Poland’s ‘illegal immigrant’ amnesty ends tonight

In line with regulations enforced in January, foreign nationals residing in the country without legal status, among them asylum seekers and economic migrants, may turn to any provincial office to legalise their stay for a period of two years.

Under the temporary provisions, they will also be able to take up work without additional permits.

So far, over 8,000 people have applied, with 85 percent of submissions made in the Mazovian province, home to the capital, Warsaw.

The Vietnamese accounted for the most numerous ethnic group to benefit from the programme.

A substantial number of applicants comprised Pakistani nationals, who constitute a very small ethnic minority in Poland, giving reason to believe that many of the Pakistani applicants came via other European member states.

This raises the possibility that some illegal migrants were attracted to Poland because of the Amnesty, says head of the Immigration Office at the Interior Ministry, Rafał Rogala.

“Every instance of amnesty entails the risk of what we call ‘amnesty tourism’, which also could be observed in countries such as Italy and Spain, where undocumented foreigners residing in other EU countries, travelled to the country offering amnesty to legalise their stay," he told Polish Radio.

The provincial offices will be accepting amnesty applications until the clock strikes twelve tonight.

According to various sources, there are anything between 40,000 to 400,000 “irregular immigrants” in Poland. (aba/pg)