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The Polish government has decided to allocate an additional 19 million zlotys (about $ 5 million) to the Office for Foreigners, Rzeczpospolita reports.
The funds will be used to help people applying for asylum in the country, the publication says. We are talking about social benefits that are assigned to foreigners who have submitted relevant petitions to Polish government agencies and are awaiting a decision.
The number of foreign citizens in this status has exceeded 6 thousand people. At the same time, Poland’s annual budget was initially designed for 3,900 asylum seekers.
In the first three quarters of this year, 12.3 thousand foreigners applied for international protection in Poland. The largest number of applicants are citizens of Ukraine – 4.5 thousand, Belarus – 2.9 thousand, Russia – 0.8 thousand, as well as Somalia and Eritrea – 0.5 thousand each. For comparison, 9.5 thousand people applied for the whole of last year, 9.9 thousand in 2022, and 7.7 thousand in 2021.
Due to the increase in the number of asylum seekers, funds for social assistance have run out. There are not enough funds for medical care for foreigners applying for international protection in Poland and for payment of benefits related to their stay. It is expected that the allocated amount will last for three months.
