Study of the Lives of Belarusians in Poland in the Focus of the United Transitional Cabinet

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On January 9, Pavel Latushko, Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus and Head of the National Anti-Crisis Management (NAM), held a meeting at the National Bank of Poland with Deputy Directors of the Statistics Department Jacek Kaczerczyk and Grzegorz Dobrachek.

During the meeting, representatives of the Statistics Department presented the report "The Living and Economic Situation of Migrants from Belarus in Poland," based on survey data collected by the National Bank of Poland in 2025.

Representatives of the National Bank of Poland noted that the study showed Belarusian migrants in Poland to be, on average, one of the most educated and entrepreneurial groups of foreigners, the second largest in number (at least 146,000 people) after Ukrainians. About 62% of respondents have higher education, and 14% are engaged in entrepreneurship. The majority of Belarusians (56%) emigrated due to the unsatisfactory political situation in Belarus and fear of repression.

Pavel Latushko thanked the Statistics Department for making the report available for public review and also put forward proposals regarding additional questions to be included in the new stage of the study on the lives of Belarusians in Poland planned by the National Bank of Poland for 2026.

In addition, Pavel Latushka provided representatives of the National Bank with a description of the problems related to the opening and blocking of bank accounts of Belarusians in Polish commercial banks, as well as proposals for resolving this situation. Among the issues highlighted was the fact that Belarusians with expired passports of the Republic of Belarus, as well as holders of international protection status or persons awaiting such status, continue to face difficulties in opening bank accounts and threats of their accounts being blocked.

Moreover, due to the ambiguous interpretation of the latest EU sanctions package, a significant number of citizens have faced the risk of their banking mobile applications being blocked. During the meeting, Pavel Latushko emphasized that any Belarusian man or woman who is legally staying in Poland — including those awaiting legalization, running a business (through a company or as self-employed), working under an employment contract or mandate contract, or studying — all these categories must have the right to a bank account and a mobile banking application, regardless of whether they hold a valid residence permit in Poland. This right also follows from Article 108 of the Polish Act on Foreigners.

Representatives of the Polish side promised to initiate consideration of these issues at the next meeting of the Polish Financial Supervision Commission, whose leadership includes a representative of the National Bank of Poland.

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