You're reading: Minsk hopes US embassy expands its consular section

MINSK – Belarus is hoping for an expansion of the United States Embassy’s consular section in Minsk to issue visas to Belarusians.

“It was with regret that we learnt the news that the US Embassy in Russia has stopped accepting documents to process visas for Belarusian citizens. We hope that, having made today’s decision, the US side will find a possibility to expand the work of the consular section of its embassy in Minsk,” Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman Dmitry Mironchik said in a statement.

Allowing Belarusian citizens to have their US visa applications processed without traveling to the neighboring countries would facilitate broader inter-personal contacts and further development of the US-Belarusian cooperation, the spokesman said.

“It is quite regretful that the relations between the Russian Federation and the United States continue to get more complicated, which is already having a direct negative effect on ordinary Belarusians. Guided primarily by the interests of Belarus and its citizens, we express our hope for a swift normalization of the Russian-US relations which we are certain would have a positive effect on the global situation as a whole,” Mironchik said.

Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Minsk said that interviews for Belarusian citizens, who have applied for a US nonimmigrant visa at the US Embassy in Moscow and Consulate in St. Petersburg and already paid the consular fee, will be re-scheduled.

“Republic of Belarus citizens are advised to contact to US Embassies in Warsaw, Kyiv or Vilnius to schedule an interview appointment for a nonimmigrant visa,” the embassy said on Facebook.

On August 21 the US Embassy announced its decision to suspend issuing visas to Russians from August 23, and from September 1 to conduct this procedure in a very limited form, in relation to the Russian demand to cut US diplomatic staff in Russia.

The US Embassy in Moscow and the consulate in St. Petersburg will stop accepting visa applications from Belarusian citizens.