Belarus has quietly become an unlikely bright-spot for German leisure and business travellers. On 13 December 2025, Minsk published Presidential Decree ▼118/2025 confirming that the 30-day visa-free regime for citizens of 38 European nations—including Germany—will be prolonged until 31 December 2026. The decision, first introduced as a 10-day airport transit waiver in 2017 and steadily expanded since 2024, now covers arrivals by road, rail and air at all international checkpoints.
For corporate mobility managers the extension removes a layer of red-tape just as German exporters scout alternative markets in the Eurasian Economic Union. Prior to the waiver, obtaining a Belarusian business visa typically took 10–15 days and required an original invitation letter; the new rules allow German employees to attend meetings, install equipment or audit subsidiaries on short notice so long as each stay is under 30 days and cumulative time in Belarus does not exceed 90 days per calendar year.
Practical compliance remains essential. Travellers must show proof of medical insurance covering Belarus and hold funds of at least €25 per day of stay. German nationals arriving from Russia are excluded because Moscow and Minsk share a common visa area; they must instead enter via a third country or present a Russian visa. The Interior Ministry also reminded visitors that visa-free entry does not override registration rules: anyone staying more than 10 days must register their address online or at the local citizenship office.
![Belarus Extends Visa-Free Access for Germans Through 2026]()
For German travellers who want extra peace of mind, the visa advisory platform VisaHQ can walk you through every Belarus requirement and even arrange the compulsory insurance in minutes. Their Germany-focused portal (https://www.visahq.com/germany/) keeps a real-time watch on policy shifts, ensuring leisure visitors and corporate mobility managers alike know exactly when visa-free entry applies and when a traditional business visa may still be needed.
Tourism operators in Bavaria and Saxony—regions with strong cultural and historical ties to the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania—have already begun packaging Christmas-market weekend trips to Minsk, Brest and Grodno. Lufthansa’s codeshare partners LOT and Belavia report that advance bookings for the first quarter of 2026 are up 18 % week-on-week. Analysts at ForwardKeys predict that the policy could add 40,000 incremental German visitors next year if political risk remains stable.
From a geopolitical perspective, the move is also seen as an olive branch toward Western Europe at a time when EU-Belarus relations remain tense over sanctions linked to the Ukraine conflict. While Brussels is unlikely to reciprocate with sanctions relief, mobility specialists note that the visa-free regime gives German companies rare, frictionless access to a sanctioned neighbour—an advantage competitors in the United States or Asia currently lack.
For corporate mobility managers the extension removes a layer of red-tape just as German exporters scout alternative markets in the Eurasian Economic Union. Prior to the waiver, obtaining a Belarusian business visa typically took 10–15 days and required an original invitation letter; the new rules allow German employees to attend meetings, install equipment or audit subsidiaries on short notice so long as each stay is under 30 days and cumulative time in Belarus does not exceed 90 days per calendar year.
Practical compliance remains essential. Travellers must show proof of medical insurance covering Belarus and hold funds of at least €25 per day of stay. German nationals arriving from Russia are excluded because Moscow and Minsk share a common visa area; they must instead enter via a third country or present a Russian visa. The Interior Ministry also reminded visitors that visa-free entry does not override registration rules: anyone staying more than 10 days must register their address online or at the local citizenship office.
For German travellers who want extra peace of mind, the visa advisory platform VisaHQ can walk you through every Belarus requirement and even arrange the compulsory insurance in minutes. Their Germany-focused portal (https://www.visahq.com/germany/) keeps a real-time watch on policy shifts, ensuring leisure visitors and corporate mobility managers alike know exactly when visa-free entry applies and when a traditional business visa may still be needed.
Tourism operators in Bavaria and Saxony—regions with strong cultural and historical ties to the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania—have already begun packaging Christmas-market weekend trips to Minsk, Brest and Grodno. Lufthansa’s codeshare partners LOT and Belavia report that advance bookings for the first quarter of 2026 are up 18 % week-on-week. Analysts at ForwardKeys predict that the policy could add 40,000 incremental German visitors next year if political risk remains stable.
From a geopolitical perspective, the move is also seen as an olive branch toward Western Europe at a time when EU-Belarus relations remain tense over sanctions linked to the Ukraine conflict. While Brussels is unlikely to reciprocate with sanctions relief, mobility specialists note that the visa-free regime gives German companies rare, frictionless access to a sanctioned neighbour—an advantage competitors in the United States or Asia currently lack.
