The new session of the Polish Interior Ministry working group, which includes Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's Office, Center for Belarusian Solidarity, and National Anti-Crisis Management representatives, took place on April 14. The Ministry confirmed the adoption of proposed amendments to the current legislation.
It’s presumed that humanitarian residence permits and humanitarian visas will be issued to all Belarusian citizens in need, regardless of whether they arrived in Poland from Ukraine after February 24th or arrived in the country for other reasons.
The development and establishment of procedures for issuing humanitarian visas and humanitarian residence permits in Poland will take about two months. The documents will be issued not only in Warsaw but also in other cities of Poland.
The Polish Interior Ministry calls on Belarusians who arrived earlier to obtain legal status in accordance with the purpose of their stay (e.g., work, study, etc.). After staying in Poland on a humanitarian visa for a year, you have the opportunity to do this on the grounds as mentioned above.
Belarusians who are granted temporary residence permits on humanitarian grounds will be eligible for a Polish travel document that can be used instead of a Belarusian national passport when traveling overseas. Belarusians who don’t have the necessary travel documents (a valid Belarusian national passport) and are afraid to return to Belarus also have the option to apply for international protection and Geneva passports. This procedure is specifically intended for repressed Belarusians. The Office for Foreigners promised to significantly expedite this process and make decisions on applications as promptly as possible.
It’s worth separating the forced migration of Belarusians who were fighting for the freedom of our country from migration for economic reasons. The main goal of these amendments is to help Belarusians who fled the war in Ukraine, so the support that Poland provides to the democratic movement shouldn’t be abused.
President of Poland Andrzej Duda is expected to sign these amendments to the law as early as this week. After this, the law will come into force with immediate effect.
The Polish side has notified that the Interior Ministry will not deport or penalize Belarusians who arrived from Ukraine based on a permit of the Commander-in-Chief of the Border Guard to enter Poland for 15 days. Hence there’s no urgent need to make your stay legal within 15 days.
One of the questions raised during the session was about Belarusians whose passports remained at the consulates in Ukraine. The Ministry is working to resolve this issue and stays in touch with the consulate in Lviv.
