Poland plans to speed up immigration procedures for the Polish diaspora in Kazakhstan, a presidential aide said on Tuesday.

Andrzej Dera told Polish Radio that around 7,000 Poles in Kazakhstan were currently awaiting permission to move to Poland.

“The process of repatriating Poles from Kazakhstan is not over. Around 7,000 people are waiting to return to their motherland. We want to speed up these procedures,” Dera said.

Around 150,000 Poles were deported to Kazakhstan after the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, joining thousands more ethnic Poles who were transported there by Stalin in the 1930s.

Since the end of communism the Polish authorities have gradually made it easier for Kazakhstanis of Polish descent to move to Poland.

Dera added that speeding up the repatriation procedure will be a major task in the president’s current term, which is also his last.