Poland significantly reduces issuance of visas

By Alimat Aliyeva

The Polish authorities have significantly reduced the issuance of visas to foreigners in 2024 compared to 2023, Azernews reports.

According to the country's foreign ministry, Poland has issued more than 98 thousand work visas since the beginning of 2024, in particular to citizens of Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia, while 248 thousand such visas were issued in 2023.

The new Polish authorities canceled the Poland Business Harbour priority visa program, which was actively used by IT specialists.

Warsaw has practically suspended the issuance of humanitarian visas: since the beginning of the year, only 542 such visas have been issued, while last year the Polish authorities approved the issuance of more than 4.5 thousand humanitarian visas.

In addition, the Polish Foreign Ministry decided from June 1 to increase to 135 euros the amount of the visa fee for a category D visa that allows you to stay in the country for more than three months. This is 45 euros more expensive than the standard fee for Schengen visas.

It should be noted that Poland was one of the leaders in the EU in issuing visas during the rule of the Law and Justice Party. In 2020-2022. Warsaw has issued almost 2 million work visas.