Context: On September 24, 2026, the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that Belarus and the Maldives had signed an agreement to mutually abolish visas. However, Belarusian tourists have long been able to obtain a tourist visa upon arrival, free of charge, just like citizens of most other countries.
On September 17, 2026, Aliaksei Audonin discussed the benefits of the Belarusian passport on SBTV’s Letuchka program.
“When you arrive in many countries with a Belarusian passport, go through passport control, and then move around within the country, people are amazed. We have a unique passport, and we have visa-free agreements with many countries. Many people can’t get visas, while we can simply enter. The standing of our passport is extremely high, particularly the more recently issued passports.. Even at passport control in other countries, people look at it and say, ‘What a level this passport has, and what a level of development the institution of citizenship has reached.’”
However, when it comes to the number of destinations accessible without a prior visa, the Belarusian passport is not among the world’s top-ranked passports.
According to the Henley Passport Index, the passport of Belarus ranks 63rd among those of 199 passports. A Belarusian passport allows holders to visit 78 of the 227 destinations covered by the index without a prior visa. This is 30 destinations fewer than the global average. In comparison, the Singaporean passport, which is ranked first, offers visa-free access to 192 destinations.
Source: Henley Passport Index
Another ranking, the Passport Index's Individual Passport Power Rank, ranks Belarus 112th out of 199 countries. These positions cannot be directly compared because the rankings use different methodologies. In both rankings, however, the Belarusian passport ranks lower than those of all neighboring countries.
Source: Passport Index
