post will be rejected immediately.

Lidziya Ivanchykava: “A citizen is required to come in person. If he or she sends a request by post, we will not answer. People need to come with their passports in order to obtain information whether they are in the database”.

But the certificate issued by the Department of Citizenship and Migration will be only valid at the moment of issue. It will not become your immediate border pass, in case you run into misunderstanding with border guards who will not let you cross the border.

The European Radio for Belarus also asked why people had to wait for one month in order to get information about their status as regards the border database. Under the law, all the government agencies are required to respond within ten working days. As it turned out, the staff at all of 152 district migration departments had no access to the database. They have to forward requests to the Interior Ministry. But a software is currently being installed to enable them to access the database directly.

Lidziya Ivanchykava: “All of our staff will have access to the database by the end of January. They will be able to enter the database and check if a person is on the list or not. They will issue certificates to every applicant possibly within several hours”.

Aliaksandr Tsishchanka, Border Control Committee spokesman, told the European Radio for Belarus that border guards turn away the listed persons on a daily basis. The number of passengers who were denied exit has reduced from 30 in the first days of the year to an average of 15 people as of today. A total of 400 people were turned away from the border since the New Year.