Poland resumes work on a ban on long-term driving of cars with Belarusian and Ukrainian plates

Poland's infrastructure minister has announced that work is resuming on regulations that provide for a ban on the long-term use in the country of cars registered outside the European Union. This is reported by non-state Belarusian outlets.

The ban on long-term use of such cars primarily concerns cars from Belarus and Ukraine.

The current rules have not yet been changed. In September 2025, a different proposal was reported: foreigners living in Poland for more than 185 days would be required to register their cars in the country.

The changes could affect a huge number of Belarusians and Ukrainians. Belarusian long-haul truck drivers will find themselves in a special position.

As of the end of 2025, there were about 179.3 thousand citizens of Belarus in Poland, the second-largest group of foreigners after Ukrainians.

In 2022, Belarusians received 36649 driving licences in Poland, and citizens of Ukraine received 59108. In 2024, Belarusians were issued 40955 such licences.

In 2023, Poland's traffic police recorded almost 21 thousand road accidents. Foreigners were involved in 2186 of them: 1035 cases involved Ukrainians, 143 involved citizens of Georgia and 117 involved Belarusians.

In 2025, Polish speed cameras recorded more than 7.4 thousand traffic violations by cars with Belarusian registration. Only 42 fines were issued as a result.

Belarusian state media present the initiative as discrimination: according to the author of the publication, "fugitive zmahars" in Poland are made to feel every day that they are second-class people, and migrants have experienced discrimination on national grounds.

In October 2024, Poland adopted a migration strategy for 2025–2030 that provides for a temporary suspension of the right to asylum. In August 2026, the country presented a new draft migration policy restricting the inflow of foreigners.