Moving to a small town in Belarus was a real test for me: the story of obtaining permanent residence

“My first experience of moving to another country for permanent residence was Belarus, since it was here that a simplified system for filing documents for Russian citizens was supposedly provided. At least, this is what they say in various sources of information, with which I do not agree. In almost a year of living “abroad”, I discovered both advantages and disadvantages, which I want to share with those who also want to go through this path of immigration, ”says our reader RickFreich.

Required Documents

A citizen of the Russian Federation does not need to collect a large number of documents for a long stay in the country. In accordance with the established laws, all citizens of the Russian Federation can stay in Belarus for 90 calendar days a year without additional registration. But since I needed to stay here longer, I had to go to the passport office and find out the conditions for extending my stay. Such conditions include:

1. Registration of marriage with a citizen of the Republic of Belarus.
2. Entry and study at any university in the country.
3. Acquisition of housing
4. Conclusion of a working relationship.

In my case, only a job under an employment contract was a suitable condition. But even here everything is not as simple as it seems.

Many, having seen a Russian passport, told me the on-duty phrase: “We will call you back”, after which nothing happened.

As I was explained in one of the internship places, this is due to the unwillingness of the employer to collect documentation and work permits for a foreign citizen. But luck still smiled at me, and in one of the places they offered me a job. After that, a real quest began, for the passage of which I had to spend about 350 BYN, or about 10 thousand Russian rubles.

For an official job and obtaining a temporary residence permit (in my case for a year) it was necessary: ​​

1. Get a temporary residence permit in the passport office. To do this, you will need a passport and a copy of the ticket with the date of crossing the border. You will have to pay a state fee, currently about 37 BYN.
2. Get a referral for a medical examination.
3. Obtain an extract from the therapist at the clinic at the place of residence. You will need: money, vaccination certificate, fluorography.
4. Go to a paid clinic, take tests there, go through additional doctors. You will also have to pay for everything, as a foreign citizen – doubly. The entire medical examination cost me 180 BYN.
5. To go to the hospital for a conclusion and provide it to the employer. Get a copy of the employment contract.
6. Conclude a rental agreement indicating the address of temporary registration (of course, all this is paid, you will have to negotiate the conclusion of such an agreement with the landlord).
7. Take a few photos in any photo salon. Bring a previous residence permit, a check with state duty paid (triple), a tenancy agreement with temporary registration, an employment contract and a copy of the ticket indicating the date of crossing the border.

Only after that you can exhale and return to bureaucratic hell only after a year.

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Pros of living in Belarus

For almost a year of living in Belarus, I have identified both its pros and cons. The latter, unfortunately, turned out to be a little more. So, for example, I consider the following to be great advantages:

1. Quality police work. At large events, and even on ordinary days, you can see a large number of patrols on the streets, as a result of which the crime rate is much lower than “usual”.
2. High quality food.
3. Low prices for real estate and cars.
4. Possibility for rapid career growth, optimal working conditions.
5. There is no need to learn a new language, almost everyone in the country speaks Russian.

This is where the global pluses ended for me.

Another advantage was the presence of a large number of nice and friendly people, which is very important for my comfort. 549px)”>

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Cons of living in Belarus

After living in the northern capital of Russia, moving to a small town in Belarus was a real challenge for me, which is probably why I had so many nitpicks. When moving from Russia, you should be aware of such disadvantages as:

1. Low level of medicine. You will literally plunge into the atmosphere of the middle of the last century, since neither the equipment nor the research methods have been updated since then. Of course, no one cancels trips to paid clinics. But it is much more expensive.
2. Transport problems. In a small town, this is a real disaster, since the only means of transportation here is a bus. If you are late for your route, there are two options: go on foot or order a taxi.
3. Lack of many medicines. Things familiar to us need either delivery from Minsk (which does not always work), or ask relatives from Russia to send the necessary things by SDEK.
4. Very low salaries. For example, in the city where I live, the average salary is 600 BYN. While renting an apartment for a month costs about 400 BYN.

Summarizing, we can say that Belarus is not too different from Russia in terms of its mentality.

However, for myself, I can single out a rather low standard of living (the ratio of low wages and relatively high prices for food, clothing and equipment), a dubious level of medicine, which especially ruffled my nerves in the process of passing a medical examination when applying for a job. If you choose big cities for life, there will be a little more prospects, but you need to be prepared for the fact that in employment, preference will be given to citizens of the Republic of Belarus.

In general, when moving to another country, even such a close and in its own way native, you need to stock up on a lot of nerves – and savings.

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