Belarus digital nomad visa: requirements (2026)

The House of Representatives adopted in second reading a draft law abolishing the three-year continuous-residence prerequisite for highly qualified foreign nationals seeking permanent residence in Belarus. If enacted, it would create a fast-track skilled-worker immigration pathway directly relevant to senior IT and tech professionals employed at HTP companies.

Belarus renewed the visa-free entry programme for citizens of 35-38 European countries through end-2026, continuing the pattern of annual renewals that began with the July 2024 road/rail expansion. The 30-day single-entry limit and 90-day-per-calendar-year cap remain unchanged.

President Lukashenko signed Edict No. 202 'On Enhancing the Role of Employers in the Field of External Labour Migration', effective August 23, 2025. Employers must now contract migrant workers within 30 days of permit issuance (down from 6 months), designate a responsible compliance officer, arrange Russian/Belarusian language testing, and conduct home welfare visits, substantially raising the administrative burden of hiring non-EAEU foreign workers.

A bilateral agreement, signed June 2020 and only ratified by Russia in February 2023, took effect on January 11, 2025: third-country nationals holding a valid Belarusian or Russian visa may enter, stay, and transit both countries on that single document. This simplifies multi-country itineraries for foreign remote workers and entrepreneurs already holding either state's visa.

Belarus formally renewed the July 2024 land-border visa exemption for 35 European states by one year through December 31, 2025, signalling intent to sustain short-visit openness for Western Europeans despite EU sanctions, and continuing to make 30-day stay trips feasible for location-independent workers.

Effective July 19, 2024, President Lukashenko approved visa-exempt entry via all road and rail checkpoints for nationals of 35 European states for stays up to 30 days (capped at 90 days per calendar year). Previously, the visa-free scheme was limited to Minsk National Airport; the land-border extension markedly widens accessible short-term stay options for European remote workers.

A new version of the Law on External Labour Migration abolished the pre-hiring permit requirement for employers engaging most foreign workers, replacing it with a three-business-day notification to migration authorities post-contract. Employment contracts with foreigners must now be fixed-term and meet the statutory minimum wage. This is the primary statutory framework governing foreign nationals, including remote-working IT professionals, who take up employment in Belarus.

A presidential amendment extended permitted stays under the 2017 airport visa-free programme from a shorter initial window to 30 days for nationals of 76 countries entering and exiting through Minsk National Airport. The 30-day ceiling transformed the programme into a viable short-stay option for remote workers, though the Russia-entry restriction remained in place.

Decree No. 8, effective March 28, 2018, dramatically expanded the Hi-Tech Park regime: tax exemptions extended to 2049, blockchain and crypto legalised, and, most relevant to foreign digital workers, HTP resident companies gained the right to hire foreign nationals without work permits, with those employees entitled to stay in Belarus visa-free for up to 180 days per year and to receive a residence permit for the contract duration. This is Belarus's closest equivalent to a skilled-worker or digital nomad fast track.

A presidential decree introduced visa-free entry for nationals of approximately 80 countries arriving and departing exclusively through Minsk National Airport. The programme, originally permitting only a brief stay, was the first broad visa-liberalisation measure enabling foreign nationals to visit Belarus without a formal visa, laying the foundation for later expansions.

Presidential Decree No. 12 created the Hi-Tech Park as an extraterritorial special economic zone for IT and software companies, granting residents deep tax relief and a separate legal framework governing employment, including provisions for foreign workers. The HTP is the foundational structure underpinning every subsequent immigration privilege for IT-sector foreign nationals in Belarus.