Officials in Warsaw stated at the beginning of this year about the possibility of amending legislation regulating the "Polak Card" in Poland. The ruling party "Law and Justice", which initiated the innovations, stated that it would establish a legal mechanism for the return of ethnic Poles to their homeland, fully protect and facilitate their adaptation process. According to Deutsche Welle, these statements have recently become real. The Polish Sejm passed the government-proposed bill in the first reading.
Thus, holders of the "Polak Card" – a document that confirms a person's affiliation with the Polish people and is issued to citizens of 15 post-Soviet countries that do not recognize dual citizenship – after moving to Poland for permanent residence, will be able to apply for citizenship after just one year. Until now, this was possible only after three years of permanent residence in the country.
Holders of the "Polak Card" can also count on financial support from the state during the first nine months of stay in Poland in the amount of about 140 euros per month, rental assistance, free Polish language learning, and free professional retraining. Moreover, financial support will become centralized – previously, all costs were borne by local self-government bodies. The changes provide that a person can apply for a "Polak Card" not only at consular offices, but also in voivodeships of Poland.
Co-author of the bill, Sejm deputy Michal Dworczyk explained that the innovations are actually a legal basis "for the evacuation and effective assistance to persons of Polish origin, in case of threat to their life or health." In this context, he recalled the evacuation of Poles from the war zone in Donbas. The innovations will also have a positive impact on the demographic situation in the country and improve the economic component, Dworczyk assured. After all, according to experts, up to half a million ethnic Poles currently live in the post-Soviet republics.
The new opportunities to move to Poland and quickly obtain citizenship have significantly energized Ukrainians. They have been massively turning to historical archives, searching for any hints of Polish roots. In a commentary to Deutsche Welle, the head of the document information use department of the Central Historical Archive of Ukraine in Lviv, Ihor Smolskyi, noted that the archive is experiencing a "genealogical boom." "In the first three months of this year alone, over a thousand people have approached the archive for a biographical certificate of a genealogical nature. The number of those wishing to research their origin themselves has also increased," says Ihor Smolskyi.
The scholar directly links this interest to the introduction of "Polak Cards" by Poland. If in 2008 the archive processed about 700 applications for genealogical certificates, then in 2015 there were three thousand, and in the first three months of this year – over a thousand, notes the representative of the Central Historical Archive in Lviv. "A similar situation is observed in all Ukrainian archives. With amendments to the law, the influx will only grow," Smolskyi added.
A similar frenzy is observed in language agencies, as one of the conditions for obtaining a "Polak Card" is knowledge of the Polish language. "Polish is in demand now," says Iryna, manager of the Linguist Foreign Language Center. "Since the beginning of the year, we have already formed several groups. There are also individual lessons and a course for beginners. Even those who have never spoken Polish come to us." The course manager also added that there are separate agencies that directly offer language preparation for the exam for the "Polak Card."
25-year-old Borys Sokolovskyi received the "Polak Card" two years ago, and now he is studying at the Medical University of Lublin and permanently resides in Poland. The young man is determined to fully take advantage of all the benefits of his Polish origin and is already applying for citizenship, albeit under the old rules. "In autumn, it will be three years since I have been permanently residing in Poland, which allows me to submit documents for citizenship. I think now it will become much easier. I spent three months collecting papers and up to a thousand zlotys," the medical student says in a conversation with DW.
The young man is convinced that Polish citizenship will give him bonuses in finding a job and will also change the attitude of Poles to a more friendly one. "I don't feel full acceptance yet, for now I am just a foreign student, even with Polish roots," explains Borys.
Ukraine has received an additional migration risk, the migration expert, director of the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations Iryna Kliuchkovska commented on the new changes in Polish legislation to Deutsche Welle. "No European state has such a liberal and rapid citizenship acquisition procedure. Poland is becoming more and more migration-attractive for Ukrainians, as well as other citizens of post-Soviet countries," says Kliuchkovska.
Poland is conducting a correct, balanced and consistent state policy regarding the preservation of its national interests in connection with powerful global migration processes, the expert notes. "These additional incentives for ethnic Poles are proof that Poland is rather interested in accepting 'close culture', rather than the culture of the Arab or Asian worlds," suggests Kliuchkovska.
In addition, in her opinion, Poland faced a major demographic challenge, as a significant number of its youth and working-age population left for Western Europe. The innovations will contribute to a partial solution of the demographic problem, the expert suggests. "But for Ukraine, where migration moods among young people reach 90 percent, even more difficult times will come. Ukraine should learn from the Poles and take care of similar programs," says the head of the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations.
At the same time, the expert does not rule out that in the future Ukraine may face similar separatist problems in Galicia as currently exist in Transcarpathia, where entire villages of residents have passports of neighboring Hungary. And they openly declare their desire to secede.
The legislative innovations regarding the "Pole's Card" must pass two more readings in the Sejm, be approved by the Senate, and signed by the president. Obviously, the changes will come into effect already at the beginning of 2017.
According to the data of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, over the eight years of the program, the document confirming Polish origin, i.e., the "Pole's Card", was obtained by about 160 thousand people, of which 70 thousand Ukrainians and 76 thousand Belarusians.