Shocking findings regarding the visa scandal. “Security put in the hands of Indians with VFS”

According to media reports, people associated with the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs may have brought hundreds of thousands of migrants to Europe, and corrupt behavior was allegedly involved in the process of issuing visas. So far, seven people have been charged in this case, and three of them have been temporarily arrested. The deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Piotr Wawrzyk, was also dismissed.

Visa scandal

Onet’s findings show that the former deputy minister allegedly forced Polish diplomats to issue visas to the people he indicated. As a result of this practice, an entire channel was to be created for the illegal transfer of immigrants through Europe to the United States. Payments for such transfers ranged from PLN 25,000 to PLN 40,000. dollars.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that all contracts with companies providing visa outsourcing services will be terminated. It also announced an audit of all Polish consular posts. PiS politicians, however, downplay the matter, arguing that the procedure concerns not 300,000 documents, but only 300.

New, shocking findings

On Thursday, Onet revealed further information regarding the visa scandal. This time, the portal described the behind-the-scenes of the proceedings in India and the cooperation of the Polish authorities with VFS Global. According to Onet, the company operating in various parts of the world was to establish cooperation with the Polish authorities in 2012. At that time, the cooperation was to concern visa applications submitted to Polish institutions in Turkey. However, in 2016, after PiS took power, it was extended to Belarus, and in 2019 to India.

The portal’s interlocutors, i.e. Indians who came to Poland and their Polish representative, claim that “pathologies appeared at the very beginning of applying for visas via VFS.” According to the lawyer, “since 2019, access to the Polish embassy and consulate in India has been cut off.”

According to him, “the average Indian had no chance of getting an appointment in the normal way” at VFS. “The online queuing system was blocked by bots and by hackers who got wind of the business. It came to the point that Indians paid various people, including intermediaries with better entries, the equivalent of approximately EUR 800 to arrange a meeting at VFS,” he said, emphasizing that for them these were staggering sums.

According to Onet’s interlocutor, “as many as 90 percent Visa applications were ultimately rejected, so only about 10 percent received approval. lucky people.” In the lawyer’s opinion, people who were granted visas were not properly verified. “The security of the borders of Poland and Europe has been handed over to the Indians from the VFS,” he claims.

“I have doubts whether the visas were not immediately issued by VFS,” said Onet’s source.

Up to 2,700 applications per day

The portal, citing its sources, also provided numbers. The findings show that Every day, each of the nine VFS offices in India received approximately 300 visa applications, in accordance with the adopted limits. In total, it’s approx 2,700 visa applications per day, i.e. 54 thousand per month and 648 thousand per year. conclusions. If only 10% were actually considered positively. that gives it 64.8 thousand annual consents for legal entry into Poland.

However, Indian citizens interviewed by Onet argue that Poland is not an attractive country for them or a “first choice” when it comes to where to stay.