Poland’s Office for Foreigners has published data on Belarusians living in Poland.
According to the agency, as of April 1, a total of 139,343 Belarusian citizens hold various residence permits in Poland, including:
- 83,971 people with temporary residence permits,
- 41,480 with permanent residence permits,
- 10,203 with subsidiary protection status,
- 2,253 with EU long-term resident status,
- 1,028 with refugee status,
- 417 with temporary protection status,
- 171 on other grounds.
It should be noted that more than 140,000 Belarusian citizens are registered in Poland’s social insurance system. However, the statistics of the Office for Foreigners do not include holders of work visas.
Last year, Belarusians submitted 52,550 applications for residence permits in Poland, while in the first quarter of this year 15,642 applications were received from Belarusian citizens.
In the first quarter of this year, Belarusians were granted 5,926 temporary residence permits, 953 permanent residence permits and 212 EU long-term resident statuses. A total of 846 negative decisions on legalisation in Poland were issued in respect of Belarusian citizens, and 408 cases were discontinued. Overall, the Office for Foreigners issued 8,345 decisions on applications from Belarusian citizens in January–March.
Some 64% of residence permits were issued to Belarusians on the basis of employment, 25% for family reunification, 4% for education and 7% on other grounds.
The largest number of Belarusian citizens live in the Mazowieckie voivodeship (54,000 people), followed by Podlaskie (14,000) and Dolnośląskie (12,000). Next are Pomorskie (11,500), Wielkopolskie (11,000) and Małopolskie (10,000).
In the first quarter of this year, the office issued 1,483 travel documents (dokument podróży) to Belarusian citizens. In total, Belarusians have received 11,016 such documents between 2020 and 2026. By comparison, Poland issued 12,663 such documents overall during the same period. A simplified procedure for obtaining this travel document applies to Belarusian citizens in Poland.
