The work permit is issued to the employer rather than the worker, and after dismissal not a single day of grace remains.
On paper entry is simple: there is no income threshold, only a lawful source of funds, no language or integration tests, the family of a temporary resident gets permits with no waiting period, and children attend state school free of charge. But the whole system rests on the employer: the work permit is issued to the employer, not the worker, a new job means a new permit under the general procedure, and a spouse needs a permit of their own on the same terms as any foreigner.
Status does not survive a job loss. The end of a contract means the work permit is cancelled and the residence permit loses its basis, with no grace period to find new work. On cancellation the employer must terminate the contract, and the migration office takes your documents and sets a departure deadline; you must register your place of stay within 5 days of being notified. The law allows a permit to be cancelled if your stay "contradicts national security interests", without giving reasons.
The main risk lies outside migration rules. Arbitrary detentions are systematic, on average 17 a day across the whole population according to the UN and Human Rights Watch, and they affect foreigners: dozens of foreign nationals have been among political prisoners, some released in exchanges in 2024-2025, and in June 2024 a citizen of an EU country was sentenced to death and later pardoned as part of an exchange. UN experts in 2026 recorded arbitrary deportation of foreign nationals, and the Interior Ministry reported more than 3,000 foreigners deported in 2025 without saying how many had been living there legally.
Rules for residents were tightened twice in two years: the 2023 citizenship law allows acquired citizenship to be revoked for "extremism", and the 2025 decree added employer control over workers. An appeal against removal suspends it, and the entry ban after removal ranges from 6 months to 10 years.
Day to day, registering your place of stay is mandatory, for most people within 10 days, partly online. Banks open accounts on a passport or residence permit without fuss, but because of sanctions locally issued Visa and Mastercard cards do not work abroad and international transfers are restricted.
The index score ignores nationality. This is what changes for citizens of specific countries.
The United States is not on the Belarusian Foreign Ministry's official list of 76 states whose citizens may enter visa-free via airports for up to 30 days, so a visa is required. The US State Department warns that even bystanders, including foreigners, risk arrest; US citizens were among political prisoners released in exchanges.
The Eurasian Economic Union regime: work without a special permit, free choice of employer, registration within 90 days.
A unilateral visa waiver of up to 30 days (up to 90 for Poland, Lithuania and Latvia) is extended to 31 December 2026. It covers entry only and gives no status or right to work.
Temporary stay of no more than 90 days in any half-year and 180 days in a calendar year; you must register within 30 days of entry, including via portal.gov.by. Work requires a special permit, as for all citizens of countries outside the Eurasian Economic Union.
The privileged Eurasian Economic Union regime: work without a special permit, free choice of employer, registration within 90 days instead of 10, mutual recognition of diplomas. Simplified citizenship under a 1999 agreement: months instead of 7 years once you hold permanent residence. Decree No. 202 does not explicitly apply to Union citizens.
The place interval 72-89 shows where the country lands when the data is nudged and the index is recalculated. One place of difference in the table means nothing; a difference of a league means something.
The thin mark on each bar is the average across 97 countries
The strongest category here is Family rights: 75 out of 100, against a 97-state average of 72.2. The weakest is Status security: 31 against 57.9. Above the world average: 2 out of 7.
All 97 states are calculated for one applicant: 35 years old, income of $2,500 and $3,856 a month before tax, passport not counted, the most accessible route that is actually in use.
Your passport, your income and your family do not change the table. They change which of its lines apply to you. A different income makes entry read differently, a family makes the family category read differently, and your passport makes everything read differently.
The law allows 15 days (30 for marriage), while the e-pasluga.by portal states 30 calendar days. Applications are in person only, and there are no independent data on how deadlines are met in practice.
Hardly: the special work permit is issued only to employers, sole-trader status requires permanent residence, and there is no digital nomad visa. What remains is a permit for a company founder and investor permanent residence from about €170,000.
The permit fee is 3 base units (≈€35-45), the special work permit 2 and its renewal 1. About €150-200 per applicant over five years: the barrier here is the permit system, not money.
Yes. The end of an employment contract means the work permit is cancelled and the residence permit loses its basis, with no grace period to find work. A permit can also be cancelled on national security grounds without explanation.
Permanent residence after 7 years on a temporary permit, sooner for spouses of citizens, in-demand specialists and investors. Citizenship 7 more years after that, about 14 in total; dual citizenship is not recognised.
The rules are simple, the practice unpredictable. The entry bar is low, but your status depends entirely on your employer, and the main risk is arbitrary detention, which affects foreigners too.
97 states, 26 indicators, seven categories, 2,522 scores. Every score has a source and a source class: primary means the texts of laws and government portals; reliable secondary means reports by international organisations, tax reviews by audit firms and specialist legal publications; weak means community posts and single secondary sources. The classes add up to a confidence level for the country, and a country with low confidence gets neither a score nor a place.
Every indicator is scored against a fixed ruler, not against its neighbours. Adding new countries therefore does not move the old ones, and a change in a score means a change in policy and nothing else.
A high place does not mean a good country. It means one thing: the state machine treats newcomers predictably and by the rules. Living there may be expensive, dull or hot; that is not our question.
Checked 01/10/2026. Facts come from the country's index card and official websites.
We make mistakes and we will go on making them: policy changes faster than any database. Our answer is not a pose of infallibility but a visible trail of corrections. Every correction is published: what it was, what it became, the source and the reason for the error. The corrections log opens with the second issue, together with the first block of changes.