REUTERS
In total, 650,000 people returned to Ukraine from March 13 to April 1.
Spokeswoman for the Polish border guard service Agnieszka Golias says 143,200 Ukrainian migrant workers left Poland for Ukraine within the period from March 15, when the state border was closed over the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, to April 7.
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Of these, 31,000 people returned to Ukraine over the last ten days, the news outlet LIGA.net wrote on April 9, referring to Golias.
According to press secretary of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine Andriy Demchenko, a total of 650,000 people came back to Ukraine from March 13 to April 1. Of these, 185,000 Ukrainians were evacuated by special flights arranged by Ukraine's Foreign Ministry.
On March 28, the Polish Sejm approved an anti-crisis action program worth PLN 212 billion (EUR 45 billion) to support the country's economy. In particular, it is assumed that labor migrants from other countries, including Ukraine, can count on the automatic extension of temporary worker visas and residence permits for the period of the epidemic and at least 30 days after it is over.
According to the consular department of the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland, the number of Ukrainian labor migrants in Poland had grown fivefold since 2014, that is from 300,000 to 1.5 million. However, only 483,000 Ukrainian citizens were officially employed. They accounted for 67% of all legally employed migrant workers in that country.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, money remittances to Ukraine in 2019 amounted to about US$12 billion. The bulk of the money, that is US$3.8 billion, was wired by labor migrants based in Poland.