Belarus
Visa-free overland entry for citizens of 35 European countries
Effective 19 July 2024, citizens of 35 European countries are permitted to enter Belarus visa free via all international road and rail checkpoints and remain in the country for up to 30 days.
This is in addition to the existing visa waiver program permitting entry by air. The existing visa-free scheme for citizens of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland remains in place.
Citizens of the following countries are eligible: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Vatican.
Spain
Government extends deadline for nationality applications under Democratic Memory Law
The Council of Ministers has approved extending, by one year, the deadline for exercising the right to apply for Spanish nationality set out in the Law 20/2022, on Democratic Memory.
The original two-year period, expiring in October 2024, has now been extended to the end of 2025.
The law applies to people born outside Spain to a father, mother, grandfather or grandmother, originally Spanish, and who, as a result of having suffered exile for political, ideological or religious reasons or for sexual orientation and identity reasons, lost or renounced Spanish nationality; and persons who are in the following situations:
- Sons and daughters born abroad to Spanish women who lost their nationality because they married foreigners before the 1978 Constitution came into force.
- Sons and daughters of legal age born to Spaniards whose nationality of origin was recognised through the right of option under the provisions of this law or in the seventh additional provision of Law 52/2007, which recognises and extends rights and establishes measures on behalf of those who suffered persecution or violence during the civil war and the dictatorship.
Since the entry into force of this Law, up to 31 March 2024, the Consular Civil Registry Offices received 301,121 applications to opt for Spanish nationality of origin.
More than 95 percent of applications have been received at the Spanish Consular Offices in Ibero-America and the Consulate General of Spain in Miami. Specifically, Spain’s five consulates general in Argentina account for 40 percent of applications, and together with the Consulate General of Spain in Havana, they account for over 53 percent of applications.
All appointment requests already submitted and pending the assignment of a date will now be processed, as well as all applications submitted that cannot be processed within the original two-years period.
