The Polish authorities have revealed that the number of work visas issued to foreigners has significantly dropped since the summer when the visa scandal took place.

In the summer of last year, the consulates of Poland in some countries were strongly criticised over allegations of having granted hundreds of thousands of temporary visas to nationals of third countries in exchange for bribes.

Not long after, the government took measures, dismissing the former deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Piotr Wawrzyk, and tightening the work visa issuing rules.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, in the second half of 2023, the number of work visas granted to third-country nationals dropped to 6,500 from 15,100 in the first half.

The Ministry said for Dziennik Gazeta Prawna that in the third quarter of 2023, the country’s consulates issued around 4,800 work visas. The same revealed that in the last quarter of last year, the consulates issued around 1,600 work visas to foreign nationals.

The work visas for Poland are issued by Poland through the Poland Business Harbor Programme, with the latter’s main goal being to attract highly educated workers, mainly IT specialists, to the country.

However, despite its main aim, experts have said that the programme has some serious shortcomings, Money.pl explains.

According to the latter, experts have claimed that the Poland Business Harbor Programme has become a path for foreigners to reach the other Schengen Member States for work purposes instead of Poland.