Adventures of a Belarusian in Austria: Arrested for Thefts as Part of a Gang, Initially Mistaken for Polish, and Then Almost Deported to Belarus

The story began in March 2026. At that time, the Austrian Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum (BFA) received a final police report. According to it, the Belarusian was suspected of thefts that he regularly committed as part of a criminal group. In the report, he was recorded as a Polish citizen.

Later, the man was extradited to Austria from Spain on a European arrest warrant. He was transported by plane and immediately taken into custody. The police, the migration office, and the prison indicated his real name in their documents, but his citizenship was consistently stated as Polish. The court that arrested the man also considered him Polish.

The Belarusian was convicted of aggravated theft committed for gain. Some episodes were classified as attempted. He received 15 months imprisonment, with 10 months suspended with a three-year probationary period.

Eventually, the Belarusian's lawyer informed the BFA that his client was a citizen of Belarus, not Poland. According to the lawyer, the man has a residence permit in Poland, valid until the end of November 2026, and after his release, he would leave Austria voluntarily. The lawyer requested that he not be deported.

The agency decided to interview the Belarusian.

He replied that he had participated in protests against the regime and had not reported for military service after being summoned. After this, he went to Poland, obtained a humanitarian visa there, and in 2023, a residence permit on humanitarian grounds. Even before the expiry of his Polish document, he applied for a residence permit in Spain. There, he said, a positive decision had been made, and all that remained was to collect the card, but his arrest on the Austrian warrant intervened. The man stated that after his release, he intended to return to Spain. He requested permission to comment on the specific country to which he was to be expelled, as, he said, there was a big difference whether it was Spain, Poland, or Belarus.

The agency did not verify the arguments and decided to deport him to Belarus, as well as ban him from entering Austria for five years. Regarding the danger in his homeland, the officials wrote one sentence: no grounds were found that would prevent deportation. However, in the same decision, they themselves noted that conditions in Belarusian prisons are «difficult and life-threatening».

On October 13, the Austrian Federal Administrative Court overturned this decision and returned the case to the agency for reconsideration. The judge pointed out that the officials had not even clarified whether they believed the Belarusian's words about the protests and the draft, «especially since for a long time it was even assumed that he was a citizen of Poland».

Meanwhile, the Belarusian himself was released and has already left Austria for Spain, from where, according to his lawyers, he intends to go to Poland.

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