New data from Poland’s state Office for Foreigners (UdSC) show that the number of Belarusians in Poland has risen rapidly since 2020, when Minsk began a crackdown on protests against President Alexander Lukashenko’s claimed election victory.
There are now over 50,000 Belarusians with residence permits in Poland, around twice as many as at the start of 2020. Since that year Poland has actively welcomed those fleeing repression in Belarus as well as seeking to attract professionals such as IT workers and doctors.
The number of Belarusian citizens with residence permits in Poland (Sty = Jan, Cze = Jun). Source: UdSC
Belarusians make up the second-largest group of foreign nationals in Poland, behind Ukrainians, whose numbers have also increased rapidly in recent years and even more so this year amid an influx of refugees following Russia’s invasion.
Last year, Belarusians made up around 30% of applications for international protection in Poland, second only to Afghans. Of the applications from Belarusians that were already processed, 95% were successful.
Since August 2020 – when large-scale protests in Belarus began following widespread evidence of vote rigging in Lukashenko’s proclaimed election victory – around 3,000 Belarusian nationals have been granted international protection in Poland, notes UdSC spokesman Jakub Dudziak.
But Dudziak also notes that Poland has become an attractive destination for migrants from Belarus thanks to simplified visa procedures and easier access to the job market. Those who have received so-called humanitarian visas can enter the job market without additional permits.
Two years ago, the Polish government launched a programme called Poland Business Harbour supporting Belarusians workers and businesses in the ICT sector that wish to relocate to Poland. In April last year it was reported that around 10% of Belarusian ICT specialists had relocated to Poland.
Amid the pandemic, Poland also sought to attract doctors from Belarus to boost its understaffed healthcare system. It offered a simplified procedure for their qualifications to be recognised in Poland.
According to the UdSC’s data, Belarus with residence permits are predominantly young: around 55% are aged 20 to 39 with a further 17% under 20.
The largest proportion have settled around Warsaw, with 19,000 registered in the Masovian province where the capital is located. A further 9,000 are in Podlaskie, a province bordering Belarus.
The figure of 50,000 with residence permits is unlikely to cover all Belarusians present in Poland. Statistics Poland (GUS), a state agency, estimated that at the end of 2019 there was a total of around 105,000 Belarusians in the country, a figure that is likely to have increased significantly since then.
Type of permit (Stały = permanent, Czasowy = temporary); age; region. Source: UdSC.
Main image credit: Jakub Wlodek / Agencja Gazeta
Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy, Duży Format, Midrasz and Kultura Liberalna
