From Moscow to Minsk

[CanadaMan]

This is a story about mystery, intrigue and adventure. It is not about love or romance.
If you are expecting to hear about some hot sexy FSUW you’d best skip to the next trip report now. If you like to read edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting suspense stories then stick around!
 
My Moscow to Minsk trip turned out to be one of the strangest experiences I have had in my entire life.
 
It all began in a hotel in Moscow early last year when I made a last minute decision to visit Belarus. I had learned that there were two ways I could obtain a Belarus visa in my situation. I could either visit the Belarus consulate in Moscow or pick one up at the Belarus consulate at the airport in Minsk.
 
I chose to obtain my visa at the Minsk airport, fully aware that it would cost a few hundred dollars more than at the consulate in Moscow.
 
There are many agents that you can find online who will send you the required application form plus take care of the ‘visa support documents’ at the other end.
 
The Belarus agent I contacted lives and works outside of Belarus now. Her business consists of two parts, visa procurement and apartment rentals. She has a business associate in Minsk who takes care of the apartment rentals and she does the visa procurements.
 
I was down to my last two or three days before my Moscow-Minsk flight, so time was of the essence. My agent had e-mailed me the visa application form and I started to complete it. I obtained the required visa photo and everything seemed to be moving along nicely. There were a couple of pieces of information (name and address of inviting organization) that I still needed from my agent.
 
I was in touch with my agent by e-mail and Skype. For some reason, I was having difficulty getting in touch with her the last day or so. It was now getting down to the wire.
I still needed the above two pieces of information to complete my application form. Believe it or not, I got them with just an hour to spare before I checked out from my hotel. Talk about cutting it close!
 
There are two parts to the agent involvement for the visa process. The first is the application form that I fill out, the second is documents that are sent/delivered to the Belarus consulate at the airport.
 
The airline I booked my flight with allows online check-in and I took advantage of it.
The only problem was that I didn’t have a printer to print my boarding pass. So I asked the hotel front desk if they could print it for me. Fortunately they obliged.
The printout however wasn’t particularly sharp, so I decided to have another printed at an airport kiosk if I had enough time…

[CanadaMan]

Hotel checkout went smoothly and it was off to Sheremetyevo airport.

I arrived with plenty of spare time and so I headed for the kiosks where you obtain your boarding passes. I tried a few times, using different machines, but they wouldn’t cooperate. So I walked over to the check-in counter (the place was quite deserted at the time) and asked one of the agents about my flight. She told me to walk down the hall to the other side of the building, to the domestic flight counter!
 
I hesitated and then made a comment about Belarus being a separate country. The woman just smiled at me. 
 
Off I went down the hall to the other side of the building and found my way to the domestic check-in section. There was a row of check-in kiosks before the counters so I decided to try them and see if my luck would be any better here.
 
Unfortunately none of these wanted to cooperate either, so I headed over to an agent behind one of the counters. I gave her my passport and she looked up my flight.
She noticed that I didn’t have my Belarus visa and asked me about it.
 
I told her that I would be picking it up at the airport in Minsk.
She gave me that ‘look’, and then had a quick chat with another agent.
Surprisingly he hadn’t heard of this before either. So she got on a phone and called a Customs Control officer. She then told me to step back from the line and wait until the officer arrived.
 
I took my bags and stepped back as she requested. But then I started thinking this thing through very quickly.
 
I said to myself, this customs officer can easily screw up my flight to Minsk!
Any untoward delay and it will be game over for the flight, perhaps even a trip back into town.
 
I also said to myself, hey, I’ve already got my boarding pass in my pocket!
I don’t really need a crisp copy, mine should work just fine.
 
So I faded back a little more from where I was standing, until I was out of view from the check-in agent. Then I had a seat to regain my composure and plan my get away.
 
A few minutes later I popped up and headed for the security check area.
 
No problems getting past the first agent who looked at my boarding pass and passport.
 
It was then through the security machines/agents. Check. All the while I was starting to look over my shoulder waiting for a hand to grab me and pull me back to the customs office…

[CanadaMan]

I headed for my gate. I reached the end of a corridor with the numbers very close to my gate number, but not the exact one. I figured they had merged my gate with another one or they would change the number soon. I still had over an hour before my flight, so there was time to spare.
 
But I had a lot of time to worry about being nabbed by a customs officer. I took a seat and tried to fade in amongst the crowd. My heart rate was still up. I was constantly looking in every direction waiting for someone to come up and grab me. 
 
It was now around 20 minutes before my flight but I still hadn’t heard any mention of it over the public address system, nor did I see passengers getting up to form a line. I got up and made my way to the agent at the gate nearest to where mine should have been. I showed her my ticket and she pointed me in the direction behind her, through the door! 
 
I made my way down some stairs and there was my gate! Almost everyone had boarded the plane by this time. I showed the agent my boarding pass and passport. My pass scanned  properly and he let me through! I was on my way to board the plane. I still kept glancing over my shoulder though.
 
I took my seat. There were ten or so minutes until departure. I waited anxiously. I knew it was still possible for an agent to board the plane and escort me off ...

[ML]

I waited anxiously. I knew it was still possible for an agent to board the plane and escort me off ...

I would have thought you would be more worried about being denied entry in Belarus, being put on a return flight at high cost, or worse - - - detained in Belarus under some charge.

[CanadaMan]

I would have thought you would be more worried about being denied entry in Belarus, being put on a return flight at high cost, or worse - - - detained in Belarus under some charge.

At that point in time I wasn't concerned with the Belarus end.   

[ML]

At that point in time I wasn't concerned with the Belarus end.   

Yes, I understood that.

But my point was . . . shouldn't you have been?

I would feel much better being denied boarding in my current  location, than being denied entry at my next location.

Being trapped at USA airport as in the Tom Hanks movie may be funny to watch; but I doubt many would find it funny if it happened in Belarus.

[CanadaMan]

Yes, I understood that.

But my point was . . . shouldn't you have been?

I would feel much better being denied boarding in my current  location, than being denied entry at my next location.

Perhaps I should have been concerned about it, but the truth was that I hadn't even considered it.

I knew I hadn't done anything illegally.

I was trying to avoid being delayed, not to avoid being detained for a crime I had committed.

Could the authorities have called ahead into Minsk and organized a hit squad that would be waiting for me upon arrival?  Sure, I guess anything's possible. 

[CanadaMan]

The plane began to taxi and took off. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. 
 
Mission accomplished!
 
Not so fast. Little did I know at the time but my adventure was just beginning!
 
The flight was uneventful. We arrived on time in Minsk in the early evening.
I got off the plane and just basically followed the people in front of me. Pretty soon I was leading the pack.
 
I don’t recall seeing any signs for customs or anything like that. I just kept walking straight. A minute of so later I found myself going down an escalator.
 
When I reached ground level I realized immediately that I was free to leave the airport. I knew I could simply take a taxi to downtown Minsk and just blend in with the crowd. But it would be far too risky. I could be stopped at any moment by the police and should I be lucky enough to make it to my departure date, I would likely encounter all kinds of problems trying to leave the country without my visa. I’m an adventurous type of person, but not that adventurous. 
 
There was hardly a soul around. No taxi drivers swarming me or anything like that. A few custodial workers walked by, but that was it.
 
I had done a fair bit of homework before making this flight to Minsk. One of the things I had learned was that the Belarus Consulate was very well hidden in the airport.
 
In anticipation of this, I had asked a clerk at the hotel in Moscow to write out a note in Russian, asking for directions to get to the Belarus Consulate at the airport.
It was time to take out this note. I showed it to a couple of the custodial workers, but they didn’t have a clue about it. I saw a bank machine so I figured now would be a good time to get some Belarus cash. The machine complied. I was now a millionaire, Belarus style (rubles).
 
I found a woman working behind a counter with maps and stuff. I showed her the note and she obliged me by writing out some directions on where I should head to.
 
I was to walk to another terminal, but it wasn’t that far away.
I got to the terminal and looked around. I quickly figured out that I was now at the international departures/arrivals terminal. There were people milling about. Not a huge crowd, but certainly a lot more people than were located at the other terminal.
 
There was no sign of the Belarus Consulate anywhere. I showed my note to a couple of people but just received blank stares from them.
 
I started to walk around a bit still searching for the consulate. Up some stairs, around this corner, over there. Something looked promising. It looked like it might be the exit door of the consulate. I heard someone talk to an officer who had opened the door and they were advised to go to the police station at the airport (presumably for their visa).
 
Now that was the last place I wanted to head to. Who knows how long they could have
kept me there! I didn’t even want to think about it.
 
I walked back down the stairs into the main hallway.
 
I still had a trump card in my pocket  …

[calmissile]

We are sitting on the edge of our seats.     

[cc3]

We are sitting on the edge of our seats.     

+!   Bring it on! 

[CanadaMan]

The Belarus visa agent had given me the telephone number of her apartment rental associate (Dmitry). She told me to call him anytime if I needed help. It was time to draw this trump card.
 
I still hadn’t bought a SIM card for my phone so I approached a couple of people to ask if I could use their mobile phone. I was able to make the call and fortunately Dmitry answered his phone.
 
I told him about my dilemma and he quickly reassured me that everything would work out. He said he was going to call the consulate office at the airport and speak to them.
He told me where I should wait. I thanked him and returned the borrowed phone.
 
I headed over to where I was told to wait and stood there for about 5-10 minutes.
There was no sign of the officer so I decided to walk around a bit and possibly locate the consulate. I didn’t have any luck so I asked another person if I could use their mobile phone to place a call. I was able to connect once again with Dmitry.
 
I told him that I hadn’t seen any officer. He said they would be out soon, that I was to stay at the waiting spot. He also said under no circumstances was I to leave the airport without my visa!
 
A few minutes later out came a consulate official. He asked me for my passport and Moscow boarding pass. I handed them to him. He studied them for a minute, gave me back my boarding pass and then asked me to follow him.
 
I took my luggage and followed him through some frosted glass doors.
On the other side of the doors were a couple of customs agents and one of them gave me the evil eye. I’m not sure why she did that, but maybe it had to do with the fact that I was heading in the opposite direction from what she sees all day long.
 
The officer led me down a hall, then up some stairs and then through some more doors. I could now see a line of around 15-20 people. At the front of the line there was a sign at the top of the door indicating the Belarus Consulate.
 
The officer asked me to stand to the side, away from the line up, and he walked to the front of the line, and went through the doors.
 
I waited about five minutes or so. The officer came back out through the same doors and came over to me. He asked me to follow him once again.
 
This time he was retracing his steps. We went through some doors, headed back down the stairway, down the corridor from where we came earlier. We were back to the two officers near the glass exit doors. I got the evil eye once more from the same agent as the officer led me through the gate to the exit doors.
 
We went through the exit doors and the officer turned toward me.  He handed me my passport, uttered two simple words and disappeared back through the glass doors. 
 
What were the two words? 
“No visa”  …

[CanadaMan]

“No visa”. That was it! I was now on my own once again.
 
I quickly tried to process what he had just said. I could think of only two possible interpretations for his declaration.
 

• The Belarus Consulate refused to issue me a visa for reasons not given, as in
   ”Even though it’s required, no visa will be issued to you!”
• The Belarus Consulate decided that I don’t need a visa, as in “No visa is required.”  (More on this later.)

 
I instinctively I knew it would be futile to argue with the consulate about their decision.
I also knew that it would be foolish to leave the airport thinking that I didn't need a visa.
 
To this day, I still don’t know why I didn’t get the visa from them.
 
What was also puzzling was that the officer never asked me to give him the visa application form that I had prepared with all of my details and host information.
 
Two young men in their 20’s saw the perplexed look on my face as I stood there with my passport in hand, staring at it in disbelief.
 
They approached me and I told them what had just occurred. One of the men was a medical student from Libya. He sympathized with me and tried to offer support.
I asked him if he knew where I could buy a SIM card for my phone.
 
The two men led me to a tiny kiosk that sold mobile phones and SIM cards that was just meters away. They stood by as I talked with the saleswoman about purchasing a SIM card.
 
Once a card was purchased and it passed the function tests on my phone I thanked the two men for their help and made a call to Dmitry once again.
 
I told him what had just happened. He couldn’t believe it either.
 
Now, all of a sudden his tune changed! He was now advising me to take a taxi into the city and find a hotel or an apartment for the night. He said that we’d have to take care of the visa tomorrow and that we were sure to become good friends by the time this was over.
He also told me to be careful, to avoid being stopped by the police!
 
Before I went outside I met a German businessman who had just waited approximately two hours to get his visa and was bristling with frustration. He said he was waiting for his partner who still hadn’t received his yet! I told him I was having major difficulties as well, but in order to save some time, did not get into the details.
 
It was time to head into town now. I flagged a cab and negotiated a price, which was tricky seeing as I didn’t know the conversion rate yet. 
 
So there I was, sitting in the back of a taxi cab, heading for downtown Minsk, all the while fully aware that I was in the country illegally. 
 
Before leaving Moscow I had jotted down a bunch of apartment rental addresses in Minsk. I asked the taxi driver to head to one of them.
We couldn’t locate it and since it was getting late I asked him to drop me off at the nearest hotel I saw. It was Hotel Minsk.
 
Prices were through the roof. The staffer at the front desk pointed me to a desk in the foyer where a lady was sitting. He told me they could find me an apartment.
 
I settled for a $100/night apartment for my first night in Minsk. Given the prices I had just been quoted, it felt like a bargain.      … 

[CanadaMan]

The next day I called Dmitry and told him I needed another apartment (his specialty) and asked when we would be getting the visa. He agreed to meet me downtown, but he started playing his ‘important/busy guy’ game with me.
 
He couldn’t meet me until such and such a time. When that time came I called him and he said he’d be 30 minutes late. That time was stretched again.
When he finally arrived he didn’t have time to take me anywhere, but rather he took my bags and agreed to come back and meet me at the same place soon after.
 
Well at least now I could walk about and not have to drag my bags around.
When he finally returned he took me to one of his apartments. He said we would take a trip to the OVIR (police station) later that evening to deal with my visa.
 
At 7 p.m. he called (I recall him saying earlier that the office closes at around 8 p.m.) so I started to be concerned. I knew that would be cutting it really close.
He arrives at the apartment at around 7:30 p.m. or so. By the time we arrive at the OVIR it’s close to 7:40 p.m.
 
Coincidentally the OVIR office is a stone’s throw away from the apartment I stayed at last night! 
 
After a few minutes wait we meet the OVIR police head and he takes us into his office.
It quickly becomes obvious that these two guys (Dmitry and the police chief) are no strangers. I don’t know how many times they’ve been through this type of scenario, but it seems this time the police head is genuinely perplexed. He examines my passport for a few minutes and then talks with Dmitry (in Russian). Neither one seems to understand why the consulate decided not to issue me a visa.
 
They were talking about a new visa scheme that was in the making (translated by Dmitry) and that perhaps my situation fell into that design. In the end, the chief issued Dmitry a tiny slip of paper with some numbers written on it.
 
So we walk out of the OVIR office and head for Dmitry’s car. He drives me to the apartment I’m renting from him and we make plans to meet tomorrow to finish off this visa process. He mentions that I’ll have to pay him for the time he’s putting into this additional visa support, but doesn’t give a figure yet. He does however tell me at one point when he’s driving me around that he makes around $5000 /month!  …

[ML]

Yesssirrreee;  that Bela Rus place sounds like an exciting place to visit.

Best of all, I  can waste some valuable tail time just trying to get into the country legally . . . once I am already in the country.

I think I will check into some plane tickets tomorrow.

[CanadaMan]

Yesssirrreee;  that Bela Rus place sounds like an exciting place to visit.

Best of all, I  can waste some valuable tail time just trying to get into the country legally . . . once I am already in the country.

I think I will check into some plane tickets tomorrow.

It was an absolute riot, let me tell you. 
I had the time of my life!   

You won't have the opportunity to repeat my misfortunes anymore though.

On May 31, 2012, a couple of months after I left the country, the Ministers of the Republic of Belarus passed legislation stating that as of September 1, 2012 it would no longer be possible to obtain a visa at Minsk airport.

The only exceptions to this new law are:

- citizens of countries that have no Belarus consulates.
- those who are part of official delegations invited by the state authorities.
- in case of serious disease or death of a close relative or family member, upon submission of official documents confirming the existence of such circumstances.

[CanadaMan]

Tomorrow comes and I get a call from Dmitry around noon.
He tells me the OVIR office that issues visas is only open in the morning!
 
I’m not a happy camper about this. I am completely in limbo at this stage.
Another day will have been wasted simply waiting.
I scratch my head wondering why Dmitry didn’t tell me this yesterday and make plans to pick me up in the morning. Maybe because he wanted an additional day’s rent? 
 
The following day I get another call from Dmitry. He’ll meet me at such and such a time. He’s late as usual. He finally arrives, picks me up, but instead of heading straight to the OVIR office to do the visa processing he drops me off near a restaurant and says he’ll be back in about an hour. He suggests I have a bite to eat! Like I have any choice?
 
An hour later Dmitry shows up and we head off to a post office location. Dmitry takes the slip of paper the police chief gave him (I had kept it overnight) and goes to make a payment while I wait in the car. He was paying the police/government service fee to obtain the visa. It was approximately $18 !!!
 
He comes back and we head off to the OVIR office to do the rest of the paperwork.
But before we go inside we now discuss his ‘payment’.
 
I had no idea what he was going to charge but I was a little blown away when he asked me for $100 + the $18 visa fee.
 
I had already paid Lena (the out of country agent) $45 to do all the paperwork to get the visa. That of course didn’t include the consulate fee that I was expecting to pay at the airport. But that consulate fee was now history and in its place was a tiny $18 administration fee!
 
Dmitry figured he had to make some money off of me one way or the other. If it wouldn’t be through his apartments (I had told him I wanted to find another apartment), it would have to be through this additional ‘service fee’. He admitted to this.
 
Given the circumstances I really had no choice in the matter and Dmitry knew it.
With all of my time that he had wasted however, I felt like he should have been paying me instead!
 
I agreed to pay him the $100 + $18 and off we went into the building.
Dmitry started filling out all of the required forms. He was also committing to be my host and I was supposed to be staying at his personal apartment (the tourist voucher/invitation part)   … 

[CanadaMan]

I had to pay an additional $22 for health insurance, but that’s standard procedure.
I wonder how many people on RWD have ever paid more for their health insurance than for their actual visa? 
 
After Dmitry submitted the documents to the police clerk we had to wait over an hour until they issued the visa!  They work slowly and methodically at the OVIR office.
 
Finally I had my passport with the visa inside it! It wasn’t a typical passport visa, just a bare bones stamp ‘thingy’.  They back-dated it to when I entered the country which was the logical thing to do.
 
So two and a half days after arrival I now had my Belarus visa and was a legal visitor. 
 
And so my Moscow to Minsk adventure finally came to an end. I had many other entertaining adventures on my last FSU trip, this one just happened to be the most bizarre of them all!
 
It is not something I would want to wish on my own worst enemy. Well, possibly my absolute worst enemy.
The level of anxiety and uncertainty that I experienced was off the charts for those two and a half days.
 
One of the many lessons I learned was to have your visa in hand before you enter a country that requires one.
 
I mentioned that I could think of two possible reasons why the airport Belarus consulate did not issue me a visa. The second reason was that they may have decided I don’t need a visa.
 
My thinking went this way. At the time I entered Belarus my Russian visa still had several days left before expiry. Even though technically it was now invalid as it was a single use visa, I could still theoretically take a bus, train or plane back into Russia from Belarus and not have any customs control ever check me!
 
When you travel between these two countries it is still treated, strangely enough, as a domestic trip. So in that sense, if I did return to Russia in the next few days, I really didn’t need a Belarus visa (assuming I wasn’t stopped by Belarus authorities asking to see my passport).
 
I’ll probably never learn why the Belarus consulate made their decision, but it is something to ponder on a rainy day. 
 
A couple of other points bear mentioning. Should I want to return to Russia again, which is a good possibility, I could be in for a rude awakening.
 
I don’t have an exit stamp in my passport for my trip to Russia!
For all I know the authorities might think I am still in Russia, hiding out or something.
 
If I apply again for another Russian visa I guess I’ll find out quickly enough. Or perhaps they’ll wait until I arrive at customs in Russia and then nab me. 
 
If they use their heads though, the Russian authorities should be able to see that I left Russia for Belarus and it is Russia after all that still considers Belarus a domestic destination. So my exit stamp from Belarus should be considered my exit stamp from Russia.
 
Likewise if I ever apply again for a Belarus visa I could have some difficulties. Question #26 on the visa application form asks: “Have your Belarusian visa request been ever refused or your visa was cancelled”  [sic]  Yes/No     

[cc3]

Sounds like it's a LOT  more trouble than it's worth.

[CanadaMan]

Sounds like it's a LOT  more trouble than it's worth.

It sure does!

As I mentioned earlier though, if you have a Belarus consulate in your country, you can't pick up a visa at the airport in Minsk anymore.

So that would pretty much eliminate all the hassles I went through.

Minsk itself was a very charming city. 

[cc3]

Have you ever considered Ukraine?

[ML]

Periodically some post here that those of us who no longer want to go through the hassles of getting a visa to Russia et al are just weakling pussies.

[CanadaMan]

Have you ever considered Ukraine?

Oh yes, it's definitely on the radar screen. 

[CanadaMan]

Periodically some post here that those of us who no longer want to go through the hassles of getting a visa to Russia et al are just weakling pussies.

Generally speaking, I try not to let the visa hassles (Russia/Belarus) get in the way of choice of woman.

[Faux Pas]

Periodically some post here that those of us who no longer want to go through the hassles of getting a visa to Russia et al are just weakling pussies.

For those that want to go to Russia but don't because they are too scared or too cheap to pay for a visa are weakling pussies

[cc3]

For those that want to go to Russia but don't because they are too scared or too cheap to pay for a visa are weakling pussies