The number of Belarusian citizens with valid residence permits in Poland has exceeded 30,000 people. Over the past two years, this group has grown by approx. 50 percent, said the press spokesman of the Office for Foreigners, Jakub Dudziak.
The information provided by the Office for Foreigners shows that the majority of Belarusians residing in Poland have permanent residence permits issued in relation to their Polish origin and the Pole’s Card. Usually they are young people.
“The territorial location of Belarusians settling in Poland is uneven. The most frequently chosen regions according to voivodeship are: Mazowieckie – 34 percent, Podlaskie – 20 percent, Lubelskie – 8 percent, Pomorskie – 7 percent and Małopolskie – 6 percent,” said Jakub Dudziak from the Office.
“The number of applications for a temporary residence permit is also systematically growing. Currently, such documents are held by almost 10,000 Belarusian citizens. The vast majority of them are issued in connection with taking up employment – about 70 percent of cases,” Dudziak said.
The Office for Foreigners also informed that since last year’s presidential elections in Belarus, the number of people applying for refugee status in Poland has also increased. From August 2020 to the end of March 2021, over 630 Belarusians submitted such applications.