2024-11-15 13:57 update: 2024-11-15, 14:00
Photo PAP/Wojciech Olkusnik
The Polish prosecutor's office will launch an investigation into visas issued to thousands of Belarusian IT specialists and their families who arrived in Poland via the Poland.Business Harbour programme, leaving little to no trace of their further journeys, a daily newspaper has reported.
The Rzeczpospolita daily wrote on Friday that "the whereabouts of those individuals who entered the country (Poland - PAP) during the Morawiecki administration remain unknown."
The article discusses Mateusz Morawiecki, who served as the prime minister of Poland from 2017 to 2023 during the tenure of the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party. He was among the politicians responsible for launching the Poland Business Harbour (PBH) visa programme. In addition to Morawiecki, the initiative and organisation of the programme received backing from Jadwiga Emilewicz, the former delvelopment minister, and Justyna Orlowska, the director of the GovTech Polska programme.
PBH was established in 2020 following the widespread anti-government demonstrations in Belarus and was suspended in September 2023. It paved the way for the migration of tens of thousands of Belarusian IT professionals to Poland, enabling them to acquire the so-called national visa, which permitted them to work with in Poland. A total of over 93,000 individuals received this type of entry papers. As reported by Rzeczpospolita, while the PBH was active, approximately 13,000 individuals were granted PBH visas. However, there is limited information regarding the status of the remaining 80,000 foreigners who possessed similar documentation.
Although the PBH visa is formally a national visa, allowing for work only in Poland, it permits its holder to travel within the Schengen Area. The newspaper reported that, besides Belarusian citizens and their family members, the PBH programme also granted visas to individuals from India, Iran, Japan, Azerbaijan, and South Korea.
"We do not know why, but it was a poorly managed programme, where the main aim seemed to be obtaining a visa, rather than participating in the programme itself," the newspaper wrote.
The daily also noted that there was no clear information on who conceived the idea of launching the PBH. It did not specify which of Poland's various prosecutor's offices would be in charge of the planned investigation. (PAP)
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