Starting a Business · Belarus
Starting a Business - Belarus
Belarus formally permits foreigners to register companies with minimal procedural barriers — an LLC can be incorporated in one business day with near-zero minimum capital and no general requirement for government approval. However, significant practical impediments exist: legislation since 2023 restricts property disposal and routes dividends for investors from 'unfriendly' states through regime-controlled accounts, foreign capital in banking is capped at 50% and in insurance at 30%, and broad EU and US sanctions severely constrain Western investors' ability to operate.
Any foreign individual aged 18 or above, or a foreign legal entity not undergoing liquidation, may found a Belarusian company. No special government consent is required for company formation or share acquisition in most sectors; 100% foreign ownership is permitted outside restricted sectors.
The LLC (OOO) — the most common form — has no effective minimum authorized capital (as low as 1 Belarusian ruble). Open Joint Stock Companies require 400 base amounts; closed corporations require 100 base amounts. Foreign-capital companies have up to 2 years to contribute authorized capital in full.
Registration is completed in one business day. Steps include: reserving a company name via the USR portal (egr.gov.by), preparing and apostilling/legalizing foreign-founder documents, drafting the charter in Russian or Belarusian, appointing a director, securing a legal address in Belarus, and filing with the local executive committee's justice department or a notary (who may submit electronically). The company is simultaneously registered for tax, customs, social protection, and statistical purposes.
Foreign capital in the banking sector may not exceed 50% of total aggregate capital; in insurance organizations, the cap is 30%. Outside these sectors, no statutory ownership ceiling applies.
Since 2023, investors from states designated 'unfriendly' by Belarus (broadly: EU/US/UK and allied countries) face mandatory routing of dividends through special state-controlled accounts and require government permission for real estate disposal where such investors hold 25%+ ownership. Private property seizure has also been legalized in some contexts.
EU sanctions on Belarus remain in force as of 2026, covering major banks, key export sectors, and individuals, and restrict many EU-nexus business activities. The US (OFAC) progressively lifted several Belarus sanctions from September 2025 through March 2026, including delisting potash entities and rescinding sovereign-debt restrictions. However, a transaction cleared by OFAC may still trigger EU asset-freeze or import-ban violations for EU-exposed companies.
Machine-assisted translation · verified 5/24/2026 · orientation, not legal advice. English version →