Many British charities are active in Belarus. A significant number work to help relieve the effects of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Each year, abour 3,500 "Chernobyl children" visit the UK for respite holidays. We issue all of them gratis visas.

Following the introduction of biometric visas in 2007, the Embassy and UK Border Agency developed a unique bespoke mobile pilot project. During the summer of 2008 our teams made a series of successful visits to Mogilev and Gomel to collect biometric data from Chernobyl children, saving them a long journey to Minsk.

In April 2009, British medical specialists from London and Birmingham Centers for Nephrology took part in two kidney translpantation pediatric surgeries.