NAM lawyer Mikhail Kirilyuk together with the representative of Sviatlana Tsihanouskaya's office on legal issues Kristina Rikhter and the head of the legal department of the Center of Belarusan Solidarity Olga Dobrovolskaya took part in the meeting of the working group of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Poland on the legal status of Belarusians in Poland.
They discussed changes in the legislation concerning the legal status of Belarusians in Poland, in particular, the possibility to get a residence permit for humanitarian reasons for up to three years. When obtaining this residence permit, the following possibilities may be provided:
Exemption from paying the application fee
Access to the labor market
Exemption from paying the fee for a temporary residence permit.
These changes may apply to Belarusians who stay in Poland on a humanitarian visa. The specific range of Belarusians, who will be affected by these changes, will be known in the near future. The possibility of opening a center for issuing humanitarian visas on the territory of Poland was also discussed.
For Belarusians staying in Poland on other types of visas, the possibility to take advantage of international protection is preserved. The Polish side assured that it would do its best to minimize the terms of consideration of documents submitted for international protection.
The possibility of obtaining a Polish travel document for Belarusians with temporary residence permits, in particular those with expired passports, was also discussed.