Every year, the Polish labor market supplies so many immigrants from Ukraine that Polish institutions have a problem with handling their visa applications. A private company helps, but its contract is just about to expire. In order to guarantee the continuity of issuing visas, a new entity should start providing this service in November. It is already known that there is no chance for this because the tender announced by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Kiev contained errors. This means that the issuing of visas for Ukrainians may be suspended next month, and Poland is facing another crisis. The whole situation will have an impact on Polish companies, which benefit to a large extent from the influx of workers from the East.
- Unfortunately, we have a crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, and in a moment we may also have a crisis on the border with Ukraine. This is related to the tender for visa service, which - due to the wrong arrangement - may not be settled, which will result in paralysis - says the Newseria Biznes agency Jakub Kulesza, chairman of the Confederation's deputies.
Polish diplomatic missions in Ukraine issue around 1,2 million visas each year. There are so many Ukrainians' requests to come to Poland that the institutions are not able to handle them on their own. Therefore, cooperation with an external company is needed. This is also the case in other EU countries, where specialized private entities help embassies and consulates to process applications and issue visas.
For Poland has been providing this service for over 10 years is implemented by VFS, an operator that also operates in over 140 other countries. In the process of applying for a visa to Poland, he serves not only Ukrainians, but also, among others, citizens of China, India, Turkey, Russia and Belarus. However, the supplier's contract for handling visa applications from Ukraine expires this year. Therefore, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Kiev announced a tender to select a new entity that will deal with it. Five offers were submitted, including: from the current supplier and the consortium of the French TLS and the Polish company Personnel Service. However, the latter operates mainly in the HR industry and has been specializing in recruiting Ukrainians for 10 years employees to work in Poland. Therefore, it cannot handle visa applications submitted by Ukrainian citizens at the same time, as this would be a conflict of interest. As the Confederation MP emphasizes, the tender announced by the Polish Embassy in Kiev was prepared unprofessionally due to an incorrect specification of the essential terms of the contract.
- During the press conference and in the form of an interpellation, I asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a question about who is responsible for the manner of announcing the tender in which no relevant provisions eliminating the conflict of interest were entered. - says Jakub Kulesza.
For months, entities participating in the tender have been submitting subsequent appeals to the National Appeal Chamber, which has led to legal and procedural confusion. At the moment, each decision will result in further complaints to the National Appeal Chamber, and appeal procedures may last for years. Meanwhile - in order to guarantee the continuity of issuing visas - the new entity should start providing the service in November. There is no chance of that today.
- This tender is currently pending. We have a dispute that delays the entire procedure, and this situation may lead to the fact that we will not have visa service for Ukrainian citizens. This, in turn, can lead to chaos, paralysis and problems on the Polish-Ukrainian border - underlines the chairman of the Confederation's parliamentary group.
The risk of disruption of the visa system is already causing concern in Ukraine. June 25 this year A picket was held in front of the Polish Embassy in Kiev, during which the strikers expressed their concern about the current situation. The possible disruptions in issuing visas in Ukraine were also highlighted by, inter alia, Warsaw Enterprise Institute, which indicates that Ukrainians play an important role in the Polish labor market. In January this year. in Poland there were about 1,35 million citizens of this country, which, despite the downtime related to the pandemic, means 6%. year on year increase. If the inflow of workers from beyond the eastern border is stopped, Polish entrepreneurs will be hurt.
At the same time, WEI emphasizes that a private entity handling such a sensitive process as visa traffic handling must be reliable, have experience in this field and guarantee the security of the procedure and the protection of personal data.
Poland is threatened with another crisis
- I hope that where the officials and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs fail, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will intervene. Especially since we have the highest population flow on the Polish-Ukrainian border. Most people come to work in Poland from this direction. Blocking the entire visa process, possibly caused by incompetence of officials, could lead to a major crisis. Therefore, it would be good if the prime minister intervened in advance - assesses the deputy.
In an interpellation addressed to the prime minister, the MP indicates that the visa crisis in Ukraine "will strike the image of the Republic of Poland as an inefficient state, it will violate the already delicate Polish-Ukrainian relations and, above all, it will stop the activities of state bodies due to the lack of an entity commissioned to operate the system visa ".
- First of all, I would like to clarify who is responsible for the fact that this tender has not been awarded due to procedural errors. I demand that a solution to this problem be found which will not paralyze the entire visa service - emphasizes Jakub Kulesza.
Source: Newseria
