Work permit in Belarus

Every year tens of thousands of foreign citizens come to work in the Republic of Belarus. The general rule is that in order to work legally in the Republic of Belarus all foreign citizens must obtain a work permit (the official name – “Special work permit in the Republic of Belarus”).

There are some countries with which the Republic of Belarus has special agreements; the citizens of these countries do not need a work permit. The list of such countries includes:
– Russian Federation;
– Kazakhstan;
– Armenia;
– Kyrgyzstan.

 

It should be noted that there are special legal regimes for the activities of companies, when in fact they do not need to obtain a work permit in Belarus to hire a foreign employee. So, employees of the High Technologies Park companies do not need work permits.
A work permit is also not required if a foreign citizen has a residence permit in the Republic of Belarus.

Order of obtaining a work permit
At first you need to decide in what position a foreign citizen will work. If the foreign citizen will work as a director of the organization and at the same time he is the founder of the organization, a period of obtaining a work permit will be 15 days. This situation will save you from having to apply to the labour exchange and submit there the information about the availability of vacancies.
If the director of the company is not its founder, or a foreign employee is hired to work for any other position in the company, obtaining a work permit will take about 30-35 days.
The first step to obtain a work permit in Belarus is to submit information to the local Department of Labour and Social Protection that your company is in search of employees. This information must be in this organization (it will publish it in the job bank) within 3 weeks.
The next step is submission of the documents to the Department of Citizenship and Migration. An application and a copy of the translation of the foreigner’s passport, as well as confirmation of payment of the state fee (approximately USD 60) are submitted to this office.
The term of consideration of the documents – 15 days.

As a rule, a work permit in Belarus is issued for a period of 1 year. If there is a recruitment of highly qualified personnel, issuance of a work permit can be made for 2 years at once. After issuing a work permit, an employment contract must be concluded with a foreign employee. This employment contract is subject to MANDATORY registration in the Department of Citizenship and Migration, which issued a work permit. In case of failure to submit the contract for registration, the organization will pay a fine.
Companies have the right to prolong work permits for their employees. To do this, they must also apply to the Department of Citizenship and Migration a month before the expiration of the work permit.
If the employee ceases to work in the company, the work permit must be immediately returned to the Department of Citizenship and Migration. In case of failure to pass the work permit, the organization will pay a fine.
Obtaining a work permit and concluding an employment contract with a foreign citizen will allow the foreign citizen to obtain a temporary residence permit in the Republic of Belarus, which will allow him to stay in the Republic of Belarus for the entire period of the work permit.