According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the visa scandal that erupted in the summer of 2023 affected the government's Polish Business Harbor program, which aims to help Polish companies acquire IT specialists.
“In the first half of last year, 15,100 visas were issued under this program, in the second half of the year this number decreased to 6,500, of which 4,800 in the third quarter, and 4,800 in the fourth quarter. 1.6 thousand”. – reports “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”.
The government has restricted the issuance of visas
– due to suspicions about working and staying in the territory of the Republic of Poland, who are participants of the Polish Business Harbor program, as well as in the context of extensive inspection procedures in the visa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the region, the transfer of visa recommendations of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency to the consuls of the Republic of Poland has been suspended,” explained Pawel Wronski, a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (until recently a journalist of “Gazeta Wyborcza”).
According to the data of the Border Guard Headquarters, in the first half of last year, 1,243 foreigners entered Poland under the Polish Business Harbor program, and in the second half of last year – 1,185. Since the beginning of the program, that is, since 2020. A total of almost 13.5 thousand briefings. At the same time, the number of issued visas was about 100,000.
Visa scandal
The issue of the visa scandal During the pre-election campaign, the politicians of the opposition at that time showed it especially harshly. PiS representatives noted that the scale of the violence is small, and the services and the prosecutor's office are carrying out appropriate activities in this case, including the arrest of persons involved in corruption. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to terminate the contracts with all outsourcing companies that have been assigned tasks related to receiving visa applications since 2011.
He was appointed by the Seimas on December 21 Members of the Visa Scandal Investigation Commission. The commission was created to study the legality, regularity and expediency of the actions, as well as cases of violations, negligence and inaction related to the legalization of the presence of foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland from November 12. From 2019 to November 20, 2023.”