What Shengen Visa can a Belarusian get without having to have vaccination upon entering?

[ZRomper 42]

Greetings all,

 

What country can my Belarusian wife get a Shengen visa in, in order to enter EU to get her vaccination? Poland is impossible atm. I heard Croatia is an option, but do they require vaccination upon entry or just quarantine you for 10 days like in Poland?

 

Any advice from someone who went through with this would be greatly appreciated.

 

We were considering Dubai, but I think they've shut down their vaccination programs for non-nationals.

Edited November 15, 2021 by ZRomper

[millefleur 5,046]

On 11/15/2021 at 2:17 PM, ZRomper said:

I heard Croatia is an option, but do they require vaccination upon entry or just quarantine you for 10 days like in Poland?

Croatia is not a Schengen country. I've heard Greece and Hungary are easy to get a Schengen visa to right now, but you'll probably need to stay there at a day or two before heading off to Poland.

 

There's also the option to try for a Humanitarian visa from Poland.

[ZRomper 42]

45 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Croatia is not a Schengen country. I've heard Greece and Hungary are easy to get a Schengen visa to right now, but you'll probably need to stay there at a day or two before heading off to Poland.

 

There's also the option to try for a Humanitarian visa from Poland.

Thank you.

 

Yes that's correct. Greece and Spain are currently the only countries besides Poland which are Shengen countries and Belarusians can get a visa for.

 

My wife and daughter filed for a humanitarian Polish visa today in Minsk.

[millefleur 5,046]

1 minute ago, ZRomper said:

My wife and daughter filed for a humanitarian Polish visa today in Minsk.

Oh excellent! I hope it goes well for them. Keep us updated.

[ZRomper 42]

1 minute ago, millefleur said:

Oh excellent! I hope it goes well for them. Keep us updated.

Will do! Takes about 10 days for them to approve.

[ryvfader 45]

My fiance was able to get her Janssen shot in Poland after her interview from a free vaccination site. Officially the word is that only citizens and legal residents can get the vaccine however there have been a lot of reports with other folks getting it. I did find clinics that confirmed over the phone they would issue her a referral if she booked a physician consult but she was able to get a point of care referral using her passport at a free site. 

 

Additionally if you fly via Turkey and take a longer layover in Istanbul you can enter Turkey and get a PCR completed at the airport. Turkey's PCR meets EU guidelines for recognition and they have a treaty with Poland for movement of passengers allowing you to PCR test in Turkey then enter Poland without quarantine with this test. Otherwise if you have proof of exiting the country within 24 hours of arrival it's considered transit and no quarantine is required.

 

Others here have had luck with Croatia. You will need a visa for Croatia however they recognize Schengen Visas in place of Croatian visas. Others here have been able to get their vaccines in Zagreb. 

[ZRomper 42]

On 11/26/2021 at 7:27 AM, ryvfader said:

My fiance was able to get her Janssen shot in Poland after her interview from a free vaccination site. Officially the word is that only citizens and legal residents can get the vaccine however there have been a lot of reports with other folks getting it. I did find clinics that confirmed over the phone they would issue her a referral if she booked a physician consult but she was able to get a point of care referral using her passport at a free site. 

 

Additionally if you fly via Turkey and take a longer layover in Istanbul you can enter Turkey and get a PCR completed at the airport. Turkey's PCR meets EU guidelines for recognition and they have a treaty with Poland for movement of passengers allowing you to PCR test in Turkey then enter Poland without quarantine with this test. Otherwise if you have proof of exiting the country within 24 hours of arrival it's considered transit and no quarantine is required.

 

Others here have had luck with Croatia. You will need a visa for Croatia however they recognize Schengen Visas in place of Croatian visas. Others here have been able to get their vaccines in Zagreb. 

Thank you for the info.

 

Well actually thinking about it, I have 4 people who need to be vaccinated. It's me, our 2 kids and my wife. So we can't get the Janssen shot because you have to be 18+ to get one. So we would need to go back and forth twice to get them the Pfizer one. So what you wrote about about Turkey is true, we have friends who did this. But this works not only with Turkey, but with Lithuania for example. Once she gets her humanitarian visa, we can enter Lithuania and do a PCR test right there on the border. Once inside Lithuania, we can travel to Poland and since Lithuania is in the EU, Poland accepts their PCRs and doesn't make you stay for a 10 day quarantine.

 

Same with US. We can do the PCR test a day before the flight. Get tested at the airport and enter the US. Once there, get the shots at any pharmacy.

[ryvfader 45]

8 hours ago, ZRomper said:

Thank you for the info.

 

Well actually thinking about it, I have 4 people who need to be vaccinated. It's me, our 2 kids and my wife. So we can't get the Janssen shot because you have to be 18+ to get one. So we would need to go back and forth twice to get them the Pfizer one. So what you wrote about about Turkey is true, we have friends who did this. But this works not only with Turkey, but with Lithuania for example. Once she gets her humanitarian visa, we can enter Lithuania and do a PCR test right there on the border. Once inside Lithuania, we can travel to Poland and since Lithuania is in the EU, Poland accepts their PCRs and doesn't make you stay for a 10 day quarantine.

 

Same with US. We can do the PCR test a day before the flight. Get tested at the airport and enter the US. Once there, get the shots at any pharmacy.

Sounds like you have a pretty detailed understanding of your options for getting this worked out. Lithuania sounds way better than Turkey and when you're looking at the cost of 4 then I can't imagine anything being more cost effective than going that route.

 

Looking at your timeline being on an I-130 visa I would just be very careful with any plans to complete the vaccine requirements after entry in the US. As an actual immigrant visa it may trigger a requirement for you to have the shots prior to your medical appointments.

 

Quote

The COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in these Technical Instructions, hereinafter referred to as “approved COVID-19 vaccines,” are those vaccines authorized for emergency use (EUA) or approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)external icon or listed for emergency use (EUL) by the World Health Organization (WHO). pdf icon[PDF – 3 pages]external icon If an approved COVID-19 vaccine is available to the applicant in the country where the examination occurs, the applicant must complete the vaccine series and provide documentation to the panel physician in person before completion of the medical examination.

The COVID-19 vaccination requirement will differ from previous requirements in that the entire vaccine series (1 or 2 doses depending on formulation) must be completed in addition to the other routinely required vaccines. An example timeline for the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccines and other required vaccinations is illustrated in Figure 1.

https://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/panel-physicians/covid-19-technical-instructions.html

 

Since the Sinopharm vaccine is technically available in Belarus they do require it. We had a bit of hiccup at the medical interview in Minsk where the doctor was saying the COVID vaccine was required for all medicals but they didn't provide it at that time. My understanding from when I was trying to figure out if the K1's did or did not require the vaccine was that the reason immigration visas aren't required to show documented proof for a flight to the US is because it is now a requirement to complete the medical examination for the visa. So in a perfect world proof of covid vaccination has already been verified by a more qualified individual than whatever poor soul is checking documents at the airline gate. How strictly enforced this is I have no idea.

[ZRomper 42]

6 minutes ago, ryvfader said:

Sounds like you have a pretty detailed understanding of your options for getting this worked out. Lithuania sounds way better than Turkey and when you're looking at the cost of 4 then I can't imagine anything being more cost effective than going that route.

 

Looking at your timeline being on an I-130 visa I would just be very careful with any plans to complete the vaccine requirements after entry in the US. As an actual immigrant visa it may trigger a requirement for you to have the shots prior to your medical appointments.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/panel-physicians/covid-19-technical-instructions.html

 

Since the Sinopharm vaccine is technically available in Belarus they do require it. We had a bit of hiccup at the medical interview in Minsk where the doctor was saying the COVID vaccine was required for all medicals but they didn't provide it at that time. My understanding from when I was trying to figure out if the K1's did or did not require the vaccine was that the reason immigration visas aren't required to show documented proof for a flight to the US is because it is now a requirement to complete the medical examination for the visa. So in a perfect world proof of covid vaccination has already been verified by a more qualified individual than whatever poor soul is checking documents at the airline gate. How strictly enforced this is I have no idea.

Actually you're right, the Sinopharm is available and also accepted by the WHO which US accepts. However in Belarus there's lately been a shortage of this vaccine, last I heard they're only giving them out to pregnant women at hospitals.

 

In any case, with the humanitarian visa in hand, it makes it easy to go to Poland and get the Pfizer vaccine if push comes to shove.

[ryvfader 45]

1 hour ago, ZRomper said:

Actually you're right, the Sinopharm is available and also accepted by the WHO which US accepts. However in Belarus there's lately been a shortage of this vaccine, last I heard they're only giving them out to pregnant women at hospitals.

 

In any case, with the humanitarian visa in hand, it makes it easy to go to Poland and get the Pfizer vaccine if push comes to shove.

Yeah, this is what my fiance had said as well. Yeah it's "available" in the same way something perpetually out of stock on every website and retail store shelf is.