Politics After corruption scandal: Poland tightens visa issuing procedures
Poland is tightening its regulations for issuing visas. In future, there will no longer be any opaque channels for the accelerated issuing of visas, said Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in Warsaw. The "Poland Business Harbour" program, which was primarily aimed at self-employed people in the IT sector from neighbouring Belarus, had been suspended. The rules for issuing visas on humanitarian grounds have also been revised.
10.10.2024, 18:01
SDA
Poland, an EU and NATO member state, is thus drawing the consequences of corrupt practices in the issuing of visas under the former national-conservative PiS government, which ruled the country from 2015 to 2023. A report published by the Supreme Audit Office on Thursday confirmed media reports from last fall that Polish consulates issued visas for large sums of money in Asia and Africa during the PiS government.
The results of the audit indicated "that from at least November 2022 to May 2023, there was a non-transparent and corrupt mechanism in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to influence certain Polish consuls to speed up the processing of visa applications," the Court of Auditors' report said.
According to the information, private intermediary companies were also involved in the visa procurement process in violation of the law. One of these companies is said to have been involved in arranging 4,250 visas between January 2018 and March 2024. According to the audit report, it charged applicants up to the equivalent of 7,000 euros for its services.
This generous practice of granting entry permits stood in stark contrast to the anti-foreigner and anti-immigration rhetoric of the PiS government. In August 2023, the then Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk was suddenly dismissed. According to media reports, he was the mastermind behind the scheme. Wawrzyk was arrested in January. He is being investigated on suspicion of corruption.
