ProleOnParole

It says in the article I linked earlier that "medical insurance can be purchased on-site," so the worst-case scenario is they might just force someone to buy another policy despite already having coverage but nobody will be denied entry due to the lack of medical insurance.

According to the airport website the insurance costs €2 for 1 or 2 days, €4 for 3 or 4 days or €6 for 5 days, so I wouldn't worry that much about it.

fbruno

Grodno (a city in the northwest of Belarus) is already visa free since October 2016.
Only restriction is that you must have booked an "tour" at a local travel agency, but there are agencies that sell a ticket for a museum + a map as a tour for around 10-15 EUR. After having booked such a "tour", they send a letter that has to be showed at the border for visa free entry.
Even travel Poland > Grodno > Lithuania is allowed.

Visited Grodno in January with such an arrangement. Expected a lot of questions at the border, but it all went smooth and hassle-free. They didn't ask for insurances, special documents, a proof of sufficient funds, ...
It's a nice city to visit, but not for longer than 1-2 days.

http://grodnovisafree.by/en/

Romanianflyer

It works exactly the same as when you would need a visa: also then insurance is required or must be bought at the border.

Almost any decent insurance company (certainly in Western Europe) can provide you for free with a letter in Russian stared that your insurance covers Belarus as well. This is sufficient if coming from an European or other Western country.

Insurance companies should have such draft letters, as they are also required when ie applying for a Russian visa.

a7m

I think they expect to see simple travel medical insurance, similar to the one the EU requires of people from Belarus. Like the one from sevencorners. US insurance companies typically do not provide letters that clearly state your coverage overseas.

Geby86

I will travel to Minsk for a night in April

Just booked

B2 892 SXF-MSQ
B2 803 MSQ-VNO
BT 215 VNO-TXL

for 216CHF (216USD/201EUR)

muji

Have a good trip. Hope you can report back on how it went
(including on how/if they checked to see if you had medical insurance valid for Belarus, as they require).

Swanhunter

A pain free arrival today. There is a kiosk to the left as you enter the Immigration hall for medical insurance. The cost is Euro 2 for every 2 days you purchase.

At immigration they checked the insurance policy form in a very cursory manner and then processed me as normal. No questions, no need to produce my return ticket. Do ensure you have a migration card (OS offered these in flight).

Chocks on to lanside in less than 20mins.

muji

Thanks for the info, Swanhunter.

So, you bought medical insurance, to cover yourself while in Belarus, at the airport upon arrival. There was a fee of 2 euros for the processing, or was 2 euros the amount you paid for the actual insurance to cover two days in the country?

Swanhunter

4 Euros for 4 days insurance cover. Took no more than 2 mins including scanning my passport and signing a small form.

Amex failed to send me a letter when I requested one and I forgot to chase due to excess travel.

muji

Thanks. I'll add that information to the wiki.

Swanhunter

Departure was a little more painful mostly due to volume of people. Couple of things at immigration

* do keep your migration card, it will be asked for
* ensure wherever you stay registers you and stamps it as mine was scrutinised

Otherwise a painfree though tracking down the lounge in departures was quite an adventure.

CaptainMiles

I'll add my own experience.

Arrival was easy. As others have said, insurance desk on the left before you get to passport control. They take Visa for payment, no problem, you don't even need cash, not even 2€, and they process you fast. Immigration in was easy too, he only questioned where I was staying and how long I was saying, no proof needed.

I took bus 300Э to the city center. Bus ticket machine in terminal had english menu option and also took Visa. The purchase even codes as travel, so you can get your 3x points on your CSR for that $2.38 fare! Very easy.

Alfa-Bank ATM next to the bus ticket machine worked well with both my Visa and MasterCard, no fees whatsoever, and interbank exchange rate applied with no fees.

I stayed at the Renaissance. Took local trolley bus # 36 from in front of the train station (across the street from where the bus drops off) to across from the hotel. BYN 0.60 paid to the driver, easy. There is a trolley/bus stop right in front of the Renaissance for any local trips.

For the return to the airport, I took the metro to Urucca and the 300Э bus from there. The bus ticket machine at Urucca was broken, but I paid cash to the driver, he made change, no problem.

All good. Go for it. Minsk is quite interesting.

muji

When researching this area there may be bit of confusion since two variations of the name are used (Grodno and Hrodna), but they refer to the same area and city. For example: "Tourists will also be able to visit adjacent districts of Hrodna region as well as the city of Hrodna (population 300,000) visa-free"


https://belarusdigest.com/story/bela...free-entrance/

muji

Belarus is considering extending visa-free stays to ten days, according to Deputy Sports and Tourism Minister Mikhail Portnoi. "The work is underway. We need more than five days....Five days is too short a period of time," he explained.

http://eng.belta.by/society/view/hop...s-105253-2017/

Arctifox

Considering that Minsk is not the easiest airport to fly into, opening up the visa-free entrance on land-entrances (road or rail) would be quite nice as well.