Belarusian nationality law regulates the manner in which one acquires, or is eligible to acquire, Belarusian nationality, citizenship. Belarusian citizenship is membership in the political community of the Republic of Belarus. Belarusian citizenship is acquired and terminated in accordance with the

Citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

Act of the

Republic of Belarus A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

(2002), as well as international treaties to which

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

is a party. These treaties include a 1998 treaty with

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, a 1999 treaty with

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, and a 1999 treaty with

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. Only a person who is a Belarusian citizen by birth can be the President of the Republic of Belarus.

History

Belarusian citizenship from 1917 to 1991

Regulations regarding Belarusian citizenship were issued by the Belarusian government from 1917-1991 and by the government of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

from 1924-1991. The ''Aliens Decree'' was issued on 4 August 1922, by the

Sovnarkom The Councils of People's Commissars (SNK; russian: Совет народных комиссаров (СНК), ''Sovet narodnykh kommissarov''), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (Совнарком), were the highest executive authorities of ...

of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. According to this decree, all subjects of the former

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

who had permanent residence in the Byelorussian SSR, including refugees, were recognized as citizens of the Byelorussian SSR. Citizens of other Soviet Republics (such as the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

) shared common rights and obligations with citizens of the Byelorussian SSR. All adults (except in the cases listed below) could apply for Belarusian SSR citizenship, and the children younger than 14 years of age of those who were granted Belarusian SSR citizenship acquired Byelorussian SSR citizenship automatically; the consent of children over 14 was necessary. Additionally, anyone could renounce citizenship. The following groups of people were deprived of citizenship (unless they received passports in consulates of Soviet Republics before 1 January 1923): * persons who left the country without proper permission of Soviet government * persons who struggled against the Soviet government * persons who had the right to claim Belarusian SSR citizenship, but had opted to not claim it Children of Belarusian SSR citizens born in the territory of the Belarusian SSR acquired citizenship at the time of birth. If only one parent held Belarusian SSR citizenship, then the citizenship of the child was determined by joint declaration of his or her parents. Without such a declaration, the child acquired citizenship of the Belarusian SSR automatically, while still retaining the right to acquire the citizenship of the non-Byelorussian parent upon becoming adult. According to the ''Code of Marriage, family and guardianship'' of Belarusian SSR promulgated in 1927: * children of Belarusian SSR citizens acquired citizenship by birth * children of a Belarusian SSR citizen and a non-citizen acquired citizenship by birth if one of the parents had permanent residence in the Belarusian SSR * children of a Belarusian SSR citizen and a non-citizen who were living abroad acquired citizenship by birth upon joint declaration of the parents The Citizenship Act of the USSR (1930) and the Citizenship Act of the USSR (1931) declared that citizens of the USSR who lived in the territory of a Soviet Republic would become citizens of that Republic, unless they chose citizenship of another Soviet Republic in connection with their ethnic origin. Up to the dissolution of Soviet Union, citizenship legislation became increasingly centralised. Legal norms regarding Belarusian citizenship by birth were revoked in order to bring Belarusian family law in accordance with the Principles of Legislation on Marriage and the Family of the USSR and the Union Republics (1968).

Belarusian citizenship from 1991 to 2002

The first citizenship act after the Belarusian declaration of independence was adopted on 18 October 1991. The Citizenship Act (1991) has not declared succession of citizenship of the Byelorussian SSR. Citizens of the USSR who had permanently resided in Belarus were recognized by the Act as citizens of the

. Belarusian citizenship could be acquired: * by birth * by naturalization * by registration (since June 1993 amendments) Citizenship by birth could be acquired if both of the parents were citizens of the

. The same applied if only one of the parents was a citizen of Belarus and at the same time the child was born in Belarus, or in the case where at least one of his parents had permanent residence in Belarus. Citizenship was also granted to a child that was born in Belarus to stateless parents. Citizenship by naturalization could be gained if the applicant: * had permanent residence in Belarus for 7 years preceding application * had sufficient knowledge of one of the state languages ( Belarusian or

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

) * had a legal source of income in Belarus

Citizenship Act (2002)

Acquisition of citizenship

Belarusian citizenship can be acquired: * by birth * by naturalization * by registration Citizenship by birth can be acquired by a child if one of the parents is a Belarusian citizen or both of them are permanent residents of Belarus. Citizenship by naturalization can be gained if the applicant: * had permanent residence in Belarus for 7 years preceding the application * has enough knowledge of one of the state languages (Belarusian or Russian) * has legal income * has no foreign citizenship, or will lose the foreign citizenship after acquisition of Belarusian citizenship, or has renounced his citizenship The required period of residence can be reduced for several categories of people, including ethnic Belarusians, the descendants of ethnic Belarusians born abroad, people who held Belarusian citizenship in the past, and people who have made significant contributions to development of

. Citizenship by registration can be acquired by: * people who held

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

citizenship and were born in

, or had a place of residence in

before 12 November 1991, as well as their spouses who held

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

citizenship and their descendants * a child of a Belarusian citizen * an adopted child

Termination of citizenship

Belarusian citizenship can be terminated by: *

Renunciation Renunciation (or renouncing) is the act of rejecting something, especially if it is something that the renunciant has previously enjoyed or endorsed. In religion, renunciation often indicates an abandonment of pursuit of material comforts, in t ...

According to the Nationality Act, only persons 18 years and older may renounce their citizenship, under 18s must have a renouncing application submitted by their parent(s). * loss of citizenship, such as by entering the military service, police service or government service in another state.

Visa requirements

In 2017, Belarusian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 67 countries and territories, ranking the

Belarusian passport A Belarusian passport ( be, беларускі пашпарт, bielaruski pašpart, russian: белорусский паспорт, belorusskiy pasport) is issued to citizens of Belarus and is used for both external and internal travel. Unlike Ru ...

70th in terms of travel freedom according to the Henley visa restrictions index. Possession of a Belarusian passport is compulsory under the law.

References

External links

Ministry of Foreign AffairsCitizenship Act 2002 (in Russian)Treaty with Ukraine, Treaty between Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus (in Russian)
{{Nationality laws Nationality law History of nationality Society of Belarus Law of Belarus