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Poland adopts amendment to immigrant law

Xinhua, April 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

The lower house of Polish parliament, the Sejm, amended on Wednesday the act which grants protection to foreigners within Poland, so as to allow more time to verify migrants' identities.

According to the amendment, more time will be given to security forces to thoroughly check foreigners, including those coming to the country seeking asylum. The Polish interior ministry believes the measure will increase security in Poland with regards to relocating or resettling migrants.

The major changes include prolonging the amount of time given to the police, border guards, or the Internal Security Agency to deliver information to the Office for Foreigners on whether a certain person poses a threat to the country's security and public order.

Until now, these services only had seven days to process information, which is to be prolonged to 45 days, with a possibility to further prolong that time another 14 days if the situation requires taking such steps.

The amendment also cancels out the presumption that lack of information means the foreigner is a threat to the country's security.

This decision is connected with the European Union's mandatory migrant quota decision made in September 2015 which will see 7,000 refugees and migrants of the 160,000 in Italy and Greece relocated to Poland between 2016 to 2017.

The amendment is to be given to the Senate, the upper house of the Polish parliament to consider. Endit