Getting a Visa for Belarus
First, AlteCocker will confess, this fiasco--or almost fiasco--was entirely her fault. She was careless and she should have done her own research rather than rely on what a tour company told her.
AlteCocker has one of her cockamamie European trips planned for next summer. She sometimes goes to very odd places because, well, she likes odd places. She's been to places in Paris and London. Why not explore Eastern Europe?
Those of you who are regular readers know that your favorite AlteCocker has had a lot of difficulty with home exchangers who can't make up their minds or fail to do research on the price of airfares in advance when they do a home exchange. That leads to a lot of frustrating cancellations. As of the date of writing this piece, April 1, 2014, AlteCocker is still looking for August--and it is very late in the summer 2014 Home Exchange Olympics to get an overseas exchange in that time slot now.
In any event, AlteCocker leaves mid June for Poland. She'll stay first in Krakow (3 nights home hospitality) and then in Warsaw (12 nights nonsimultanous home exchange; Poles to visit her later for extended home hospitality). She looked at the map. Poland is right next to Belarus. Now AlteCocker knows that some of you have never heard of Belarus. It does not have the reputation of Paris. But, to many American Jews, it is a sort of "home" because they have roots into Belarus--which was once part of The Pale where Jews were allowed to live when Belarus was part of prerevolutionary Russia. AlteCocker's maternal grandmother's family came from Belarus in the early part of the 20th century as a result of pogroms there. Not a nice story. Nevertheless, after doing a lot of genealogical research, AlteCocker has always wanted to go and walk in the steps of her ancestors. So that is how the Belarus leg of her trip got started.
Unlike countries in the EU, Belarus has visa requirements. AlteCocker doesn't travel much in complicated visa requirement countries. The only time she went to Russia, she went with a tour group and the tour company took care of all the visa mischigas. This time AlteCocker tried to do it herself. She didn't do it very well.
Trouble came from a lot of sources. First problem was that the online form for the Belarus visa doesn't print out without adjustments because it is designed for European sized paper. AlteCocker did not realize that the form she sent to the Embassy was missing answers to some of the sections because they just failed to print. She got an email from the Embassy saying processing of her visa was suspended until the Embassy got the information. AlteCocker emailed the Embassy and they emailed back with instructions as to how to print out the visa form correctly in Adobe Acrobat by making adjustments. In fact, whatever you think about the government in Belarus--and, insofar as AlteCocker is concerned, that is a decision that people who live there decide and not for outsiders who want visas to make "judgments" (AlteCocker tries to avoid conversations about politics in any foreign country no matter what the form of government because she is just a tourist and really doesn't know all the "ins" and "outs")--the Embassy was nothing but helpful.
Then there was the requirement that AlteCocker get her hotel reservations and show them to the Embassy before the visa would be granted. AlteCocker was going to get the visa first and then the reservations--which seemed logical to her in case the visa were refused. However, foreign countries often have different requirements from what Americans might think is logical. So, AlteCocker had the tour company she is using within Belarus make reservations for her. As soon as she gave the information to the Embassy, the visa was granted and AlteCocker can now make the rest of her plans to visit Belarus and go on to her last home exchange in Turkey by flying from Minsk to Istanbul.
AlteCocker clearly made a mountain out of a molehill here because she should have done better research rather than relying on what the tour company told her. There is a website called CIBT that can tell you what the specific requirements are for any country. AlteCocker should have found out about that website before making every mistake in the book, but, fortunately, it all ended happily for her.
AlteCocker does not suppose that her travels in Belarus will attract the kind of readership that a trip to Paris would, but it may be the only time she gets to visit the villages and she is glad to make the trip. She remembers talking about conditions in Europe with her maternal grandmother when she was a child. Now she will at least get to have a look at where it all happened.
By the way, a visa to Belarus is expensive for US passport holders--$160 expensive. These fees are often reciprocal--and the US does not make it easy for Belarussians to get visas to the US. There is, of course, fear that some might decide to stay illegally. While you can argue the back and forth about the justice of the fees--and what "should" be by your own standards--there is a lot of tit for tat. If you want to travel to these areas, it is not productive to get in an argument about providing what a given embassy wants. You just give it to them. The foreign countries requiring visas make the rules. You obey them. Period.
So, Belarus is "on". AlteCocker plans on 5 nights there in Brest and Minsk and then it will be on to Turkey. Obviously, should she ever need a visa from one of these "difficult" visa countries she now has learned how to do it.
AlteCocker has one of her cockamamie European trips planned for next summer. She sometimes goes to very odd places because, well, she likes odd places. She's been to places in Paris and London. Why not explore Eastern Europe?
Those of you who are regular readers know that your favorite AlteCocker has had a lot of difficulty with home exchangers who can't make up their minds or fail to do research on the price of airfares in advance when they do a home exchange. That leads to a lot of frustrating cancellations. As of the date of writing this piece, April 1, 2014, AlteCocker is still looking for August--and it is very late in the summer 2014 Home Exchange Olympics to get an overseas exchange in that time slot now.
In any event, AlteCocker leaves mid June for Poland. She'll stay first in Krakow (3 nights home hospitality) and then in Warsaw (12 nights nonsimultanous home exchange; Poles to visit her later for extended home hospitality). She looked at the map. Poland is right next to Belarus. Now AlteCocker knows that some of you have never heard of Belarus. It does not have the reputation of Paris. But, to many American Jews, it is a sort of "home" because they have roots into Belarus--which was once part of The Pale where Jews were allowed to live when Belarus was part of prerevolutionary Russia. AlteCocker's maternal grandmother's family came from Belarus in the early part of the 20th century as a result of pogroms there. Not a nice story. Nevertheless, after doing a lot of genealogical research, AlteCocker has always wanted to go and walk in the steps of her ancestors. So that is how the Belarus leg of her trip got started.
Unlike countries in the EU, Belarus has visa requirements. AlteCocker doesn't travel much in complicated visa requirement countries. The only time she went to Russia, she went with a tour group and the tour company took care of all the visa mischigas. This time AlteCocker tried to do it herself. She didn't do it very well.
Trouble came from a lot of sources. First problem was that the online form for the Belarus visa doesn't print out without adjustments because it is designed for European sized paper. AlteCocker did not realize that the form she sent to the Embassy was missing answers to some of the sections because they just failed to print. She got an email from the Embassy saying processing of her visa was suspended until the Embassy got the information. AlteCocker emailed the Embassy and they emailed back with instructions as to how to print out the visa form correctly in Adobe Acrobat by making adjustments. In fact, whatever you think about the government in Belarus--and, insofar as AlteCocker is concerned, that is a decision that people who live there decide and not for outsiders who want visas to make "judgments" (AlteCocker tries to avoid conversations about politics in any foreign country no matter what the form of government because she is just a tourist and really doesn't know all the "ins" and "outs")--the Embassy was nothing but helpful.
Then there was the requirement that AlteCocker get her hotel reservations and show them to the Embassy before the visa would be granted. AlteCocker was going to get the visa first and then the reservations--which seemed logical to her in case the visa were refused. However, foreign countries often have different requirements from what Americans might think is logical. So, AlteCocker had the tour company she is using within Belarus make reservations for her. As soon as she gave the information to the Embassy, the visa was granted and AlteCocker can now make the rest of her plans to visit Belarus and go on to her last home exchange in Turkey by flying from Minsk to Istanbul.
AlteCocker clearly made a mountain out of a molehill here because she should have done better research rather than relying on what the tour company told her. There is a website called CIBT that can tell you what the specific requirements are for any country. AlteCocker should have found out about that website before making every mistake in the book, but, fortunately, it all ended happily for her.
AlteCocker does not suppose that her travels in Belarus will attract the kind of readership that a trip to Paris would, but it may be the only time she gets to visit the villages and she is glad to make the trip. She remembers talking about conditions in Europe with her maternal grandmother when she was a child. Now she will at least get to have a look at where it all happened.
By the way, a visa to Belarus is expensive for US passport holders--$160 expensive. These fees are often reciprocal--and the US does not make it easy for Belarussians to get visas to the US. There is, of course, fear that some might decide to stay illegally. While you can argue the back and forth about the justice of the fees--and what "should" be by your own standards--there is a lot of tit for tat. If you want to travel to these areas, it is not productive to get in an argument about providing what a given embassy wants. You just give it to them. The foreign countries requiring visas make the rules. You obey them. Period.
So, Belarus is "on". AlteCocker plans on 5 nights there in Brest and Minsk and then it will be on to Turkey. Obviously, should she ever need a visa from one of these "difficult" visa countries she now has learned how to do it.