First of all, the whole case was not about criminal practices in the issuance of visas, but about booking meetings at consulates. That means you didn’t pay for visas, just your place in the queue. And not consuls or ministers, but corrupt companies or people.
How it works?
You can arrange an appointment at the consulate by telephone, e-mail, but especially via the e-consulat system. The official “releases” a number of on-site meetings per day, based on experience and the calculation of available time and staff in the facility.
The applicant logs into the system and the available date and time of the meeting are displayed. Unfortunately in many places around the world interest in visas is so high and there are so few workers that places disappear very quickly and there is no real possibility of making a date available.
The matter becomes even more complicated when a particular facility collaborates with an external company, that is, outsources the receipt of applications to this company. Then irregularities can and often have arisen, where internet bots could book seats and then sell them to interested parties. This has been happening for years, including: in Ukraine. Even before the war.
Sometimes there is urgency and the consul can of course make an additional appointment with the person concerned. But as the Public Prosecution Service notes, the acceleration itself may have occurred, but did not influence the decision to grant the visa. On the contrary, in these cases there were more denials than visas granted, which only confirms that the officials acted correctly. Even the example described of men from Bollywood shows that it was the officials who became suspicious and checked the applicants, in accordance with the procedures.
There are no work permits from abroad
The second thing is the type of visa. If a worker who already had a guaranteed job went to Poland, he or she was required to have a work permit issued in Poland by the relevant voivodeship office or employment office. It is not possible to obtain such a permit from a foreign institution.
It is also not possible to obtain such a permit without contacting the Polish employer, who can apply for such a permit for the potential employee. Then the so-called a work visa is a visa that is issued for a period of more than 3 months to a year. The visa is temporary and cannot be extended in Poland. It is necessary to return to the country and apply for a new visa.
If it is a shorter trip, you apply for a Schengen visa, which allows you to stay in Poland for a maximum of 90 days. As a rule, you cannot work on such a visa, but you can, for example, hold business meetings. A Schengen visa is in principle valid in all Schengen countries. It is issued by the country the applicant intends to visit first or the country where he or she will reside for the longest time.
If the official himself becomes suspicious, he has a number of options to check the person.
There are no online visas
Another problem is the mythical visa stalls and visas granted online. And here too, it is generally not possible for officials to accept online applications without establishing the identity of the applicant, i.e. simply checking whether the person standing in front of him is the same person whose photo appears in the passport, because such an obligation is included in the Schengen Visa Code.
In addition, if this is the first Schengen visa, or if more than 59 months have passed since the last one, it is necessary to take fingerprints, i.e. appear in person at the office.
The visa application is submitted by the foreigner directly to the consulate or visa application reception point. Outsourced visa application reception points provide only information and organizational services: they organize application submission meetings, accept applications and forward them to consulates for consideration, and return passports along with decisions to foreigners. Point employees do not make decisions about whether or not to grant a visa; the decision-making process remains in the hands of Polish officials.
As a result of the decision to terminate contracts with outsourcing companies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has started to open its own network of reception points for visa applications, using its own infrastructure, among other things.
Simply put, visas are not issued online.
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Source: wPolityce
Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.