Poland deported nine Pakistani nationals aboard a military aircraft that departed Kraków-Balice Airport on 29 June 2026, following administrative decisions ordering their removal from the country. According to the Polish Border Guard, the main reasons for the forced returns were a lack of valid residence documents and unlawful crossings of the Polish-Belarusian border. The operation was carried out in cooperation with Poland’s military aviation services.
The Polish Border Guard confirmed the deportations in an official statement published on 30 June.
All nine individuals had received administrative return decisions that were enforceable by the authorities.
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The Border Guard said the operation was organised by its Foreigners Affairs Directorate in cooperation with the Polish Air Force’s 8th Transport Aviation Base.
Specialist Border Guard officers were responsible for maintaining security aboard the aircraft.
Why were the nine Pakistani nationals deported?
According to Polish authorities, the deportation orders were primarily connected to two immigration violations.
The first was the absence of documents authorising lawful residence in Poland.
The second involved crossing the Polish-Belarusian state border in breach of the applicable regulations.
The Border Guard did not specify when the individuals had entered Poland, how long they had remained in the country or the circumstances in which each person had been identified by immigration authorities.
Officials also did not publish information establishing whether the nine individuals had applied for international protection or whether any applications had been refused.
The announcement concerned administrative immigration enforcement. It did not report criminal convictions against the nine Pakistani nationals.
This distinction is important because an administrative decision requiring someone to leave Poland is not, by itself, evidence that the person has been convicted of a criminal offence.
Polish military aircraft used for deportation operation
The aircraft departed from Kraków-Balice Airport, near Poland’s second-largest city, on Monday, 29 June.
The operation involved cooperation between the Border Guard and the 8th Transport Aviation Base, which is stationed at Kraków-Balice and operates military transport aircraft.
Border Guard officers from the service’s operational security units accompanied the passengers.
The military’s involvement provided transport support for the removal operation, while the Border Guard remained responsible for enforcing the immigration decisions and maintaining security.
The official announcement did not identify the aircraft model, its destination airport, flight route or the cost of the operation.
Although the Border Guard described the nine passengers as Pakistani nationals being deported from Poland, it did not provide independently verifiable details of their arrival at a particular airport in Pakistan.
What is a forced return under Polish immigration law?
Polish immigration authorities can issue an administrative decision requiring a foreign national to leave the country when the legal grounds for their stay are absent or other statutory conditions apply.
Some decisions allow a period for voluntary departure. Others may be subject to compulsory enforcement, depending on the circumstances and applicable rules.
The Border Guard provides information about return decisions and appeal procedures, which form part of Poland’s immigration enforcement system.
In the Kraków case, the Border Guard explicitly confirmed that all nine individuals were subject to return decisions that could be forcibly executed.
The agency did not release the individual decisions or establish publicly whether entry bans had been imposed, or for how long.
Therefore, any suggestion that all nine received a particular Schengen entry ban would go beyond the confirmed information.
Part of a wider series of return operations
The June deportation was not the first operation in 2026 involving Pakistani nationals and Polish military transport.
On 3 February, the Border Guard carried out a separate operation that removed 25 Pakistani nationals from Poland using military aircraft.
According to the Carpathian Border Guard Unit’s account of the February operation, that flight was organised in cooperation with the 33rd Transport Aviation Base in Powidz and the 8th military aviation base in Kraków.
The February and June deportations were separate operations involving different groups of people.
They demonstrate that the Polish authorities have repeatedly used military aircraft to carry out immigration removals.
Poland’s border with Belarus has been a major focus of its migration and security policy since 2021, when irregular crossings and disputes over the role of Belarusian authorities escalated.
Poland is also part of the EU’s Schengen Area, making its eastern frontier an external border of the passport-free travel zone.
For Polish authorities, enforcing return decisions is part of managing immigration rules and border controls.
What remains unknown about the nine deportees?
The Border Guard’s June announcement established the deportation date, nationality of the people removed, legal grounds cited and the agencies involved.
However, several details were not publicly disclosed.
These include the dates of their initial entry into Poland, whether any had sought asylum, the individual immigration decisions, possible entry bans and the destination of the military flight.
No later official update resolving those points was identified during this review.
The confirmed outcome remains that nine Pakistani nationals were forcibly removed from Poland on 29 June 2026 following enforceable return decisions, with the Border Guard and Polish military aviation services cooperating in the operation.
