Poland sharply increases rejections of asylum claims by Belarusians

Poland has sharply reduced the granting of international protection to Belarusians. This is evidenced by statistics from the Office for Foreigners.

In June, Polish officials issued 21 decisions granting Belarusians refugee status and four more granting subsidiary protection. Negative decisions were issued on 52 applications. The consideration of another 13 cases has been suspended.

Overall, rejections accounted for 57.8% of cases reviewed, which is an unprecedentedly high figure. By comparison, in January–May 2026, negative decisions accounted for only 4.4%, in 2025 they stood at 5.5%, and in 2024 at 5.4%.

The publication notes that the situation deteriorated sharply in May. Specifically, in the first four months of 2026, Belarusians received a total of 14 rejections of protection applications, while 17 negative decisions were issued in May alone.

As previously reported, Polish officials are increasingly taking the view that Belarusians are no longer at risk of political persecution for the events of 2020.