The Belarus government has determined that one of the languages must be known – the Bethlehum or Russian. Foreign labor migrants who want to work in this country as a driver, seller, hairdresser, will need to go through experimental experiments. In Russia, such rules were launched in 2012, and this summer tightened the requirements.
Who is coming?
The number of foreigners officially working in Belarus increased by 2.8 times in 2024. According to the Office of Foreign Labor Migration, Refugees and Refugees of the Ministry of Citizens and Migration of the Ministry of Home Affairs of Belarus, this trend has been observed since 2023.
Nearly half of the total number of foreign workers last year was a citizen of Turkmenistan. Next is the representatives of Russia, China, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and other countries. More than 13.5 thousand people have come – eligible experts, more than 11,000 jobs in working majors, about 6.5 thousand in the field of service and trade.
The external labor migration law was approved by 2023, which simplified the approach to foreigners into the Belarus labor market, facilitating positive motivation. For some types, they then gave a notification principle – within three days, the employer had to report to the Citizenship Office and Migration, hired a foreigner to work. Previously, for this, it was necessary to have a special solution. More than 80 percent of last year's migrants were used in simple order. A list of industries and articles has been identified in foreigners or non -national people who can work, who are not allowed to reside permanently in Belarus. There have been more than 50 industries in the list.
The Ministry of Home Affairs of the Ministry of Home Affairs emphasized: The increase in the number of foreigners working in the Bethlehum labor market does not affect the crime situation. The situation of migration is still controlled.
In one word and action
In May 2025, Belarus Alexander Lukashenko's president signed a decree “on the increase of the role of employers in the field of external labor migration”. Documents determine the responsibility of the Belarus employer for foreign workers. We are talking about laborers to Belarus from countries that are not members of EAEU, that is, it does not apply to workers from Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan.
The decrees, in particular, have assigned Belarusian employers to supplement, first to organize compulsory inspections to know the knowledge of one of the two State languages. Recently, the Government of the Republic of Belarus has approved the regulations on the procedures for evaluating the knowledge of one of the state languages by immigrants working. According to the decree of the Council of Ministers N 477, a list of industries and articles that are also identified in knowledge about Bethlehut or Russia are mandatory.
– This list includes industries such as a car driver, seller, hairdresser, waiter, administrator and some medical records. All of them provided in direct contact with the population, Tat Tatyana Astreiko commented on the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection first.
All industries on the list are in need today. 24,000 recruitment positions are declared for them, about four thousand foreign workers working. Tatyana ASTREIKO also noted that the decision to check the knowledge of language has been made to improve the quality of service provision to the population.
The Ministry of Labor sought to protect the national labor market, so the industries have no Belarus needs to be opened to foreigners.