English

Nearly 2 000 foreigners reported penalized for violating rules of stay, transit in Belarus this year

As many as 1,969 foreigners have faced administrative punishment for violating rules of stay in or transit through Belarus since the beginning of this year, Mikalay Shewchyk, chief of the Minsk city police department’s Citizenship and Migration Office, told reporters in the Belarusian capital on September 12.

Thirty-seven foreign citizens have been charged with a criminal offense and 210 have been expelled from the country over such violations, he said.

A total of roughly 30,000 foreigners are currently staying in Minsk, including 19,500 with permanent residence permits, Mr. Shewchyk said. The number includes 3,245 Russians, 3,000 Ukrainians and 1,085 Chinese citizens.

More than 3,500 foreign students from 74 countries, mainly Russia, China, Lebanon and Afghanistan, currently study in Minsk. Forty-five criminal cases have been opened against foreign students and 10 students have been expelled from the country since the beginning of the year. Most of the students have been kicked out of the country for failure to return to the homeland after graduating or being expelled from Belarusian schools. In such cases, it is the schools that have to bear deportation expenses as it is their function to ensure that foreign students leave the country, according to the official.

Mr. Shewchyk said that the Belarusian police conducted raids to expose fictitious marriages used by foreigners to obtain a residence permit.