Poland’s conservative governing party was hoping to make migration a key campaign theme ahead of the country’s Oct. 15 parliamentary elections. But not like this.
The Law and Justice party is being rocked by reports that Polish consulates issued visas in Africa and Asia in exchange for bribes, opening the door for migrants to enter the European Union — which some hoped to use as a way into the United States.
I mean, I get the Schengen Area angle for the EU. If you can physically get inside the Schengen Area, there aren’t any internal controls keeping you from going anywhere in Schengen and staying wherever. However, the US thing seems like a stretch to try to show relevance for an American audience.
People in most EU members do have visa-free access to the US, but that’s citizens of that country. Just being some random person out of Africa who happens to be physically present in France or whatever doesn’t mean that the US is going to let you in.
Now, okay, if you can be legally present in Poland for long enough – and I don’t know whether the visa in question permits for that – then I would guess that there’s probably a route to Polish citizenship. Most countries have this. If you become a Polish citizen, then you can get visa-free access to the US, and then you could be illegally present in the US if you enter the US and then overstay your maximum visit length.
But there isn’t a direct link between getting the visa and heading to the US.
From what I’ve read they used P2 artist/entertainer visa, likely some weird corner case that could be abused with enough diplomatic level backing. Polish people are very resourceful when it comes to arranging solutions to impossible things.
I mean, I get the Schengen Area angle for the EU. If you can physically get inside the Schengen Area, there aren’t any internal controls keeping you from going anywhere in Schengen and staying wherever. However, the US thing seems like a stretch to try to show relevance for an American audience.
People in most EU members do have visa-free access to the US, but that’s citizens of that country. Just being some random person out of Africa who happens to be physically present in France or whatever doesn’t mean that the US is going to let you in.
Now, okay, if you can be legally present in Poland for long enough – and I don’t know whether the visa in question permits for that – then I would guess that there’s probably a route to Polish citizenship. Most countries have this. If you become a Polish citizen, then you can get visa-free access to the US, and then you could be illegally present in the US if you enter the US and then overstay your maximum visit length.
But there isn’t a direct link between getting the visa and heading to the US.
From what I’ve read they used P2 artist/entertainer visa, likely some weird corner case that could be abused with enough diplomatic level backing. Polish people are very resourceful when it comes to arranging solutions to impossible things.