Foreigners' integration centers. Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz: they should be liquidated

If the centers of integration of foreigners do not bring anything good, then in my opinion they should not be implemented – said Deputy Prime Minister, head of the Ministry of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak -Kamysz on TVN24.

Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz He assessed that the government should “respond to the fears of the citizens that we saw in the presidential campaign.” “Sometimes justified and sometimes heavily exaggerated,” he added. The head of the Ministry of National Defense said he meant migrants.

In his opinion, “PiS centers of integration of foreigners should be liquidated.” To the remark that they are to be a help for migrants who are in Poland and will be in Poland because they are needed for the Polish labor market, said that “not in integration centers is employed”.

Kosiniak-Kamysz spoke about the need for “a greater sense of security”. – It was one of the greatest reasons why Rafał Trzaskowski He lost the election – he said.

The deputy prime minister said that “if these centers do not bring anything good”, in his opinion “they should not be implemented”.

Foreigners' integration centers mainly serve Ukrainians and Belarusians

Foreigners' integration centers are not places of permanent migrants. As the Deputy Minister of the Interior and Administration explained, Wiesław Szczepański, they are information and service outlets addressed to foreigners legally staying in Poland.

In the “Migration Strategy of Poland for 2025-2030” adopted by the government in October 2024, it was explained that the integration centers “are mainly addressed to the citizens of Ukraine and Belarus who are in Poland.” The idea is that in the “one window” a foreigner can find help regarding adaptation in the country, take up work, Polish language courses, psychological assistance for children or other initiatives regarding integration with Polish society.

The CIC institution is therefore more functioning on the principle of an office, not a residence center for foreigners.

The idea of ​​establishing foreigners' integration centers in Poland is not new – dates back to 2021, i.e. the period of the rule of the United Right. It was then that the Ministry of Family and Social Policy announced the pilot of this program, which significantly accelerated after the invasion of Russia at Ukraine in 2022 and the acceptance of refugees from Ukraine. Six centers took part in it: one in the Opolskie Voivodeship and five in the Greater Poland Voivodeship.

The pilot ended officially in October 2023 and collected positive opinions of local governments and foreigners who used the centers. The new government decided to continue this project using recommendations from the pilot. One of them was to locate centers in all 49 former (in part: also present) provincial cities.