"10% of Belarusian IT Specialists Already in Poland"

The first results of Poland.Business Harbour program.

Today, the cover of the Polish Puls Biznesu reads "Vitaem" in large letters. The main topic of the issue of April 26 is the influx of Belarusian IT specialists to Poland. IT professionals have never arrived in such large numbers in this European country, writes onliner.by.

"Thanks to Poland.Business Harbour program, 10% of Belarusian IT specialists and several thousand businessmen have already come to Poland - almost 8.9 thousand visas have been issued. Two-thirds of local [Belarusian] software developers are considering moving to Poland. We welcome them with open arms," reads the front page of the newspaper.

The article is titled "Belarusians Mostly Choose Poland". The article summarizes the interim results of Poland.Business Harbour program, which Poles are proud of. It started last autumn and is still in operation. The program is as follows - IT professionals can get a national visa D for themselves and their families is free. It is not even necessary to have a job offer - many of them go "nowhere" and find something to do already on the spot. The core condition is to confirm their " IT affiliation" with an education or a work record book. Thousands of Belarusians used this opportunity and came to live in Poland despite the "filter" in the form of a semi-closed land border (the authorities won't let you out of Belarus without an employment contract when crossing the Belarusian-Polish border). People mostly leave the country by plane.

The portfolio of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH) contains the most projects not from the USA, Germany or South Korea, but Belarus. It happens for the first time in Polish history. According to official statistics from 10 August 2020 to 9 April 2021, Belarusians received 8,840 visas marked PBH (Poland.Business Harbour). The program continues to operate - the queue at the visa centre stretches for months.

From September to January, the percentage of IT specialists leaving Belarus and choosing Poland increased 4.3-fold - from 10 to 43%. According to a rough estimate of the publication, the Belarusian IT market has 50-100 thousand specialists (for comparison, the figure in Poland is 430 thousand). The influx of Belarusians continues.

A special team of experts has been created in Poland to ensure unhindered migration from Belarus. There are currently 41 projects under development as part of the PBH program worth over 50 million euros.