Press releases

MINSK, 25 February (BelTA) – Four Polish visa application centers will open in Belarus by 1 March, Charge d’Affaires of Poland in Belarus Michal Chabros said at a press conference, BelTA has learned.

The visa application center in Minsk will be temporarily located at 33 Zheleznodorozhnaya Street. In two or three weeks the center will be relocated to the Galileo shopping mall, near the railway station.

The other centers will open in three oblast cities: Brest (208A-1 Moskovskaya Street), Grodno (89 Gorky Street), and Gomel (2 Pushkin Street).

When filing the documents visa applicants will be charged a visa fee (€60) and a service fee (€15). The service fee will be paid in the Belarusian rubles. Booking is required. It can be done online or through the call center.

Visas will still be issued by the Embassy or the consulates of Poland.

Later the Polish visa application centers will be opened in Mogilev, Baranovichi, Pinsk and Lida. “The dates will be announced later. We hope that this will happen soon,” said Michal Chabros.

The head of the consular section of the Polish Embassy in Belarus Marek Pedzich noted that this year Poland will host the World Youth Day which the Pope is planning to attend. The country expects about 2.5 million people at this event, including thousands of Belarusians. “That was why we hurried with the opening of visa application centers,” Marek Pendzih said.

The visa outsourcing is introduced to make visa application process simpler, reduce queues and processing time. VFS Global won the tender for the provision of these services.