2024-10-30 13:33 update: 2024-11-04, 19:47
Photo PAP/Piotr Nowak
The current political situation necessitates changes in the Pole's card's eligibility to protect national security, Poland's foreign minister has said.
Speaking to the Senate, the upper house of the Polish parliament, Radoslaw Sikorski said that the document which confirms that a foreigner belongs to the Polish nation must be issued based on more clearly defined criteria, mainly to ensure the country's security.
He added that the Pole's Card gives its holder access to the job market, free education, and the right to conduct business activities in Poland along with many other benefits and, since 2008, almost 215,000 of such cards had been issued, being popular among the citizens of former Soviet Union countries, including Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, especially after Russian aggression on Ukraine.
"Due to the political situation, particularly in the two latter countries, there is a growing need to change the Pole's Card so that it clearly specifies the criteria for its eligibility, mainly in the interest of our security," Sikorski told senators.
He argued that the authorities considering applications for Pole's Cards were facing increasingly serious threats, the ability of hostile services to fake almost any given candidate profile being one of them.
According to Sikorski, Polish consuls and officials must be able to undertake adequate measures so that the Pole's Card does not become "a loophole in the migration procedure".
He also announced changes to Poland's repatriation policy resulting from the decreasing number of applications by people of Polish origin returning to their homeland, with relevant legislation to be put forward next year.
"The advantages from developing this instrument (Pole's Card), potentially as a tool compensating for the repatriation procedure, are indisputable," Sikorski said.
(PAP)
wpb/mf/mr
