Europe’s toughest border rules relaxed by Belarus for World Cup 2018

Saturday, June 2, 2018

From Monday onwards Belarus will be relaxing its normally onerous and expensive visa rules for the football supporters.  Barring Russia, Belarus has the toughest visa rules for any European country.

A 40-hour Trans-Europe Express journey by rail from London to Moscow will solve the problem of  England fans heading to Russia for the World Cup as an alternative to the high-priced flights.

As announced by the Foreign Office British travellers with the right papers will be permitted to enter and transit Belarus through any international border checkpoint without a visa.

The travellers will have to provide a valid British passport, match ticket and a Fan –ID. Further, the details will be cross-checked against the Fifa’s ticketing database and similar regulations will be in effect at the Russian frontier controls during the tournament.

A visa transit is needed in each direction and it takes a week to obtain it costing a minimum of €60. Almost most of the rail and road routes from the UK to Moscow is through Berlin, Warsaw and the Belarus capital, Minsk.

The Belarus embassy in London will also ask for two blank pages in the traveller’s passport and a health insurance certificate.

The World Cup will end on 15 July and the England fans can change in the Russian capital Volgograd where the team’s campaign will be kicking off against Tunisia on 18 June and Nizhny Novgorod, this will be the venue for the Panama match on 24 June.

The final against Belgium will take place in Kaliningrad on 28 June, which is an exclave of Russian territory wedged between Poland and Lithuania. It does not require a transit through Belarus.

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