POLAND: Amnesty for illegal immigrants living in the country as a way to legalise residents and boost the economy

Record ID: 348504

  • Title: POLAND: Amnesty for illegal immigrants living in the country as a way to legalise residents and boost the economy
  • Date: 19th January 2012
  • Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (RECENT) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF WARSAW TOWN HALL VARIOUS OF POLISH FLAG ABOVE TOWN HALL VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WAITING IN OFFICE FOR REGISTERING FOREIGN NATIONALS AS PART OF GOVERNMENT AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FINGERPRINTS BEING SCANNED OF PERSON WHO REGISTERED AS PART OF GOVERNMENT AMNESTY FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FINGER ON SCANNER SCREEN WITH FINGERPRI
  • Embargoed: 3rd February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Poland, Poland
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: Economy
  • Reuters ID: LVACVHQRRDNMVRZSD65BBH13OZ0Z
  • Story Text: Thousands of illegal immigrants will be allowed to stay and work in Poland under an official amnesty.
    Traditionally a country of emigration, Poland has become an increasingly attractive magnet for immigrants, especially from neighboring former Soviet republics such as Ukraine and Belarus, as it notches up high rates of economic growth.
    Under the amnesty, economic migrants and unsuccessful asylum seekers will be able from January 1 to receive a resident card for two years that will allow them to work legally in Poland.
    "I am glad the amnesty finally came, that I can (live) legally, like everyone else, come out of hiding, because it was very unpleasant. You were scared to speak in your own language out of fear of being caught. At last I can buy a normal monthly bus pass instead of paying 300 Zloty for tickets," said Lilia, a Ukrainian with Polish roots hoping to work and live there legally.
    "I have been living here practically almost 16 years. Before, when there were no visas, I came every 3 months. My son grew up here," said Ludmila, who came from the western-Ukrainian city Lviv.
    The amnesty will apply to undocumented immigrants who arrived in Poland before December 20, 2007, and to asylum seekers who were denied refugee status before January 1, 2010, provided that they have continuously resided in Poland.
    Apart from Ukrainians and other former Soviet citizens, members of Poland's ethnic Vietnamese community are expected to be among the main beneficiaries.
    "There is very high interest from foreigners who want to legalise their stay through this law. Within the first 2 weeks almost 1,000 requests have been filed to the Mazowsze Province Governors office. These requests came mainly from citizens of Vietnam, Ukraine and Armenia," said Jacqueline Sanchez-Pyrcz from the Department for Foreigners at the Mazowsze Province Governor's office.
    Most economic migrants entered Poland legally but overstayed their visas, officials say.
    More than two thirds of the illegal immigrants in Poland are believed to live in Warsaw and the surrounding Mazowsze region. Some 7,000 of these people probably fulfill the criteria of the amnesty.
    Legalising the immigrants will benefit the Polish economy by turning them into taxpayers, Sanchez-Pyrcz added.
    "The amnesty means that foreigners can receive a residency permit for a period of 2 years, when they will be able to work legally, pay taxes, use medical services, use all the rights reserved for legal residents. This is beneficial for the foreigner and the state at the same time."
    The campaign is expected to be more successful than previous amnesties implemented in 2003 and 2007 because there are fewer restrictions.
    Eurostat figures show only 0.1 percent of people in Poland were born abroad, the lowest figure in the European Union. That looks set to change thanks to a buoyant economy and labor shortages exacerbated by the emigration of many Polish workers to western Europe since Poland joined the EU in 2004.
    Even as much of Europe slows sharply due to the euro zone debt crisis, Poland's economy is expected to grow by 4 percent this year. It was the only member of the 27-nation EU to avoid recession during the 2008-09 global financial crisis.
    Oleksandra Gusak is one of the people who gathered support for the amnesty programme, drank a toast to success over Orthodox Christmas dinner. Herself being a former illegal immigrant, Gusak managed to obtain residency and began to help fellow immigrants within a group called Committee of Immigrants for Amnesty.
    "The amnesty was very important for me, as a member of the Committee of Immigrants for Amnesty, because I used to be an illegal immigrant myself and I was trying to impose amnesty not only for myself but also for other people from my surrounding. That's why when the amnesty was signed on the 26th of August 2011, there was great euphoria - because finally illegal immigrants were allowed to legalise their residency and stop being afraid, stop running away from such institutions as police, city wardens etc," Gusak said.
    "First of all, illegal immigrants, after living against the law, have developed mixed feelings towards the amnesty, many people are simply afraid to go to a government office and admit that they are living in Poland illegally. But there are also people who have already submitted their requests to the institutions and are benefiting from the amnesty," she added.
    Unemployment in Poland is currently around 12 percent but is much lower in Warsaw and some other big cities, which have seen a big building boom and are preparing to host the Euro 2012 soccer championship next summer.
    In the last two years, the number of applications for work permits in Poland has doubled, with Ukrainians accounting for a majority of the requests.
    The government has also implemented six-month work visas for Ukrainians, Belarusians, Russians, Georgians and Moldovans.
    According to officials, Poland wanted to attract not only seasonal workers employed in such sectors as construction and farming but also highly-skilled workers.
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