"We recommend not to lie." Tsikhanouskaya's advisor spoke about successes and problems with the legalization of Belarusians in different countries

Migration situation in the USA

In the first 8 months of 2026, about 90 Belarusians who were in the usual migration process and did not violate legislation were detained and placed in special detention centers in the States.

Leanid Marozau links this to a general wave of a tougher approach by the USA to migration policy. According to him, in complex issues related to political matters, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's Office gets involved in helping compatriots, providing analytics on the situation in Belarus. Marozau notes that in some cases he personally joins and testifies in court.

There are also cases when Belarusians ended up in migration prisons for criminal offenses. Several people have already been deported to Belarus, or at least relevant decisions have been issued in their cases. Representatives of the democratic forces consider each such case separately, the lawyer adds.

Another issue concerns situations where people request political asylum or international protection, but lack grounds for it. Such cases are rare, Marozau notes, but usually applicants try to "lie at the first stage, having no evidence or witnesses."

"They start sending us documents and asking for something extra. We, of course, check each case to see how true it is," Tsikhanouskaya's advisor says. "Some Belarusians behaved dishonestly and sent, for example, AI-generated fake documents about arrests in Belarus. There were documents claiming the person was a volunteer in this or that NGO, a human rights organization, which also wasn't true. We, of course, recommend not to lie."

Belarusian democratic forces have established contact with "some large law firms" in the USA to help Pro bono (free of charge, "for the public good"). According to Marozau, one of the companies agreed, and now the Office is preparing to transfer some cases of Belarusians to specialists.

"Distant" EU countries

A simpler, more understandable, and already more or less established system for the legalization of Belarusians exists in European countries, Marozau notes. These countries have the largest Belarusian diasporas, representatives of democratic forces, human rights defenders who can help, and more opportunities to find specialists willing to support Belarusians and provide assistance free of charge.

Just a few days ago, good news came from the Czech Republic – the country approved changes that will allow close relatives of Belarusians legally living in the country to apply for short-term visas. Marozau adds that Tsikhanouskaya's Office is also working on the recognition of travel documents in Italy.

"We spoke with Italian lawyers, described the situation. Because there are no problems getting political asylum there, but they don't quite understand how to work with people in such a 'middle status' – when it's not such a strong political case, but at the same time, people cannot go home and renew their passports," says Marozau.

According to the lawyer, similar actions previously led to the recognition of travel documents by Spain and Sweden.

"When we found out that the Swedish migration services had very old information about the human rights situation in Belarus, we brought documents and explained that we have many cases and there will be even more. As you understand, in Poland and Lithuania, humanitarian residence permits will soon expire, and there will be more such people; travel documents will also become more common in various countries. This month there will be meetings in Estonia and Finland," Marozau adds.

Poland

At the same time, in Poland – the country where most Belarusians immigrated after 2020 – the situation is becoming more complicated, people continue to wait for residence cards for years, and local authorities refuse to remove the norm that allows not adhering to the deadlines for considering residence permit applications. Polish services also did not agree to increase the number of employees reviewing migrant cases, nor to regularly publish statistics of accumulated applications.

Is there a possibility that Belarusians will be singled out into a separate category and their process will accelerate? Marozau notes that contacts with the leadership of the Office for Foreigners continue, but for now, our citizens will remain in the general queue.

"Unfortunately, the situation is such that there is currently a large number of applications to Polish authorities, and Belarus stands alongside everyone else. They technically cannot [speed up processing times] and financially cannot increase the number of staff: there are simply no funds," Marozau continues. "But I wouldn't talk about all of Poland. I know the situation in Warsaw, Gdańsk, Wrocław. But there are cities, Poznań for example, where everything is quite stable and I haven't heard of people waiting two years."

There is hope that next year Belarusians will be able to obtain travel documents valid for two years, instead of one, Tsikhanouskaya's advisor added. Democratic forces are also working to ensure that Poland allows these documents to be obtained with passports that have run out of free pages, which is currently impossible.

"This is a constant reminder of the problems of Belarusians. It is necessary to talk with the Polish authorities from all possible sides, to say that such assistance is needed. And it seems to me that they hear us," says Marozau.

Павялічыць

At the same time, Polish authorities see cases where Belarusians who received international protection periodically travel to their homeland. This, according to the interlocutor, negatively affects the overall situation – there is currently a wave of rejections in granting such status to applicants.

Marozau notes that the democratic forces are preparing a large report for international partners on the detention of Belarusians upon their return to the country. It will be submitted to migration services, detailing how many individuals were detained, and emphasizing that it is still dangerous for Belarusians to go home.

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