Belarus Authorities Want To Limit Rights Of Citizens With ‘Pole’s Card’ Or Other States' Residence Permit

Lukashenka called a meeting.

Aliaksandr Lukashenka is having a meeting on changing the legislation on citizenship. A draft law on the deprivation of citizenship of Belarusians who have left the country is being discussed. In addition, it will also affect those who have received a “Pole’s card” or a residence permit in another country, reports zerkalo.io with reference to the press-center of the dictator.

Lukashenka suggested discussing the requirements for compatriots who received a “Pole's card” or other similar documents.

“We need to find out: either they are citizens of Belarus, or they are simply lost, they just took this card supposedly by accident, or they have a different “orientation”. I think that the internal affairs bodies and the diplomatic service also have other issues in the field of citizenship that cause concern,” he said.

In response to this, Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Kubrakou reported on a number of proposals for the bill. One of them is to consolidate the possibility of restricting the rights and freedoms of citizens of Belarus who have other state’s citizenship, in cases provided for by the Constitution and legislative acts. A person who has received a “Pole’s card” or a residence permit will be obliged to inform the competent authorities about this.

“[The bill] introduces the obligation of citizens of the republic to inform the competent authorities about acquiring citizenship of a foreign state or obtaining a residence permit or other document of a foreign state that gives the right to benefits or other advantages (for example, a “Pole’s card”),” Ivan Kubrakou said (a quote from BelTA).

The Minister of Internal Affairs stated that such information will be used, for example, when applying for a civil service, as well as “solving other issues related to filling public positions that have appropriate restrictions. Also in the field of criminal procedure legislation, social and legal sphere.”

However, the introduction of liability on a citizen for failure to provide information about having documents of foreign countries to the Ministry of Internal Affairs is still considered premature.

What is a “Pole’s card”

This is a document confirming that a person belongs to the Polish people. The cardholder has a number of non-civilian rights. For example: the card allows you to get a long-term national Polish visa for free, work legally in Poland without a special permit, and use the education system for free, engage in business activities in Poland on the same basis as Polish citizens, have a discount on travel in transport, and so on.

More than 140,000 Belarusians received the Pole's Card.