Latushka Raises Issues of Opening and Blocking Belarusian Accounts With Poland’s National Bank

Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus and Head of the National Anti-Crisis Management Pavel Latushka informed representatives of the National Bank of Poland about problems faced by Belarusians when opening accounts or having them blocked in Polish commercial banks, and proposed solutions to the situation.

The issue was raised on 9 January during a meeting between the politician and Deputy Directors of the Statistics Department Jacek Kocerka and Grzegorz Dobroczek.

The head of NAM said that problems arise for citizens with expired Belarusian passports, holders of international protection status, and those awaiting such status.

He also noted that due to ambiguous interpretation of the latest EU sanctions package, a significant number of citizens faced the threat of having their banking mobile applications blocked. The politician stressed that all Belarusians legally residing in Poland — awaiting legalisation, working, running a business or studying — must have the right to a bank account and access to mobile banking regardless of whether they possess a valid residence permit. He reminded that this also follows from Article 108 of Poland’s Law on Foreigners.

Representatives of the Polish side said they were ready to initiate discussion of these issues at the next meeting of the Polish Financial Supervision Commission, which includes a representative of the National Bank of Poland.

During the meeting, representatives of the department presented a report titled “Life and Economic Situation of Migrants from Belarus in Poland”, based on a survey conducted by the National Bank of Poland in 2025.

They noted that the study shows Belarusian migrants in Poland are on average among the most educated and entrepreneurial foreign groups, the second largest (at least 146,000) after Ukrainians. About 62% of respondents have higher education, and 14% are engaged in entrepreneurship. Most Belarusians (56%) emigrated due to the unsatisfactory political situation in Belarus and fear of repression.

Pavel Latushka thanked the Statistics Department for presenting the report for public review and submitted proposals for additional questions for the new stage of research on the life of Belarusians in Poland planned by the National Bank of Poland for 2026, the UTC press service reported.