Foreign colleagues always ask me whether the Belarusians need a permission to leave the country. No. The national passport is automatically valid for foreign travel. Of course, there are restrictions and black lists, some find out they are on the travel ban list when on the border.
But the biggest problem is to get a visa.
Since our direct European neighbours – Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – joined Schengen area, it’s been a nightmare. To spend a week-end in Vilnius that is 180 km away from Minsk you need to get a lot of documents to prove that you have a job, money and a reason to travel. The pleasure to collect the papers — some of which different embassies need to have translated, notarized and apostilled — and survive the queue costs 60 Euros.
Right, you can visit 25 Schengen countries with just one visa but I don’t think you can make it during one week-end. And you can never be sure you get the visa, nothing is guaranteed.
So it’s a lot easier to do without Vilnius, Riga and Warsaw. The number of tourists travelling to Poland since 2007 has fallen by 90%, Latvia by 82%, Lithuania – 80%… A similiar picture with Germany, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden — by 79-71%.
My Russian colleagues easily get multiple Schengen visas for 5 years as the level of relations with EU is different. The Schengen visa costs the Russians and the Ukrainians 35 Euros for the same reason. Despite the fact that Brussels tries to promote people-to-people contacts with Belarus, we still have a very long way to go. Starting with full participation in European Neighbourhood Policy ending with Readmission and Visa Facilitation Agreements. Democracy goes first, then people can travel.
And there’s also the other side of the coin – EU citizens suffer as well.
As I was planning to visit friends in Spain I asked them to send me an invitation. That is: they go to the police and bring their papers: proving they have a job, money and a possibility to host me. Apart from the banking account info and detailed plan of the house the Spanish authorities requested from my very Spanish friend Anna a picture where we could be seen together (sic! or even: sick!) as well as postcards, letters and emails that we exchanged. To crown it all, the honour to invite a Belarusian cost Anna 109 Euros.
Going to the embassy I had to have all my papers PLUS the invitation card. But it never arrived. The post simply lost this valuable piece of paper…
The Berlin wall never fell. As Belarusian-Swedish writer and radio producer Dmitri Plax says: the Berlin wall never disappeared, it just moved a bit eastwards. Now it’s intangible: less violent but even more effective.
#1 by Martín Rodríguez on April 30, 2009 - 5:58 pm
What a great piece of article! But not only the Berlin Wall has moved eastwards, it’s intangible, less violent and more effective. As Chilean proffesor Devés Valdés says, the Apartheid moved from South Africa to the West. In order to have permission to be here if you were not born in Western Europe or any of the WEOG countries, you must be rich, very intelligent or married to a Western citizen. If not, escape from police officers or go back.
All the best in the blog Maryna!
Martín
Guatemala
#2 by Akilesh Roopun on May 1, 2009 - 7:12 am
Hi Maryna, good to hear from you after a very long time. And thanks for this down to earth and yet very insightful piece on EU visa policy. Here in Mauritius we face the same kind of problems when we have to travel to continental Europe, especially to the Schengen countries. The French embassy that delivers the Schengen visa makes it extremely difficult for people who want to vist their families in France, Italy and elsewhere. Almost humiliating them with all kinds of questions and procedures.
And you know how the Mauritian government is responding to this humiliation of its people? They are granting French people the possibility to travel to Mauritius without a passport. “Travel to Mauritius without a passport” is the latest initiative to keep French tourists flying to Mauritius in these times of recession. Tourism is a very important industry here, and the French travellers are its main market. The country is having to compromise on its immigration policy and even on its very sovereignty to keep the industry afloat.
All the best for the blog. Hope this will keep all of us in touch.
Akilesh
Mauritius
(Southern part of the Indian Ocean)
#3 by Nastassia Bichan on May 1, 2009 - 1:41 pm
Well, don’t ever underestimate bureaucracy…
I have experienced a courious case in 2008 while my friend applied for the Belarusian visa in Berlin. After filling out an application, where he had to inform the authorities about his job, income; the name, job, address, income of his ex-wife (!); my name, job and address as his host in Minsk. He went to the embassy with a hope to get his visa at once. But then I strated getting phone calls from him. First he asked again my name and address. Then, after 5 minutes, the name, job and address of my mother. Then the same about my father. When he called for the fourth time I was getting irritated and shouted, what the hell they want more. It came out that they can’t find neither me, nor my parents in the register of Minsk’s inhabitants.
I needed time and much of my sence of logic to grasp the reason why Belarusian Embassy in the capital city of Berlin can not find my family, which has been living for 20 years at the same address in the main avenue of the capital city of Minsk.
You know, in 2005 president Lukashenka has signed a directive to rename the Skaryna Avenue into Independance Avenue, of what the Embassy of Belarus in Germany was not aware even in 2008.
In 2005 everyone, registered formerly at Scorina Avenue, was obliged to change registration in their passes. But after the lists in Belarussian Embassy in Germany, these people don’t exist.
#4 by Arthur Borges on May 1, 2009 - 7:55 pm
Yep, the new stealth wall has been called the Schengen Wall since no later than1993.
#5 by Arthur Borges on May 1, 2009 - 7:58 pm
It’s just as beastly for my Latin American friends, if not worse. One Colombian medical specialist was supposed to chair a seminar in the E.U. so he applied for a Schengen visa six months in advance — and it came through on the second day of the four-day conference.
One trick is to get a permanent multiple entry visa to the USA. Once you have it, it becomes much easier to get visas for anywhere else. This is what Latin Americans do even though they have no intention of ever setting foot there.
#6 by Maryna on May 2, 2009 - 6:41 am
@ Martín Rodríguez
An interesting idea. But apartheid is too strong a word. In the West or in the East people always needed to identify themselves with a certain group and at different time this desire takes different forms politically as well as socially.
Moreover, they can’t be equal, it’s against their nature: we all know that “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than the others”.
#7 by Maryna on May 2, 2009 - 6:46 am
@Akilesh Roopun
The Russians announced that all their steps vis-a-vis visa policy with EU will be strictly reciprocal: now they can afford such stands!..
There are countries that can be just ignored
#8 by Julien on May 3, 2009 - 7:09 pm
great post Maryna!
#9 by Eve on May 4, 2009 - 6:05 pm
Interesting article. I’m an American citizen who used to live in Europe. I took a trip through Poland, Belarus and Ukraine in 2006. I was actually shocked by the ease with which I obtained a Belarusian visa and the ease of travel through Belarus. I requested my own invitation from a travel agency ($35 total for three people / UK, Netherlands and USA nationality) and did the visa work myself with the embassy. I think it is so important that people are able to visit Belarus and that Belarusians can visit other countries, person to person diplomacy is important and it is shocking how this country can be made into an island in the heart of Europe (east-west are just constructs…).
#10 by maryna on May 5, 2009 - 12:57 pm
@Julien
@ Eve
Great is that you are thinking about it!.
#11 by Dave on May 11, 2009 - 4:51 am
Здравствуйте, Марина!
Я американец (русско-говорящий конечно))) а невеста у меня из Белоруси…из города Брест. Вот она мне рассказывает как там живут люди, что страна вроде закрыта, а <>ваш короче последный диктатор в Европе…что, например, когда приезжают россияне в Белоруси, то у них типа возникает мысль что в Советский Союз попали конкретно…что Лукашенко арестует бухариков на месте, а за то Минск такой чистинкий…вот мне интересно потому что я собираюсь в её родину поехать, познакомиться с её родителями (сама невеста не может из-за политического убежещие в Америке)…Неужели там так тяжело?
С уважением,
Дэйв
#12 by Dave on May 11, 2009 - 4:53 am
“БАТКА” ваш…почему-то не прошло
#13 by Maryna Rakhlei on May 11, 2009 - 11:09 am
Дэйв!
Приезжайте обязательно: как говорят, лучше один раз увидеть, чем сто раз услышать.
Да, наверное, мы небольшой заповедник СССР на границе Евросоюза. Но из советских времен у нас остались не только вещи, которых хочется стесняться. Алкоголиков никто не арестовывает, но в деревнях у нас пьют на порядок меньше, чем в России. Деревня хоть и в убыток, но работает: засеяны все поля, в колхозе можно на уборке урожая хорошо заработать. У нас нет большого разрыва между богатыми и бедными, нет проблем с беспризорными детьми.
Минск очень чистый, это факт. К сожалению, потому что убирают постоянно, а не потому что не мусорят. Если парламент одобрит закон, будут штрафовать за распитие пива на улице: как в Америке будем цивилизованно выпивать
Политическими свободами мы похвастать не можем. Высокий уровень самоцензуры: чиновники и простые люди прогибаются, чтобы угодить или не нарваться. Никто и не просил, а делают. На всякий случай. Частному бизнесу тяжело, журналистам сложно.. но про “тяжело” спросите у родителей невесты: у народа все в порядке. Белорусы – чемпионы по терпению и толерантности.
Если еще интересно, читайте “Белорусские новости” http://naviny.by Там у нас всё!
#14 by Alexandru Macarii on May 24, 2009 - 11:11 am
Dear Maryna.
It is a very sad story but nothing new to me. I myself come originally from the other side of the Berlin Wall-2 – from Moldova.
Similar with Belarus, we cannot travel without visa to Romania, our western neighbour, since they joined the EU 2007.
We only have 2 neighbours – Romania and Ukraine. A few days ago, Ukraine changed the entrance regulations and Moldavians will have to prove at the Ukrainian border that they have at least 50 US dollars per day of stay in the Ukraine (e.g. for a week at the Ukrainian Black Sea coast a Moldavian should show 350 USD! No regular Moldavian has such a sum of money).
Strangely enough, both Ukraine and Moldova are CIS members, both want to joint the EU and have quite good relations. Why did Ukraine decide to introduce such strange regulations? Moldova wasn’t even warned, the regulation are valid since the day of the publication.
In any case, Moldova is now the 2nd Kaliningrad…and similar with Belarus also.
But I am very anxious about the Eastern Partnership. It comes at the right time, as the EU sees that it cannot leave the countries jammed between the EU and Russia without any attention any more.
Alexandru Macarii (Berlin, Germany)
#15 by Maryna Rakhlei on May 26, 2009 - 12:47 pm
Alexandru!
I am not sure if we can place that much hope on EaP. Eastern parnters as well as EU members are very diffirent, have their ambitions and goals. Brussels will think of energy and security first anyway. The visa liberation process has a long term perspective and there’s a number of EU countries that will slow it down. Have a look at Ukraine: 2005 they introduced visa free regime with EU, now they are still waiting for EU to do the same.
It’s a sad story, right. And not the end of it. Status quo won’t change too quickly – but at least it’s not going to get worse.
#16 by Марк on August 26, 2009 - 10:29 pm
Спасибо, что просветили. Никогда бы не подумал
#17 by Ziegfried on October 5, 2009 - 4:27 pm
Такие тексты только в ЖЖ публиковать, а не здесь =(
#18 by Тимур Макаров on December 26, 2009 - 10:16 am
Провокационный пост. Поэтому такие и комментарии