Foreign citizens employment in Belarus

Foreign workers carry out labor activities in the Republic of Belarus due to the availability of a special document: a work permit, as well as an employment contract. Work on the territory of our country without obtaining a special permit is not possible. If an employer needs to employ several foreign citizens at once, he must obtain a special permit for each of them. Of course, there are many nuances in this process as in any other process related to obtaining documents. In this article, we will try to understand them.

Permission to work in Belarus

The procedure of getting permission to work

When employers of the Republic of Belarus have a question about engagement of foreign citizens to work in our country, then it should be taken into account that the legislation of the Republic of Belarus provides for a special procedure for employing foreigners. The main normative act in this case is the Law of the Republic of Belarus dated December 30, 2010 No. 225-З “On external labor migration”. To work in Belarus, a foreigner must obtain a special permit for the right to work in our country.

Special permits are issued at the request of the employer of the Republic of Belarus in the name of a specific foreign citizen. In this application, in addition to other data, the employer must justify the need to attract a foreigner to the vacancy of the employer. When describing the justification for the need to hire a foreign citizen, the employer should also indicate what measures he has taken to find Belarusian citizens for the available vacant job. A special permit can be issued for the following period:

2 years - for highly qualified employees;

1 year - for other employees;

The validity period of the Special Permit can be extended once. After a one-time renewal, the employer may apply for a new Special Permit. As a general rule, the fee charged for consideration of an application is 5 base units. When carrying out labor activities for several employers of the Republic of Belarus, a foreign citizen is required to obtain a Special permit for each of them to work. After receiving the Special Permit, the employer of the Republic of Belarus should conclude an employment agreement (contract) with a foreign citizen. Please note that changes and / or additions to the employment agreement (contract) must also be registered with the migration authority within a month from the date of their introduction.

People, who don’t need permission to work in Belarus

No special permission is required for:

• citizens of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan);
• heads of representative offices of foreign organizations in the Republic of Belarus;
• foreigners permanently residing in the territory of the Republic of Belarus (i.e. having a permanent residence permit);
• foreigners who have concluded an employment agreement (contract) with a resident of the Park of High Technologies;
• foreigners who are winners (laureates) of national (international) competitions, awarded in the field of their professional activities.

Permission for engaging of foreign labor

Procedure of getting permission to engage foreign labor

A precondition for the issuance of a Permit is the presence of a positive conclusion on the possibility of attracting foreigners to the Republic of Belarus to carry out labor activities on its territory. Such an opinion is issued by the Committee on Labor, Employment and Social Protection of the regional executive committees or the Minsk City Executive Committee (at the location of the employer) at the request of the migration authority. To obtain a Permit, the employer submits an application to the body for citizenship and migration with a package of documents specified by law.

As a general rule, the term for making a decision on an application is 15 days, and for investors and organizations, in accordance with the established procedure, created in the Republic of Belarus by this investor or with his participation, after the conclusion of an investment agreement when implementing an investment project, it is 2 days. The maximum validity of a work permit is 1 year. A permit to attract foreign labor is issued free of charge if the applicant is an investor or an organization established in the Republic of Belarus by this investor or with his participation. For example, if the employer is an investor in the Chinese-Belarusian Industrial Park “Great Stone”, the Chinese-Belarusian Joint Stock Company “Company for the Development of Industrial Park”. If after a year of the issuance of the permit, the employer intends to continue using the labor of more than ten foreigners who do not have permits for permanent residence in the Republic of Belarus, he should apply to the Department with an application to extend the validity period of the permit to attract foreign labor to the Republic of Belarus. In this case, it is necessary to apply with such an application in advance, so that the period of validity of the Permit is not interrupted. The grounds for refusing to issue a Permit are established in Article 27 of the Law “On External Labor Migration”. By analogy with the issuance of a Special Permit, such grounds, in particular, include the presence of a negative opinion of the labor, employment and social protection authority on the possibility of hiring foreign citizens.

Documents needed when applying for a job

In order to obtain a permit, an employer must contact the Department of Citizenship and Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus and submit the following documents:

• an application for a permit to attract foreign labor to the Republic of Belarus;
• copies of documents confirming the state registration of a business entity, a legalized extract from the trade register of the country of origin or other proof of the legal status of the organization in accordance with the legislation of the country of its origin;
• labor contract with a foreigner, certified by the signature of the manager and the seal;
• a letter of guarantee confirming the possibility of accommodating foreigners;
• a document confirming the payment of the fee (5 basic units).

Labor contract with foreign citizens

After obtaining a work permit, an employer of the Republic of Belarus should conclude an employment agreement (contract) with a foreign citizen. It is important to consider the following here:

• the term of the employment agreement (contract) cannot exceed the term of the special permit;
• an employment agreement (contract) must include special provisions stipulated by the Belarusian migration legislation (including the conditions for moving to the Republic of Belarus, food, accommodation, medical care for an immigrant worker);
• an employment contract must be drawn up in Russian and (or) Belarusian, as well as in a native language or another language understandable to a foreign citizen;
• an employment contract must be registered with the body for citizenship and migration within a month from the date of its conclusion.

Please note that changes, as well as additions to the employment agreement (contract) must also be registered with the migration authority within a month from the date of their introduction.

Responsibility for engaging foreign citizens

For hiring foreign citizens without the necessary permits, the employer may be held administratively liable under Part 4 of Article 23.55 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus. Sanction: warning or a fine of up to 20 basic units (currently 540 Belarusian rubles, which is approximately equivalent to 230 euro). In addition, a foreign citizen himself may be held liable on the basis of part 1 of Article 23.55 of the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Administrative Offenses. In this case, the following sanctions are possible: warning, deportation, or a fine of up to 50 base units (currently 1350 Belarusian rubles, which is approximately equivalent to 575 euro).

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