Over 5,000 foreigners submitted petitions for int’l protection this year

This year, 5,600 foreigners applied for international protection, the highest number since 2016 and twice as many as last year, an Office for Foreigners spokesperson reported on Monday.

Jakub Dudziak said the applications for international protection were submitted by citizens of Afghanistan (1,700), Belarus (1,600) Russia (800) and Iraq (600).

He said, "so far, the Office for Foreigners has issued positive decisions in 1,200 cases," and that the vast majority of those people were from Belarus (800) and Afghanistan (over 200).

The spokesman pointed out that the group of people from Afghanistan consisted mainly of Afghan citizens who had cooperated with the Polish military contingent and Polish diplomats, and who had been evacuated to Poland in August.