Who supervised consular activity?
Supervision over consular activity was organised at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in an unreliable, unclear and legally questionable way. In the audited period, that supervision was not effectively transferred by the Minister of Foreign Affairs to subsequent secretaries and subsecretaries of state dealing with consular issues. Statutory tasks in this area were allocated to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
According to NIK the Ministry’s supervision over visas as part of the consular activity included illegal, inadequate and unreliable activities and resulted in wasting public funds. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not take complex supervision or law-making activities. Instead, it applied ad hoc and non-transparent mechanisms of discretionary nature which did not help define the visa policy framework.
Over 6 million visas in 6 years
In 2018-2023, nearly 70% of all consular activities included accepting and reviewing visa requests. Nearly 6.6 million visa requests were filed and almost 6.2 million were issued, of which domestic and Schengen visas represented about 80 and 20 percent, correspondingly.
The citizens of Ukraine received more than half of all visas and over 25% were given to the citizens of Belarus. Nearly 6% of all visas were granted to the citizens of Russia and another 6% to the citizens of 76 Muslim countries and Africa.
In each year of 2018-2023, the majority of visas were issued mainly for the purposes of employment, study or as part of the Pole’s Card.
Interestingly, the number of visas issued for the purpose of seasonal work plummeted from over 155 thousand in 2021 to about 13 thousand in 2023. At the same time, the number of domestic visas granted for the purpose “other” – went up from over a dozen thousand in 2018-2019 to more than 66 thousand in 2022, whereas in 2023 it was over 41 thousand. The reason was that the purpose “other” included visas issued as part of the Programme Poland.Business Harbour carried out from September 2020.
Staff and place shortages
The Minister of Foreign Affairs did not properly supervise the visa component of the consular activity of Poland’s diplomatic posts in the countries where the number of visa requests soared in 2019-2023. As a consequence, the Ministry failed to provide sufficient place and allocate necessary staff resources. Also, the organisational and legal solutions to streamline the work of diplomatic posts were missing. As a result, the waiting time for visa meetings prolonged and the activity of visa agents, often fraudulent or at the edge of law, intensified.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to irregularities reported by diplomatic posts in an insufficient and sluggish way.
Limits on visa requests
NIK points out that in the audited period there were no documents in place to define priorities in the visa area. As a result, the Ministry’s actions were ad hoc, sluggish and thus ineffective.
The Ministry set minimum numbers of visa requests to be reviewed by foreign diplomatic posts and expected that Polish consuls increase the number of visa requests reviewed on a permanent basis. The reason were work permits issued on a massive scale. As a result, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contributed to a growth in the number of foreigners waiting to file their requests and have them reviewed. In that way all related issues were shifted onto consular posts. NIK evaluates those measures negatively, the more so that consuls communicated the adverse role of visa agents and their doubts as to the credibility of potential employers in Poland.
Chaos and insecurity in visa environment
At the same time, some of the Ministry’s actions could bring insecurity and chaos into visa activity of the Polish consuls. For instance, in a diplomatic telegram issued in May 2021 the MFA stated that in case of issuing visas for employment purposes the Polish consuls should not verify the employees’ qualifications or examine their professional skills as these issues are part of the governor’s competence. NIK stands in a position that the above statement infringed the consul’s right to unrestrained assessment of visa requests and grounds for potential refusal to issue domestic visas (under the Act on Foreigners).
Non-transparent and corruption-prone mechanism of influencing consuls in MFA
The absence of clear and transparent system solutions gave rise to legally and ethically questionable practices, applied at the Ministry both with individuals and entrepreneurs. At least from November 2022 to May 2023 there was a non-transparent and corruption-prone mechanism of influencing some of the Polish consuls to speed up the review of visa requests and make sure the visa procedure ends with a positive decision. As part of this process the Secretary of State repeatedly exceeded powers of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. For instance, he demanded information and explanations from the Polish consuls on decisions concerning issues handled by the consul. NIK underlines that this conduct was against the Consular Law.
Key participants of that procedure – apart from the MFA employees – were third parties who, directly or indirectly, influenced the visa process.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs did not properly exercise his statutory obligation to supervise the execution of consular functions, which also was a breach of Consular Law.
Ministry’s response to visa scandal
On 15 September 2023, after an outbreak of the visa scandal, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a statement on its website in which it strongly denied information that Poland was an EU country to issue most visas to Schengen zone. To prove that the MFA presented a breakdown on Schengen visas issued in 2021-2022, where Poland (with over 39 thousand visas in 2021 and over 73 thousand visas in 2022) was ranked 15th among the EU Member States.
The NIK auditors found, though, that the data provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was unreliable. It needs to be highlighted that it was and still is possible to enter the Schengen zone with a domestic visa.
The MFA’s statement did not include data on first entry permits which clearly showed that in that category Poland granted most first entry visas of all the EU countries both in 2021 (over 967 thousand in nearly 3 million visas) and in 2022 (more than 700 thousand in almost 3.5 million visas), which makes about 33% and 20% of all the EU visas respectively. Poland’s major share in employee visas granted in 2018-2022 was particularly noticeable.
Leaving out the data provided above distorted the MFA’s data presented to the public on 15 September 2023 and had an adverse effect on the public debate.
MFA supported a job agency
In an illegal, inadequate and improper way the Ministry of Foreign Affairs fostered a job agency for foreigners, as part of one of the capital groups. In 2018-2024 (1st quarter), the total of 4250 visas were granted to persons recruited by companies from that capital group.
Besides, NIK negatively evaluates the fact that the MFA representatives cooperated with the said capital group although they knew that the group of foreigners recruited by the group requested an asylum in Germany instead of taking up work in Poland.
Priority path of accepting visas for key investments
The MFA supported investments defined as key for the Polish economy. The activities being part of that process were taken on an ad hoc basis. They were also non-transparent and illegal. For instance, in August 2022, the Secretary of State launched a priority path in the process of accepting visa requests from foreign employees working on the construction of the so-called Olefin Complex in Płock. In that way the Secretary violated the consuls’ independence and exceeded his powers.
Also the Consular Department Head exceeded his powers and violated the consuls’ independence. He established a simplified visa procedure for nearly 7 thousand foreigners to work on one investment, thus breaching the Act on Foreigners.
More than one thousand visas were issued against the Act on Foreigners in 2019-2023. That was yet another consequence of improper supervision over this area. Because of the staff turnover, as well as numerous errors and gaps in the IT system of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration one could not verify if nearly 17 thousand student visas were properly granted in 2020-2023.
Programme Poland. Business Harbour
The Programme Poland. Business Harbour (or P.BH Programme), which allowed getting a visa for one year without a work permit, was implemented without any legal basis. It was neither passed by the Council of Ministers, nor implemented by a ministerial programme, or had a written version.
Initially the Programme aimed at obtaining IT specialists for the Polish economy, at first from Belarus, later also from other countries (including the Russian Federation). The Programme was launched in September 2020. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not supervise accuracy of the visa procedure conducted based on the P.BH Programme.
Since the Programme was developed in a hurry, getting a visa became the simplest, the fastest and the cheapest way to enter the territory of Poland and the European Union. Besides, the role of consuls in the visa request review process was in fact brought down to visa granting. Granting powers which were uncommon in case of other visas, with no other requirements for other family members or partners (not spouses) and little requirements for the Programme participants enabled tens of thousands of foreigners, mainly from Belarus and Russia, to enter Poland. Besides, it remained beyond supervision and interest of the MFA management. According to NIK, this could have largely contributed to a drop in the state security. As a result of improper supervision over consular activity, 419 visas as part of the P.BH Programme were granted to non-eligible foreigners from 29 states.
Over 95.5 thousand visas were granted in the terms of the P.BH Programme. NIK is particularly negative about granting visas to the citizens of the Russian Federation but also Belarus after the war outbreak in Ukraine. After 1 March 2022, despite limitations in granting visas to the citizens of the Russian Federation, they still obtained visas as part of the P.BH Programme, which was inappropriate. From 1 March 2022 to 31 December 2023, more than 1.8 thousand visas were granted to the citizens of the Russian Federation. NIK points out that the MFA did not make it possible to verify if visas in the P.BH Programme were granted properly.
Ineffective information flow
NIK also underlines the absence of system solutions and fixed, effective mechanisms related to the flow of information between the MFA and diplomatic posts as well as other public institutions and entities, e.g.: ministries, offices at district/ municipality or city levels, universities, the Border Guard and others. The lack of information flow disturbed the monitoring of foreigners’ stay in Poland and fuelled negative phenomena related to illegal migration, growth of shadow economy, illegal visa mediation, and could even support human trafficking risks.
NIK has stressed that without knowing how many foreigners received a visa and how many of them arrived in Poland it is impossible to effectively monitor the foreigners’ stay in Poland.
Questionable IT support
The e-konsulat system [eng. E-consulate] did not operate properly and the system modifications introduced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were insufficient and ineffective. The problem of intercepting appointments at diplomatic posts was still there. Some applicants could not submit a visa request on their own. According to NIK, the Ministry’s failures could make the applicants enter into paid cooperation with dishonest (yet often effective) visa agents.
Minister creates off-site departments
Without any justifications or analyses, the Minister of Foreign Affairs decided to establish off-site departments of the Visa Decision Centre and the Consular Information Centre. As a consequence, from April to December 2023 the MFA wasted approx. PLN 682 thousand.
NIK's comments and recommendations
In the light of the said irregularities NIK has addressed the Minister of Foreign Affairs with the following recommendations:
- transferring the statutory powers of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Secretaries or Undersecretaries of State in an effective, clear and legally unambiguous manner;
- strengthening the Polish consular service;
- adding a new functionality to the Wiza-Konsul system (eng. Visa-Consul): a dictionary with the drop-down menu;
- ensuring effective supervision over reliability of data entered into IT systems by consular post employees;
- creating visa programmes and launching separate paths entitling to issue visa decisions based on effective procedures, in line with the EU and national law;
- developing mechanisms to link visa and residence procedures with the actual intention to achieve and achievement of the purpose for which the visa was obtained;
- implementing processes to monitor the continued fulfilment of the conditions underlying the issuance of visas by persons who obtained them as a result of the activities of the Polish consular services;
and systemic comments on the government policy in this area, including:
- developing a framework for migration and visa policy, also in consultation with EU Member States and other Schengen countries;
- developing public policy tools on migration to ensure legal and organisational conditions and enable taking advantage of migration and minimising its potential adverse effects;
- intensifying detection activities in the area of activity of entities involved in issuing documents for commercial purposes which are to be the basis for obtaining visa documents.
