Poland has become home to around 10% of Belarusian information and communications technology (ICT) specialists, with a further two fifths of workers in the sector reportedly considering relocating to their western neighbour.
The wave of migration has come amid unrest and repression in Belarus following last year’s presidential election. In response, Poland has given refuge to hundreds of fleeing Belarusians, and has set up a programme to help ICT workers and businesses relocate.
Last September, the Polish development ministry and the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAiH) launched the “Poland. Business Harbour” (PBH) programme. It offers an expedited immigration procedure to ICT experts and entrepreneurs along with family members and coworkers.
By 9 April, Polish authorities had issued 8,840 visas as part of the PBH scheme, according to the ministry. Between September and January, the share of ICT specialists departing Belarus who chose Poland as a destination increased from 10% to 43%, reports Puls Biznesu.
A tenth of the Belarusian ICT workers are thought to have now moved to Poland, reports dev.by, a Belarusian news site covering the industry. A further two thirds are considering relocating to the much larger Polish market, which has an estimated 430,000 compared to 50,000-100,000 in Belarus.
Justyna Orłowska, the prime minister’s high representative for government technology, told Puls Biznesu that the influx of Belarusian programmers shows the effectiveness of the PBH programme. The government is now considering extending the scheme to other countries, such as Ukraine.
Poland also provides funds for startups as well as other forms of aid for larger businesses seeking to begin operations in Poland. Krzysztof Drynda, president of PAIH, says his organisation is currently handling 41 projects with a total value of €50 million linked to the PBH scheme.
His agency has recommended 1,300 employees for relocation and supported 2,600 visa applications.
Moreover, there have been more than 150 applications from Belarusian teams to Startup Hub Poland, a foundation. Of these, 20 have received scholarships of 5,000 zloty (€1,100) to begin operations in Poland, reports Puls Biznesu.
“We are in talks with eight companies from these countries, and two companies from Belarus and one from Ukraine should soon announce relocation to Pomerania,” said Wojciech Tyborowski, director of Invest in Pomerania, an initiative supporting foreign investment in the northern Polish province.
Tyborowski noted that the scheme’s “first success” has been the relocation of Digiteum, a company from Minsk dealing with comprehensive software development, to Gdańsk. The company has already started local recruitment for development, management and sales roles.
Poland has extended various forms of humanitarian protection to Belarusians fleeing from the unrest and repression that has followed August’s presidential election, at which Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory amid widespread evidence of vote rigging.
The Polish government has also given strong backing to the Belarusian democratic opposition, whose exiled leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya made two visits to Warsaw to meet with Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
As a result, relations between Warsaw and Minsk have rapidly deteriorated, with Lukashenko accusing Poland of interfering in its neighbour’s affairs and even of seeking to reclaim former territory. Recent weeks have seen the arrests of prominent figures from Belarus’s ethnic Polish minority.
Main image credit: Digiteum, Digital Technology Agency/Facebook
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
