"The best Christmas gift": a Belarusian woman overcame bureaucracy and received a foreigner's passport in Norway

The Belarusian woman shared her happiness on social media. She says it's the best New Year's gift.

The woman is in Norway on a work visa. About a year ago, her daughter's Belarusian passport expired. The mother herself cannot go back to her homeland to get a new document for her child — as she fully understands the risk of being imprisoned.

Therefore, the woman decided to try to obtain a foreigner's passport for her daughter in Norway.

— I motivated the need to get a travel document by stating that I am on the "Viasna" list, and was detained in 2020. I added the response from the Belarusian embassy in Sweden stating that a passport can only be obtained in Belarus. But then we were refused.

The Belarusian woman decided not to give up and filed an appeal. She says she did not seek help from lawyers or attorneys — she simply followed the standard procedure accepted in Norway.

— After a refusal from UDI (the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration), a person can automatically appeal through its website. The appeal is then considered by UNE (the Immigration Appeals Board). This is an independent body that reviews decisions and can either confirm or overturn them.

And recently, the Belarusian woman learned that UNE had overturned UDI's decision. The motivational part stated that there are special grounds indicating the need to issue a foreigner's passport to the applicant:

"This is due to updated country information, according to which a very small amount of data is sufficient for arrest upon entry into Belarus after staying abroad. A significant part of the information is tracked by the Belarusian authorities and registered in databases that are checked upon return. In addition, upon entry, the authorities check phones, search history, messages, and similar. There are also examples of people who have lived abroad for a long time and have repeatedly entered and exited their country without problems, but were then arrested after entry."

The little Belarusian girl has already received her foreigner's passport. Her mother believes that Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's Office deserves great credit for this:

— Because a year ago, we were refused with a wording like "We don't understand why you wouldn't go to Belarus and get a new passport." Although the entire case was about why. And the appeals body overturned the decision a year later with a detailed understanding of the real political situation in Belarus and the situation of people who have gone abroad.

The issue of Belarusians in Norway being able to obtain foreigner's passports was also addressed by the Association of Belarusian Students.

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