About two years ago, Sergey (name changed) learned by chance this spring that he had illegally entered Poland. Polish border guards removed him from a bus at the «Brest — Terespol» border crossing. As a result, the Belarusian received a three-month suspended sentence for a violation he was unaware of. He says he got off lightly: he could have faced several years. How this happened, the Belarusian told MOST.
In 2023, Sergey received a Polish visa and got a job as an international driver with a company from Częstochowa. At the beginning of 2024, when the validity of his first visa was coming to an end, his employer issued him a new work invitation — a declaration of assignment of work to a foreigner. With this document, Sergey applied for a visa at the Polish consulate in one of the regional centers of Belarus.
It seemed everything was going according to plan, but it turned out that the transport company where he worked was facing financial difficulties. It went bankrupt a few months after issuing Sergey the invitation
Upon learning about the problems, the Belarusian began searching for a new job. He found a transport company that was willing to hire him as a long-distance driver. He did not apply for another visa — he entered Poland on the visa obtained for work with his previous employer. However, he officially joined the new company: the employer received a separate permit for his employment.
Having a labor contract in hand and knowing that all taxes and social contributions were being paid from it, Sergey submitted documents for a Polish residence permit. However, he never received it — at the end of 2025, he found a new job in Latvia, also in the field of international transport. In total, he worked for about a year and a half in the second Polish company.
“They took me off the bus and said I had to appear in Częstochowa”
Now, the man's passport has a Latvian visa. This spring, he was traveling to Poland by bus with it. But at the border, he was met with an unpleasant surprise
— In Terespol, they took me off the bus and said I had to appear at the Border Guard office in Częstochowa, — the interlocutor describes the events. It was then that he learned that there were questions regarding his entry into Poland two years ago.
He went to the city where he had previously worked with all the documents: previous labor contracts, certificates of insurance contributions, tax declarations — he wanted to explain that he had worked legally and did not intend to break the law. But the inspector explained that although the work was official, he had entered Poland in violation of the law.
The protocol of the legality control of Sergey’s stay in Poland states that in 2024 he misled the consul: he provided a declaration of assignment of work in the company, knowing that this document was issued solely for obtaining a visa, “since the employer did not intend to employ him, and he himself did not intend to start working in the position indicated in the document.” Therefore, he also obtained the visa unjustifiably.
“Then, using the specified visa, deceitfully, acting in collusion with other persons who were processing and transferring this document, and contrary to the requirements of the law, he crossed the state border of the Republic of Poland at the checkpoint ‘Terespol — Brest’,” the protocol states
Sergey was interrogated in connection with two cases. First as a witness — in the case of invitation trafficking, then as a suspect — in the case of illegal border crossing. In the second case, he admitted guilt himself to minimize the punishment.
As a result, the man received a three-month suspended sentence with a one-year deferment of punishment. He says that if he had resisted, he could have faced three to eight years.
“The Latvian visa saved me”
Since Sergey had a valid Latvian visa, the border guards did not initiate the deportation procedure, but issued him an order to leave for Latvia immediately
— This visa saved me. I was told that if I had received a residence card in Poland (residence permit. — Ed. note), it would have been annulled because at the time of submitting the documents I was in Poland illegally. And there would have been a deportation.
Sergey is not the only one in such a situation. He knows another Belarusian who received an invitation from the same company, which then went bankrupt
Changing employers after arriving in Poland is not an uncommon practice. But Sergey suspects that it was his former employer who attracted the attention of the inspectors because shortly before closing, the company issued many invitations but did not employ any of the employees.
