Polish Americans hope Obama trip prompts change in visa policy

Last December, during President Komorowski’s visit to Washington, Obama signalled that he would add Poland to the list of 36 countries whose citizens can spend ninety days in America without a visa.

“My expectation is that this problem will be solved during my presidency,” the American president told reporters at the White House.

It is estimated that there are 10 million Polish Americans, many of whom maintain close ties with relatives in the motherland. However, visits by family to the US are complicated by visa restrictions.

Speaking of the possible change in regulations, Bozena Kaminski, executive director of the Polish and Slavic Center in Brooklyn, New York, was forthright in her stance.
“I think it’s about time,” she said in an interview with the New York Daily News.

“Polish people are very loyal to the United States […] This is very important to the Polish community,” Kaminski added.

Poles have fallen foul of the country’s visa system in the past, as many stayed beyond the allotted deadlines to leave the country.

However, Poland has sent troops to both Iraq and Afghanistan, with around 2,500 soldiers still serving in the latter.

Nevertheless, in March, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who has an American wife, played down the need for far-reaching reform that would allow freer access to work permits.

“I think that visas [for Poles] to the United States are no longer such an important matter for us, compared to how it was a good few years ago, given that […] Poles can travel and work legally in the whole of the European Union,” Sikorski said. (nh/jb)