Image credit: The Internal Affairs Ministry
GOMEL, 20 December (BelTA) – Migration situation in Belarus is under control. Belarusian Internal Affairs Minister Ivan Kubrakov made the statement as a renovated building of the Citizenship and Migration Office of the Gomel Oblast Police Department was opened, BelTA has learned.
Belarus has a fairly open migration policy, the internal affairs minister emphasized. “We always welcome people who come to our country regardless of their purpose: to relax or to work. However, we respond very harshly to violations of current legislation. When a citizen arrives, regardless of which border they cross — land or via an airport — we always warn them and explain the rules of conduct and stay in the country as well as peculiarities of our legislation. In other words, upon arriving in Belarus, a person cannot say that they are unaware of our legislation because we always explain everything. Even in the citizenship and migration offices before completing any administrative procedure we always explain the legislation,” he explained.
The minister noted that an absolute majority of people arriving in Belarus behave appropriately. “There are no problems as such. Yes, there are violators of the law, and we have our own algorithm for this category. After all, we always warn: if you come to our republic, please comply with our legislation. Yes, there are people who have been deported from our country: they left Belarus voluntarily or were forced to leave. As a rule, these are people who have violated administrative legislation, including migration laws. We do not make decisions [on deportation] if a person has made a minor mistake, for example, a traffic rule violation. There are different situations, and we understand that perfectly well. After every administrative protocol, we always issue a warning, stating that if a gross violation of the law is committed, we will take appropriate measures,” said Ivan Kubrakov.
According to the internal affairs minister, measures have been taken to deport about 3,000 citizens from Belarus this year. “Nevertheless, I would like to reiterate that I am grateful to law-abiding citizens who come to the country, especially for the purpose of recreation or work, and comply with the current legislation,” he emphasized.
Speaking about crimes, the minister stressed that since the number of people arriving in Belarus is on the rise, including labor migrants, there are certain issues with drug abuse. “We work with these people. The number of such crimes has increased, but when it comes to violent crimes, we are currently seeing a decrease. I repeat, there are no problems. We are in complete control of the situation regarding the presence of foreigners in our country. And we respond very harshly to violations, especially crimes,” Ivan Kubrakov assured.
A renovated administrative building of the Citizenship and Migration Office of the Gomel Oblast Police Department was opened in Gomel on 20 December.
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