Poland is one of the main destinations of departing Belarusians
12:15
The scale of this immigration is very clearly visible in the increased number of applications for international protection in Poland. Before 2020 it was a few applications per month, while since August their number has increased to about 100 applications per month.
This is just a drop in the ocean of the total number of applications of people applying for a permit for some form of stay. Most people apply for a temporary residence permit, granted for a period of up to 3 years.
In 2020, 13.5 thousand applications for a temporary or permanent residence permit in Poland were submitted by Belarusians. This is many times more than in previous years - for example, in 2019 the number of applications was 6.5 thousand.
This is a significant increase since in just one year twice as many Belarusians applied. Poland is trying to attract those emigrants who, from the point of view of the needs of the Polish economy, may have significant importance and value in the labor market. Incentives have been directed especially to the Belarusian IT sector, which quite actively joined the protests against Lukashenka. They are well-qualified thanks to the relatively high level of education of IT specialists in Belarus,” says Jan Strzelecki, an analyst at the Polish Economic Institute.
