"Didn't want to risk the plane." Why Belarusians pay almost 200 euros to choose a border crossing date

Initially, Dmitry and his wife thought of traveling without a special reservation. They registered in the electronic queue and started monitoring the situation at the border. But, estimating the approximate call time to the waiting area, the Belarusians realized they would arrive at the airport almost at the last minute. The idea of taking a bus came up, but the situation there was even worse, Dmitry recalls.

"We didn't want to risk the plane, so we canceled the regular reservation and chose a specific booking date. The next morning we were already at the border."

According to the man, he was called from the waiting area almost immediately. From entering the waiting area to passport control, it took about half an hour, and the entire border crossing took about two hours.

"After that, I went through the queue in the general order," says Dmitry.

The number of slots that can be booked is limited. The man says he and his wife were lucky: a bit later, his friends also wanted to travel using the same system, but there were no slots left for the chosen day.

"Precisely at this time, there were huge queues. I think many people who were going on vacation started using this service."

Almost 31 times more expensive than regular registration

The option to choose an entry date at the checkpoint in advance appeared on January 1, 2026. The service can be used by individuals in passenger cars. It is not provided for motorcycles, nor for vehicles used for international passenger transport.

You can book a date online through your personal account on the "Beltamozhservice" website, in the "Online Booking" section. The driver specifies vehicle data, selects an available date, and pays for the registration — 15.5 base units, or 697.5 Belarusian rubles.

Павялічыць

Not everyone who wishes can book a date. The number of such slots depends on the specific checkpoint and its throughput capacity. Judging by reports from participants in border chats, on average, this is 20-24 cars per day.

For comparison: regular registration of a passenger car in the electronic queue costs 0.5 base units — 22.5 rubles. Thus, booking costs the driver almost 31 times more than regular registration.

A booked date is valid for 24 hours — from 00:00 to 23:59. On the appointed day, the vehicle must arrive at the waiting area. There, vehicle data is checked, after which the car is called to the checkpoint, where it undergoes standard procedures — passport control, inspection, and customs clearance. How long these will take depends on the checkpoint's workload.

It is not possible to change the date of an already booked registration. If plans change, the registration will have to be canceled and a new one processed. Money for a canceled registration is not refunded and cannot be transferred to a new one. One vehicle can only have one active registration at a time. It is also not possible to change the registration number of an already processed registration.

"To milk foreigners and Russians"

Judging by messages from participants of the border chat GranitsaBY Belarus—EU, free dates can quickly run out, especially when queues at the border are growing. Therefore, a driver cannot always choose the exact day they need. For example, such a situation occurred on some days in August.

"In recent days, the demand for priority slots exceeded the supply. And it couldn't be booked," writes user Kateryna.

Although at the very beginning, it seems, some Belarusians were skeptical about this option. Users wrote that the cost of the service was too high.

"This is to milk foreigners and Russians going to Europe," wrote one of the chat participants.

In response to such messages, people recalled cases where Belarusians took up spots in the live queue and then sold their place.

"When there was chaos with queues in Brest, people would buy a spot in the queue for 200 euros and didn't complain. Now it's the same money – just officially, into the budget."

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