US Restricts Travel to Belarus - Recourse?

[slavaskii 886]

Hello! I'm not sure how many of you have seen this, and I'm not sure where to post this to gain the most traction, but today the US State Department announced that the US will restrict anyone from purchasing tickets to/from Belarus. This is an unprecedented move that's left me scratching my head since hearing about it. First, Belarusians literally can't drive to another country's airport - land borders are effectively closed, and the US' flight ban to the Schengen Zone eliminates Warsaw and Vilnius as options. Further, the current flight ban against Belarus means the only way to the West from Minsk is either Istanbul or Moscow; I've heard, however, that it's quite difficult to transit in Moscow even for Belarusians right now. Perhaps the most bizarre part of this, though, is that if the goal was to defund Belavia and Aeroflot, they could've simply done this by not allowing in passengers who connected on these flights or deny people the ability to pay for tickets on Belavia/Aeroflot's website. If the goal was instead to simply prevent 'bad actors' from entering/exiting Belarus, it's even more perplexing as the US regularly expands the list of banned individuals and there's no VWP for ordinary Belarusians.

 

I'm American and my fiancee is Belarusian, I have been to Belarus somewhere around ten times with my recent trip finishing in March. I'm not blind to the problems in Belarus, but I've been nothing but respected by everyone there and I cannot imagine who else this affects besides people like me and my fiancee. Has this restriction ever been placed on another country before? Is there anything American citizens can do to prevent this from being carried out? I feel like there are many people similar to me in this forum that are going to be deeply impacted by this decision in the immediate future - I don't even want to think of what it means for K1 visas.

 

Thank you kindly in advance.

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-move-restrict-travel-belarus-source-2021-06-29/

[DiamondEyes490 126]

I think you missed a key paragraph:

"The directive - under consideration for several weeks - is mostly symbolic since relatively few tickets are purchased for travel to Belarus from U.S.-based travel services."

 

So I think you are fine?

 

As someone married to a Cuban, I can tell you that a lot of these so called rules have a way around them (although it's not always cheap) and individuals very rarely see any consequences.

[slavaskii 886]

2 hours ago, DiamondEyes490 said:

I think you missed a key paragraph:

"The directive - under consideration for several weeks - is mostly symbolic since relatively few tickets are purchased for travel to Belarus from U.S.-based travel services."

 

So I think you are fine?

 

As someone married to a Cuban, I can tell you that a lot of these so called rules have a way around them (although it's not always cheap) and individuals very rarely see any consequences.

Thank you for your response! I think I interpreted that paragraph slightly different based on the previous, in which it said the ban extended to ‘interline’ flights. I’m mainly concerned the US will somehow prevent the booking of any flight from the US with a final destination of Belarus - is this even possible?

 

For example, I live in a small town in Florida so I usually connect in New York before going on to Europe (usually Frankfurt) and then Minsk. Judging by this, that flight would now be impossible to book even through Lufthansa because that first leg is operated by a US carrier. However, do you think flying *direct* to Europe through a European carrier would be possible? For example, Miami to Istanbul to Minsk, booked directly through Turkish? 
 

I think I’m just really not understanding what they’re actually banning here. It feels completely silly if it can be subverted by buying a ticket through a non-US service and flying directly to Europe. In that case, then, how is this not just punishing Americans and Belarusians trying to visit? I’m quite afraid this is going to turn into a situation in which “sanctions” keep being slapped onto Belarus until they’re entirely isolated and we eventually forget about them (similar to what happened after the Russian embassies closed).
 

My condolences on the difficulties you’ve had with your wife in Cuba.

 

Edit: Unfortunately, I noted this footnote:

 

*"*2 The prohibition would apply to sales of passenger flights between the United States and Belarus, whether the flights would be operated directly or indirectly, including flights that would operate nonstop from the United States, or involving third-country intermediate, behind, or beyond points, including any service provided on an interline basis. The Department will not look favorably upon operations that seek to evade the requirements of this Order. The Department reserves the right to pursue those involved in such operations through enforcement action. "

 

Edited July 1, 2021 by slavaskii

[DiamondEyes490 126]

13 minutes ago, slavaskii said:

Thank you for your response! I think I interpreted that paragraph slightly different based on the previous, in which it said the ban extended to ‘interline’ flights. I’m mainly concerned the US will somehow prevent the booking of any flight from the US with a final destination of Belarus - is this even possible?

 

For example, I live in a small town in Florida so I usually connect in New York before going on to Europe (usually Frankfurt) and then Minsk. Judging by this, that flight would now be impossible to book even through Lufthansa because that first leg is operated by a US carrier. However, do you think flying *direct* to Europe through a European carrier would be possible? For example, Miami to Istanbul to Minsk, booked directly through Turkish? 
 

I think I’m just really not understanding what they’re actually banning here. It feels completely silly if it can be subverted by buying a ticket through a non-US service and flying directly to Europe. In that case, then, how is this not just punishing Americans and Belarusians trying to visit? I’m quite afraid this is going to turn into a situation in which “sanctions” keep being slapped onto Belarus until they’re entirely isolated and we eventually forget about them (similar to what happened after the Russian embassies closed).
 

My condolences on the difficulties you’ve had with your wife in Cuba.

 

Edit: Unfortunately, I noted this footnote:

 

*"*2 The prohibition would apply to sales of passenger flights between the United States and Belarus, whether the flights would be operated directly or indirectly, including flights that would operate nonstop from the United States, or involving third-country intermediate, behind, or beyond points, including any service provided on an interline basis. The Department will not look favorably upon operations that seek to evade the requirements of this Order. The Department reserves the right to pursue those involved in such operations through enforcement action. "

 

I think they are just trying to ban the sale directly from the US. As long as you pay via a non-US site, I think you will be fine. It'll be up to the airlines and ticket selling sites if they actually decide to comply (and even if they do, I can assure you someone else will pop up overnight). It's sad to say but I have seen it 1,000 times with anything involving getting around the Cuban embargo- the difficulty and scarcity of getting tickets, etc. mean there is a money making opportunity and people will 100% take advantage of it. Yes, people in Belarus will suffer and people who just want to see their loved ones will be punished with red tape, higher prices, etc., and I am sorry for that. (Welcome to the club...)

 

As for the enforcement, there is like a .00001% you as an individual would see any blowback by going to Belarus or just buying the ticket. It'll be like it was with Cuba pre-Obama opening. Companies would get fined at times for violating the embargo but no individual was fined for going to Cuba as a tourist since George W. Bush's first term. It's scary and it sucks, but you will be fine aside from having a less than ideal flight itinerary.

 

 

[slavaskii 886]

48 minutes ago, DiamondEyes490 said:

I think they are just trying to ban the sale directly from the US. As long as you pay via a non-US site, I think you will be fine. It'll be up to the airlines and ticket selling sites if they actually decide to comply (and even if they do, I can assure you someone else will pop up overnight). It's sad to say but I have seen it 1,000 times with anything involving getting around the Cuban embargo- the difficulty and scarcity of getting tickets, etc. mean there is a money making opportunity and people will 100% take advantage of it. Yes, people in Belarus will suffer and people who just want to see their loved ones will be punished with red tape, higher prices, etc., and I am sorry for that. (Welcome to the club...)

 

As for the enforcement, there is like a .00001% you as an individual would see any blowback by going to Belarus or just buying the ticket. It'll be like it was with Cuba pre-Obama opening. Companies would get fined at times for violating the embargo but no individual was fined for going to Cuba as a tourist since George W. Bush's first term. It's scary and it sucks, but you will be fine aside from having a less than ideal flight itinerary.

 

 

Thank you so much for your comments and support! It does mean a lot, I thought we were out of the woods with this after Belarus escaped Trump's second travel ban but I guess here we are - with only two days to address it, ending tomorrow morning It is interesting to note that the order seems to just target those selling the ticket themselves, rather than people needing to make the trip. That is, the government is only interested in preventing American businesses from dealing with Belarus, even though this is done in perhaps the worst way possible.

 

Interesting aside though, what do you think this will mean for those trying to get visas in Minsk? How can an officer give a Belarusian a visa knowing the information above? It's like how with the Schengen Zone ban, a European could still technically get to America by quarantining in Mexico, but officials weren't allowed to give out visas to EU citizens. Could a similar thing happen to Belarusians? I'm just concerned because they process K1 in Warsaw and I honestly have no idea what's going to happen with that.

[slavaskii 886]

As an update, US Embassy in Minsk just announced they were ending all non-immigrant services. So much for giving us the convenience of two days to respond, lol