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Last updated: 29-Aug-2026. Lisboa, Portugal

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Executive Summary

Belarusian citizens abroad may face serious obstacles in obtaining or renewing a valid Belarusian passport through Belarusian diplomatic and consular missions. The consequences can extend beyond international travel and affect residence procedures, identity documentation, administrative access and mobility.

European states already use several legal models to address this documentation gap. These include alien’s passports, foreigner travel documents, recognition of expired national passports for specified administrative purposes, and travel documents linked to refugee or stateless status.

The comparative evidence is particularly significant in Poland, where a Belarus-specific statutory facilitation currently applies until 31 December 2026, and in Portugal, where the law expressly provides a passaporte para estrangeiros for certain resident foreigners who demonstrate that they cannot obtain another passport.

The central question for Portugal is therefore not whether Portuguese law contains a travel-document mechanism. It does. The question is whether and how that mechanism is applied to Belarusian citizens who remain Belarusian nationals but cannot obtain or renew a Belarusian passport.

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I. The European Institutional Framework

II. The Belarusian Passport Problem

III. Consequences of the Documentation Gap

IV. Comparative European Practice

V. National Mechanisms in Detail

VI. Recognition of Expired Belarusian Passports

VII. De Facto Statelessness

VIII. Transnational Repression

IX. Historical Precedents

X. Legal Distinction Between the Instruments

XI. Comparative Legal Assessment

XII. Research Questions for Portugal

XIII. Research Status and Evidence Standard

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