Karta Polaka

Initially, the Card could be granted to people who do not have Polish citizenship or permission to reside in Poland and who are citizens of the former Soviet Union states: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

The refund is financed from the part of state budget controlled by the minister responsible for foreign affairs and is made through the proper consul.

The granting of the card is an administrative decision, followed by prescribed procedure commenced upon written application of the individual or his legal representative.

Examples of documents and evidence are: A consul may exempt meritorious Poles from the obligation to fulfil the terms stated above.

Before issuing the decision to grant the card, the consul may ask Head of the Internal Security Agency or other administrative units whether there are reasons not to grant the charter (reasons of defence, security or protection of public order or acting of the applicant against the fundamental interests of the Republic of Poland).

According to Grzegorz Opalinski, consul general of Poland in Lviv, the number of Poles interested in receiving the Card may reach 200,000 in Western Ukraine.

In Lithuania, a conservative MP Gintaras Songaila publicly stated that two MPs who represent Polish minority there (Waldemar Tomaszewski and Michal Mackiewicz) should resign, because they accepted the Card.

In Ukraine, according to estimates of Polish consul in Kyiv, Edward Dobrowolski, only about half applicants received their cards.

[3] Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed in late January 2009, that most applicants come from the areas of Hrodna, Brest, Lutsk and Lviv.