Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied allegations that the country has distributed work visas to foreign workers in large numbers, publishing statistics for visas issued by the Polish authorities in recent years.
Through a statement, the Ministry has revealed that the majority of visas were issued to nationals of Belarus and Ukraine, many of whom were flying persecution, unlike what some media claimed that visas were issued to African nationals.
It is not true that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs imported hundreds of thousands of migrants from Muslim countries and Africa.
The MFA claims that over the past 30 months, the country has issued more almost two million short-term visas to foreigners permitting them to enter Poland and the other Schengen countries, while 1.7 million national visas were issued to third-country nationals.
586,171 Schengen visas and 534,557 national visas were issued to nationals of Belarus, and 990,116 and 988,086, respectively, were issued to citizens of Ukraine. 374,889 Schengen visas and 259,633 national visas were granted to other nationalities in total.
The Ministry also debunks claims that Poland has been the number one country in Europe issuing work visas to foreigners, as other countries like France and Spain have issued more. At the same time, it denies that the country has been criticised for “irregularities” at the EU level.
It is not true that our EU partners have shown that there are irregularities at the level of Polish consular services, resulting in the mass issuance of visas that enable foreigners from countries where there is a terrorist threat to enter the Schengen area.
A scandal has hit Poland days ago, following a search of the Foreign Ministry by the Polish Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA), as a result of which the Former Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk has been expelled. So far, a prosecutor has brought charges against seven people for being involved in a scheme selling Polish work visas.
It is suspected that applicants paid €5,000 cash to jump the queue at Polish consulates. A foreign national has told Politico that in his home country in Africa, there were stands in front of the Polish embassy selling stamped visas.
According to the President of the Polish Supreme Audit Office, Marian Banaś, this might be one of the largest scandals in the history of the country.
Media reports claim that since 2021, Polish authorities abroad have issued about 250,000 visas in countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the Philippines, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
