Ms. Joanna Sosnowska, Polish Contact Point to the European Migration Network (Migration Policy Department, Ministry of Interior in Poland) PRACTICAL MEASURES IMPLEMENTED IN POLAND TO REDUCE ILLEGAL MIGRATION
Content The scale of illegal migration in Poland Return policy Forced return and assisted return Readmission Programmes of regularization Bilateral cooperation with country of origin
489,37 km 395,31 km 232,04 km 104,28 km 541,06 km 418,24 km 535,18 km
Illegal migration in Poland As we are dealing with an undocumented phenomenon, which it is impossible to measure precisely estimating the size of illegal immigration is a very difficult task It is impossible to make full use of the classical methods of data collection in relation to illegal migrants None of the ratings made by neither public administration nor any of the research centres can accurately estimate the true size of this phenomenon, also due to the fact that for the majority of illegal migrants, Poland still represents mainly a transit country en route to their target country Estimations of illegal migration in Poland: between 50 000 and 300 000 people
Immigration routes to Poland Balkan route: Turkey Greece FYROM/Albania Serbia Hungary Slovakia Czech Republic Poland (main nationalities: Iraqi, Somali, Afghan, Pakistani, Kosovar, Serbian, etc.) Eastern-route: Central Asia Moldova Russia Ukraine/Belarus Hungary or Slovakia or Poland (main nationalities: Ukrainian, Russian, Pakistani, Afghan, Mongol, Chinese, Vietnamese, Georgian, Iranian, etc.) Mediterranean-route: North Africa/Turkey France Italy Spain (main nationalities: Tunisian, Egyptian, Libyan) Main destinations: Germany, Austria, Italy, Scandinavian countries, Benelux, Spain, Italy, France, Great Britain, Spain and Switzerland
Illegal migration in Poland Main nationalities of irregularly staying foreigners Ukraine Russia Vietnam Belarus Moldavia Third country nationals found to be illegally present in 2010 4005 foreigners (in 2009 4521) apprehensions mainly of nationals of Ukraine (1883), Russia (649), Belarus (286) and Vietnam (253)
Assisted voluntary return in Poland Assistance in voluntary return falls within the Act of 13 June 2003 on granting protection to foreigners within the territory of the Republic of Poland (pursuant to Articles 70 and 75 of the Act) Voluntary return can also be found in the Agreement of 12 July 2005 between the Minister of the Interior and Administration and the International Organization for Migration on the co-operation in the field of voluntary return Additionally - IOM projects assistance in voluntary return since 2003 assisted voluntary return since 2005
Beneficiaries of the assisted voluntary return programmes 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 (till Nov) Number of persons who benefited from assistance in voluntary return (Articles 70 and 75 of the Act) 138 48 514 256 25 14 Number of participants who have been provided with support for voluntary return programmes (implementation of the Agreement of 2005) 228 262 721 226 180 Number of participants who have been provided with support for voluntary return programmes (implementation of IOM projects` co-financed under the financial support of European Funds, the Office for Foreigners and the Border Guard) 184 481 241 1339 1484 1005 TOTAL 550 791 1476 1821 1689 1019
Readmission with Ukraine Poland implemented the provisions of the so called readmission agreements concluded between the EU and Ukraine (1st January 2008) With the basis on art. 15 of the Agreement Poland uses Readmission Committees - platform of collaboration and the experience exchange system Last meeting of the Readmission Committee was held in Brussels on 5th May 2011. The next one will be organized in Ukraine Within the readmission agreement two models are in use: full and accelerated one
Readmission with Ukraine Hungary Poland Slovakia 2010 Ukraine 221 Moldova 35 Georgia 24 Somalia 21 Pakistan - 14 Ukraine 373 Moldova 27 Russia 20 Georgia 13 Afganistan 9 Moldova 124 Afghanistan 61 Georgia 42 Ukraine 31 Russia 10 TOTAL: 339 TOTAL: 453 TOTAL : 308 2011 (I- VII) Ukraine 22 Somalia 18 Ukraine 39 Moldova 13 Somalia 27 Moldova 23 Moldova - 10 Afganistan 11 Russia 12 Afghanistan 3 Georgia 7 Afghanistan 10 Palestine - 2 Belarus 3 Ukraine 4 Russia 2 TOTAL : 79 TOTAL: 61 TOTAL: 191 Data for I. half of 2011
Programmes of regularization (2003 and 2008) ROMANIA 2% RUSSIA SYRIA CHINA MONGOLIA UKRAINE OTHER 5% 2003 VIET NAM 56% CHINA UKRAINE BELARUS GEORGIA MONGOLIA OTHER 2008 ARMENIA 32% ARMENIA 14% VIET NAM 80%
Programmes of regularization (2012) Regularization programme will be held in the form of a residence permit for a fixed period (for 2 years) During their stay the foreigner will be able to take up employment without a permit under contract of employment Competent to conduct proceedings in these matters will be governors and the Head of the Office for Foreigners
Cooperation with Ukraine Information Exchange System with Ukraine (Hungary, Poland, Slovakia on one side and Ukraine on the other side - DSR/MSR Daily Statistics Reports/Monthly Statistics Reports) exchange of statistical data on illegal border crossing, readmission and smuggling and preparation of the risk analysis on the external land border Bilateral exchanche of information between Border Guards from PL and UA (based on Agreement no 12/BP, where exchange of statistics and analysis is mentioned) Local border traffic agreement
Further steps Changes in the Polish law (year 2011) Polish Migration Policy document New regularization programme Guidelines to the project of the Act on Foreigners
Thank you for your attention Joanna Sosnowska Polish Contact Point to the European Migration Network Migration Policy Department, Ministry of Interior Poland esm@mswia.gov.pl http://www.emn.gov.pl