The issuance of biometric passports in Belarus will begin in the first half of 2021. This was announced on January 10 by the deputy head of the department for citizenship and migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic Pavel Khrishchenovich.
“As soon as the (corresponding – Ed.) Normative legal act is signed, we will, of course, inform the media about the exact date of issue, but we assume that this will be the first half of the year, unambiguously,” he said in an interview with STV TV channel …
Khrishchenovich emphasized that it is not necessary to change identity cards until the expiration of their validity period, therefore “there will be no one-time replacement of valid passports.”
It is clarified that a biometric passport will be required to travel abroad, and instead of the traditional internal passport, identification cards (ID-cards) with an electronic medium on which the relevant information will be recorded will be issued.
Earlier, on January 4, Uzbekistan began issuing national ID-cards instead of internal biometric passports. Until December 31, 2022, ID-cards will be issued primarily to persons who have reached the age of 16, as well as in case of loss of a passport, expiration of its validity, desire to change name, surname or nationality. From January 1, 2023, the exchange of internal biometric passports for ID cards will become mandatory.