Фото: Reform.news
Poland issued more than 12,000 residence permits to Belarusian citizens in January-May this year, according to the latest statistics from the Office for Foreigners.
This year, 10,134 Belarusian citizens received temporary residence permits in Poland, 1,599 received permanent residence permits, and 380 obtained EU long-term resident status.
During the same period, Belarusians received 1,374 refusals of residence permit applications, while 598 cases were discontinued without a decision being issued.
Of the temporary residence permits issued, 66% were granted on the basis of employment, 24% for family reunification, 3% for studies, and 7% on other grounds.
This year, 23,280 Belarusian citizens applied for residence permits in Poland.
In May, the Office for Foreigners issued decisions granting international protection to 86 Belarusian citizens. Of these, 72 were granted refugee status and 14 received subsidiary protection.
Seventeen Belarusian citizens were denied protection in May, and the same number of cases were discontinued.
Since the beginning of the year, 217 Belarusian citizens have been granted refugee status, while 368 have received subsidiary protection. Thirty-one people were denied international protection, and 96 cases were discontinued.
In May, Belarusian citizens submitted 120 applications for international protection covering 148 individuals. Since the beginning of the year, the Office has received 623 applications covering 766 individuals. In addition, repeat applications were submitted in respect of 24 individuals, while proceedings were reopened in respect of 26 people.
According to the Office, it continues to process first-instance international protection applications from 2,908 Belarusian citizens. Cases involving 116 Belarusian citizens are under consideration at the second-instance level.
Overall, the Office is currently handling 7,800 applications for international protection. Their number is declining, as the number of decisions issued exceeds the number of new applications. The average processing time for an application is 277 days.
As of June 1, a total of 135,876 Belarusian citizens held documents authorizing their stay in Poland (1,840 fewer than on May 1), including:
In the first five months of this year, Belarusians received 2,737 travel documents in Poland. Such documents can be issued under a simplified procedure to Belarusian citizens whose passports have expired but who are unable to obtain new ones in their home country. Belarusians remain the main recipients of these documents.
Since 2020, Poland has issued more than 11,000 travel documents to citizens of Belarus. By comparison, only 1,647 such documents were issued to citizens of all other countries during the same period.