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Description
The project aims to provide migrants with access to general and specialist counselling services provided by integration counsellors, a lawyer and a vocational counsellor. More and more people with migration experience are coming to Poland. Only in February 2021, more than 28,000 applications for permits for temporary residence, permanent residence and residence of a long-term EU resident were submitted, and almost 17,000 positive decisions were issued. According to the statistical data from the Office for Foreigners and the Mazovian Province Office, the Mazovian Province is the most willingly chosen place to settle or to live temporarily – this trend has been maintained for several years. This means an influx of new people to the region, who do not know the Polish language and Polish realities and are not able to benefit from institutional support. The project will fill the gap in the access to counselling and information services in the whole Mazovian Province, and thanks to the launch of online counselling, also in the whole Poland. The main objective of the project is to provide foreigners with integration, legal and vocational support. Within the project we will directly support at least 800 people with migration experience and provide at least 1500 in-person and online consultations. Thanks to this, the beneficiaries will also acquire skills to deal with legal and administrative problems on their own, and their knowledge of their own rights and obligations as well as knowledge of labour law will increase. This will help avoid the trap of illegal employment or exploitation of ignorance of the law by Polish employers. The project is addressed to migrants, especially from the Mazovian Province. They will be people of all ages and the legal advice will also cover children and young people. Most of them are women, 70% of our beneficiaries are Slavs and 30% are people from Africa, Asia and South America.
Summary of project results
Many migrants experience difficulties in adapting to a new country and sometimes challenges in dealing with everyday matters; some of them experience violence and human rights violations related to abuse by employers or legal and administrative problems. The opportunity to visit the Foundation and obtain support also plays an important role of psychosocial support, and by visiting this friendly place they have access to other activities and support under other projects of the Foundation (including activities aimed at counteracting gender-based violence, training, psychologist support, integration events and events, etc.).
During the reporting period, the information and advisory point provided advice and assistance to foreigners on the following issues: legalization of stay, including administrative procedure and substantive law, in particular civil and family law, employment rights of foreigners, improvement of employee competences, work counseling, advice and assistance integration, psychological and social, child care and family reunification, activities increasing contact and integration with Polish society.
The point registered unique service users in the database when providing direct advice, there are 780 such people. 49% of beneficiaries are people from Ukraine, 12% from Belarus and 9% from India, then in terms of the number of people using our services are Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Iran and Azerbaijan. In total, we provided support to people from 52 countries.
Following the escalation of the war in Ukraine, advisors provided support by phone and on social media, at advisory and transit points. Such advice and beneficiaries were not officially recorded in the database to respect emergencies and avoid data collection concerns.
Advisors provided 2,309 registered direct advice, but much more support was provided due to open shifts for refugees and telephone line support. The legal advisor provided 306 pieces of advice in the most complex legal cases, and the three most experienced legalization advisors provided 1,524 pieces of advice. Career counselors provided 324 pieces of advice.