Poland wants to ban migrants from driving cars with Belarusian and Ukrainian plates. What changes are being prepared?

What is proposed?

Recently, the Polish Minister of Infrastructure announced the resumption of work on regulatory acts that prohibit the long-term use of cars registered outside the European Union in Poland. This primarily affects cars from Belarus and Ukraine.

The need to limit the possibility of indefinite use of cars registered in third countries in Poland was first discussed last year.

Such cars are effectively outside the legal framework, do not undergo technical inspection in Poland, and are not in a general database that would allow automatic fining of owners for traffic violations.

Now the following changes to the law are proposed. After a year of being in Poland (without a prolonged interruption), such a car will need to be re-registered, insured, and undergo a technical inspection within 30 days, and subsequently continue to be operated and undergo technical inspections like other Polish cars.

There is also a second point in the bill, which concerns the term of the car owner's stay in Poland, and it is shorter.

If the car owner obtains permanent residence status in Poland (meaning a stay longer than 185 days within a year, not permanent residency), they must also re-register the car within 30 days after obtaining such status.

How soon might the changes come?

The bill has not yet been adopted, but could become law by the end of 2026 or beginning of 2027. However, it will only come into force one year after its official publication. For cars that entered Polish territory even earlier, a transitional period of 60 days instead of 30 days is provided.

It turns out that even after the law is adopted, Belarusians and Ukrainians who have long brought their cars to Poland will have a total of another 14 months to drive under the old rules.

What problems will this bring to Belarusians?

If such changes are adopted, the greatest inconvenience could be brought to those Belarusians who ended up in Poland for work, and did not move there permanently.

Павялічыць

The same Belarusian truckers with temporary or permanent residence permits, after 185 days spent in Poland, will no longer be able to drive their Belarusian cars. This, in turn, will mean problems with crossing the border, as Poles will not allow cars with Belarusian plates in such a situation.

And for such a Belarusian to enter Belarus in a car with Polish plates, they must leave a financial guarantee amounting to 100% of the customs duty or obtain a so-called RR passport (register for permanent consular registration) and not have a residence registration in Belarus. That is, officially move for permanent residence to Poland and lose the status of a tax resident of Belarus.

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