Polish authorities intend to review the legalisation cases of freed Belarusian political prisoners who have applied for international protection in the shortest possible time. This was discussed at a meeting between Pavel Latushka, Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet and Head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, and Tomasz Cytrynowicz, Head of Poland’s Office for Foreigners.
The main topic of the talks was the legalisation of Belarusians released on 13 December who applied for international protection in Poland. The discussion was attended by a lawyer of the National Anti-Crisis Management, Chairman of the Legal Commission of the Coordination Council Mikhail Kirilyuk, a representative of the Belarusian Solidarity Centre Volha Dabravolskaya, and a representative of the Partyzanka initiative.
The Head of the Office for Foreigners assured that the Polish side would make every effort to take decisions on the legalisation of freed political prisoners as quickly as possible and within the framework of current legislation. It is expected that the relevant decisions will be taken in the coming months.
Pavel Latushka thanked the Office for Foreigners, Poland’s Ministry of Interior and Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Border Guard Service for their constructive approach to the legalisation of Belarusian citizens deported to the country.
According to Tomasz Cytrynowicz, legalisation procedures have already begun for 79 freed Belarusians, and similar procedures are planned to be launched shortly for four more.
Special attention at the meeting was devoted to the issue of opening bank accounts in Polish commercial banks for foreigners undergoing legalisation and holding temporary identity documents. It is noted that Poland’s Financial Supervision Authority previously confirmed that this document is sufficient grounds for opening an account. The sides agreed to obtain additional written confirmation from the Office for Foreigners to use in dialogue with banks.
In addition, the Polish representative expressed support for an initiative to extend the validity of travel documents for foreigners to more than one year. According to the participants, this would simplify the resolution of social and everyday issues and reduce the administrative burden on Polish authorities, the press service of the United Transitional Cabinet reported.
