APsplain Polish the bottlneck: Priceless paper: Refugees get IDs for new lives in Poland

Refugees started queuing by Warsaw's National Stadium overnight to get the coveted PESEL identity cards that will allow them to work, live, go to school and get medical care or social benefits for the next 18 months. Still, by mid-morning, many were told to come back another day, the demand was too high even though Polish authorities had simplified the process.
[...]
Poland has so far taken in more than 2 million refugees from Ukraine -- the bulk of more than 3.3 million people that the U.N. says have fled since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Hundreds of thousands more have also streamed into Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Romania.

Most of the refugees fleeing Ukraine have been women and children, because men aged 18 to 60 are forbidden from leaving the country and have stayed to fight.

Polish authorities said more than 123,000 refugees have been given the ID numbers -- including more than 1,000 each day in Warsaw -- since the program was launched Wednesday [16 Mar].

~1.8M to go!
parity watch
UAH (hryvni):PLN (zloty), 1:0.14
PLN:EUR, 1:0.21
PLN:USD, 1:0.23

Refugees can receive one-time benefit of 300 zlotys (USD 70) per person and a monthly benefit for each child under 18 of 500 zlotys (USD 117). Those who find jobs will have to pay taxes on their earnings just like Poles.
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Many of the refugees from Ukraine have since moved on to other countries in Europe, mostly to stay with friends and family. Some, however, have chosen to go back home even as the end of the conflict is nowhere in sight.

Among them was 41-year-old Viktoria, who was waiting Saturday with her teenage daughter Alisa to board a train back to Zhitomyr in central Ukraine.

"For the last five days it has been quiet," said Viktoria. "Our local authorities are good. They prepared everything for us there so we can go back to work, have normal life and children can have online education."

Alisa said she is not afraid to return and wants to reunite with the rest of the family who are still in Ukraine.

"My relatives are there," she said.