In Poland, the number of refusals to issue travel documents to Belarusians is growing. What's the reason?

Refusals instead of help: what's happening

In Poland, refusals to issue a Polish travel document for foreigners to Belarusians have become more frequent. This was reported by human rights defenders of the Partyzanka association, who work with migrants and run a free information hotline for assistance.

Formally, the law is on the side of the applicants: Art. 252a of the Law on Foreigners explicitly states: a travel document may be issued if the passport is lost, stolen, damaged, expired, or if the person has never had one. But in practice, everything looks different.

"Something changed in autumn": when the wave of refusals began

A sharp increase in refusals has been recorded since autumn this year. "We had observed problems with issuing Polish travel documents to Belarusians before, but until recently these were isolated, non-systemic cases. We have been observing a significant deterioration of the situation since autumn this year. In October-November, the number of calls to our information hotline from Belarusians who received refusal decisions sharply increased. We are no longer talking about isolated incidents, but about a noticeable trend," note Partyzanka.

Important: the problems do not concern everyone. If a Belarusian applies due to an expired Belarusian passport, the risks are minimal.

Most often, those who declare the loss, theft, or damage of a document are refused.

Warsaw in the lead, but the problem is wider

There is no official statistics, but human rights defenders see that refusals most often come from large cities, primarily Warsaw. At the same time, signals are coming from various cities, which may indicate a change in the general approach or practice.

Real examples of refusals

Partyzanka studied dozens of decisions — the argumentation there is very similar. Typical cases:

• A person could not recall the exact date of passport loss — the office decided that the loss was fictitious.
• The passport was stolen outside Poland, but the applicant did not contact the local police — refusal.
• The police refused to issue a certificate of theft — still a refusal.
• The passport was damaged in everyday life (washing machine, children, animals) — refusal.

In all cases, the authorities conclude: the applicant allegedly continues to possess a valid passport. The decisions contain formulations stating that citizens of Belarus "massively lose or destroy documents" and indicate "invented circumstances."

How to increase your chances of getting a document

Lawyers advise approaching the application as carefully as possible.

1. Describe in detail the circumstances of the loss or damage.
2. Indicate exact dates, place, and sequence of events.
3. In case of theft, always contact the police and obtain confirmation.
4. Attach any evidence, even indirect.
5. Avoid contradictions in the story.

Refusal is not the end: why it's important to appeal the decision

If a refusal has already been received, it must be appealed. Otherwise, upon re-application, the office may state: since you did not complain, it means you agreed that you have a passport.

The appeal is submitted through the office that issued the negative decision, within the specified deadlines. It is then forwarded to the second-instance body — to the Head of the Office for Foreigners (do Szefa Urzędu do Spraw Cudzoziemców).

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