Tusk “brings 100,000 Islamic immigrants”? Confederation manipulation

The MEP of the Confederation Anna Bryłka at the end of March convinced in public appearances that “the number of work permits issued” to foreigners was all the time. We explained then in Concrete24that the politician is wrong – the number of work permits has even decreased. But the confederation does not give up the narrative to focus Poles negatively to migration policy and still uses the number of work permits in Poland.

The entry on the confederation profiles of April 8 begins with a quote from the MEP Bryłka: “Donald Tusk deceived Poles and brings 100,000 Islamic immigrants to Poland annually!” We still read: “According to the data of the Ministry of Family and Social Policy in 2024, 323,000 work permits were granted, of which over 100,000 people are newcomers from Islamic countries. We are massively importing Uzbek, Pakistani residents, or citizens of the country of rape culture, i.e. Bangladesh. This anti -immigrant Retory of Tuska has just collapsed – he will just lie!” (original spelling). Finally, Internet users were encouraged to vote for Sławomir Mentzen in the presidential election, “to defend Poland against the influx of immigrants.” The entry was published on the accounts of the Confederation in website xon Facebook and on Instagram (Spelling of all posts original).

Commenting, some Internet users attacked Tusk: “He was lying, lying and will lie such a personality, a dangerous personality because it was controlled by the neighboring country”; “He was always the biggest liar Rudyl”; “That he would only lie in this matter …”.

One many critically referred to the message of the party. “Where does this hundred thousands work? I don't see, and these are not individual people. Such scaring and that's it”; “And then the confederates are outraged as someone will call them racist, xenophobe and Kato-Talib”; “This is a classic example of demagogy and sowing fear. 100,000 work permits for citizens of Muslim countries are not the same as” bringing immigrants by Tusk ” – they wrote.

Some asked for the source and additional information. “Show documents, confirming otherwise it's just your next lies”; “Maybe some source of information? So far PiS has brought the most refugees in history”; “I am asking the source and purpose of the visits and the information on how many they left, because they ended the contract. Without this, the above information will be a pipe” – they noted.

Let's explain: the number of work permits issued by voivods and starosts It does not mean that so many people came to work in Poland in a given year. The work permit legalizes the employment of a foreigner in Poland – but whether he came to Poland at all and legally entered our country, shows the number of issued employee visas. And Polish consulates or consular departments of Polish embassies in countries of origin or residence of foreigners are responsible for employee visits.

On the other hand, foreigners who legally entered our country based on a visit, already live in it and want to stay for longer (for family reasons, study or work), can apply for a permit for a stay over three months. They then receive a residence card from the voivode, which during its validity confirms the identity of the foreigner and entitles him, along with the travel document, to repeatedly cross the border without having to get a visa. And this category – first residence permits – It shows how many foreigners legally staying in individual countries arrived in a given year.

Thus, the transmission of the confederation about “bringing” Islamic immigrants is false – it was based on the number of work permits issued, not employee visas or the first residence permits.

In 2024, 322.9 thous. work permits for foreigners – said At the beginning of April, the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy. Detailed data on, among others citizenship, age, sex or the period of validity of the permit are also available on Vortal of public employment services (run by MRPiPS). For the purposes of this text, we have assumed that Muslim states are the countries where Islam is a dominant religion. As we agreed, there are 46 such countries – including 26 in Asia, 18 in Africa and two in Europe. The data of the public employment service vortal shows that in 2024 citizens of these countries were issued to the citizens of these countries 126,307 work permits in Poland.

We present a statement of 25 of 46 Muslim countries for which citizens were awarded over 50 work permits in Poland. In 2024, the most such permits were obtained by Uzbekistan citizens – 26 073, then Bangladesh – 17,580 and Turkey – 15,051.

More than 10 thousand Permits were issued to citizens: Indonesia – 14 071, Kazakhstan – 11 155 and Turkmenistan – 10 173. The number of permits for people from these countries (TOP 6) constitutes almost 3/4 of all permits for citizens of Muslim countries (74.99 percent).

We emphasize once again that on the attitude of this data it cannot be stated that over 126 thousand. Muslim citizens were “brought” to Poland.

We asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide information on the number of issued employee visas to people from 46 Muslim countries – we have not yet received a response to publishing the text. Except that even the number of issued employee visas does not give information about the final number of foreigners who came to Poland in a given year and can work here. Pursuant to the Polish right to take up work (provided that the appropriate document legalizing work) is entitled to every Schengen visa and national visa, with the exception of a visa issued for: tourist code (visa code “01”) and the use of temporary protection (visa code “20”).

Detailed visas data issued to foreigners in a given year is published by Eurostat in the “first residence” category (first residence permit), dividing them into, among others for permits related to education or work. Of course, not all visa owners had to come to Poland in a given year – but this number shows the actual scale of migration, including economic, to Poland. Only for the data for 2024, however, we will have to wait until September 2025. According to the analyzes we did for 2023then the first residence permits in Poland related to work were issued mainly to Ukrainians and Belarusians – not citizens of Muslim countries.