Ukrainians threaten Poland’s independence, said Polish public figure Adam Lewandowski on a broadcast of Radio Belarus, which airs in Polish in regions bordering Belarus. According to Lewandowski, he has been picketing near the Polish parliament since last September to protest military aid to Ukraine.
“The Polish Constitution and electoral law are structured in a way that allows Ukrainians who arrived from the East three years ago to already apply for Polish citizenship. The citizenship exam is fairly simple and easy to pass. So those Ukrainians who came to Poland three years ago can take part in parliamentary elections,” Lewandowski said on July 9, 2025.
The general rule for obtaining Polish citizenship is eight to ten years of residency, explained Anna Matievska, a lawyer with the Partyzanka initiative, in a comment to WTF.
“There is an expedited procedure which only applies to people with a Pole’s Card or documented Polish ancestry. Only a very small number of Ukrainians qualify under that exception.”
There is another path to fast-track citizenship — by submitting a request directly to the president. Anyone can apply this way, but in practice, the president typically grants citizenship for strong ties to Poland or exceptional service to the country.
“According to statistics, fewer than a thousand Ukrainians receive this type of citizenship from the president each year on average,” the lawyer noted.
In other words, obtaining citizenship in just three years is more of an exception than the rule. And only Polish citizens can run in parliamentary elections, meaning most Ukrainians who arrived after the full-scale invasion are not eligible.
Ukrainians are not eligible to run in even local elections in Poland. That right is reserved for citizens of EU countries and the United Kingdom who reside in the country.
