Poland issues nearly 78K Pole’s Cards to Ukrainian citizens

Over more than 15 years of the Pole’s Card law being in effect, Poland has issued 77,790 of these documents to Ukrainian citizens.

This was reported by Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), CE Report quotes Ukrinform.

"From 2008 to October 29, 2024, 77,790 Pole’s Cards were issued to Ukrainian citizens, while 2,517 applications were denied," the Polish MFA stated.

Nearly 22% of the total (over 17,000) were issued to Ukrainian citizens after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine had begun.

According to the MFA, interest in obtaining the Pole’s Card remains "consistently high" among citizens of Ukraine and other former Soviet Union countries.

External factors have influenced the issuance dynamics of the Pole’s Card over the last four years, including the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions on application-processing offices, as well as Russia's aggression against Ukraine, which led to legal mechanisms facilitating simplified stays for Ukrainian citizens in Poland and Schengen countries. In 2022, the number of Pole’s Cards issued to Ukrainians fell to over 4,000 but rose to 8,000 in 2023. So far this year, almost 5,500 Pole’s Cards have been issued to Ukrainian citizens.

Among citizens of other former Soviet Union countries, Belarusian nationals have received the most Pole’s Cards (over 100,000), with approximately 40% issued after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine (nearly 40,000). Russian citizens have received over 6,000 Pole’s Cards in more than 15 years, with one-third of them (over 2,000) issued after the onset of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.

Additionally, over 5,000 Pole’s Cards have been issued to Lithuanian citizens and more than 2,000 to Kazakh citizens.

As previously reported, in an address to the Polish Senate this fall, Poland's Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski stated that since the introduction of the Pole’s Card in 2008, Warsaw has issued nearly 215,000 of these documents to individuals of Polish descent living abroad. The highest demand has been among Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian citizens, with interest increasing significantly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

However, he also emphasized that due to the political situation, particularly in Russia and Belarus, there is a growing need to amend the Pole’s Card law to clearly define the criteria for obtaining it in light of Poland's national security.