After eighteen months of hearings, Poland’s parliamentary inquiry into the so-called ‘visa affair’ adopted its final report on 7 July. The 300-page document accuses former ministers Zbigniew Rau (Foreign Affairs), Mateusz Morawiecki (Prime Minister) and Mariusz Kamiński (Interior) of abusing power by creating fast-track visa channels for applicants from 21 third-countries without proper legal basis. Investigators say that between November 2019 and November 2023, Polish consulates issued over 3.6 million visas, nearly 48 % of all national work visas granted across the EU, making Poland a hub for “visa shopping”. The report alleges that commercial intermediaries were allowed to book bulk appointments and that consuls were pressured to rubber-stamp files, bypassing standard security checks. Eleven notifications to the public prosecutor were approved, targeting the three senior politicians plus eight officials involved in the Poland.Business Harbour programme, an IT-talent route that the commission says was never properly regulated. If prosecutors move ahead, the case could lead to indictments under Articles 231 and 296 of the Criminal Code (failure to fulfil public duties and causing financial damage). The scandal has already had concrete consequences for employers. Since January, all outsourcing of visa appointments to private agencies has been suspended, and consulates have tightened document verification. Companies that rely on large-scale recruitment of non-EU workers have reported waiting times of up to eight weeks for appointments in key source markets such as India and the Philippines. Politically, the findings may complicate Poland’s requests in Brussels for further visa facilitation—for example, for Belarusian IT specialists—and could expose Warsaw to EU infringement action if systemic breaches of Schengen Visa Code rules are confirmed.
Source: Rzeczpospolita
