Ukrainians for the first time ahead of Chechens in the number of applications for political asylum in Poland

Based on the results of the first quarter, Ukrainians took first place in the number of applications for asylum in Poland, for the first time ahead of the previous leaders - Russian citizens of Chechen nationality.

This is evidenced by data from the Polish Administration for Foreigners (UDSC).

For the first three months of this year, asylum seekers in Poland asked 759 Ukrainians, which is 4 times more than in the first quarter of last year.

In general, UDSC received 1089 applications for asylum from all foreigners over the same period.

This year, two Ukrainian citizens received permission to stay in Poland as part of asylum procedures, while for the whole of last year - 17 out of about 2,3 thousand who submitted such applications.

At the end of the 1 quarter, UDSC considered about a thousand more cases of citizens of Ukraine who applied for asylum in Poland, and 2100 Ukrainians received social assistance from the Polish state.

Last year, Poland recorded a record number of asylum applications from Ukrainian citizens, who submitted 50 times as many requests as in 2013 a year, and 3,5 times more than in previous 10 years taken together.

Polish UDSC urged citizens of Ukraine to use the traditional ways of legalizing their stay in Poland through work, rather than seeking asylum, due to the low percentage of positive decisions on such matters.

A spokeswoman for the agency, Eva Infantry, said that only those foreigners can receive asylum, whose life and health are in danger in their own country. In Ukraine, moreover, residents of the regions where military operations are taking place and the Crimea can go to other regions of the country where, according to the USDC, they are guaranteed safe living conditions.