Office for Foreigners

Last year, the Office for Foreigners started a series of meetings aimed at providing information on the legalization of stay. Next information Saturday will be held on March 25 from 9 - 15 at the seat of the office in Warsaw at Taborowa 33.

The temporary protection mechanism, implemented by the EU Council’s decision in March 2022 initially for one year, will be automatically extended until at least 4 September 2023. As a result, the validity of the certificates of temporary protection issued so far, will also be extended alike.

Beginning on January 25th, certificate on temporary protection can be obtained solely based on a written application followed with the submission of the required documents. This relates to foreigners who are not Ukrainian citizens who arrived from Ukraine to Poland after February 24th and who meet the requirements set out in the EU Council’s Implementing Decision.

From 1 January 2023, citizens of Belarus who have obtained a temporary residence permit in accordance with Article 186(1)(9) of the Act on foreigners of 13 December 2013 will be able to obtain a Polish travel document for a foreigner.

The Case handling Module (MOS) available at mos.cudzoziemcy.gov.pl is a new website launched by the Office for Foreigners. The portal allows, among other things, to submit an application for a residence permit, to fill in forms in an intuitive wizard, to correctly prepare documents and to obtain information on migration procedures. The website is available in seven languages.

Works are underway on a draft law amending the act on assistance to Ukrainian citizens in connection with the armed conflict on the territory of the country and certain other laws. One of the changes envisaged by this draft is the repeal of the provision of Article 38 of the Act of 12 March 2022 on assistance to Ukrainian citizens in connection with the armed conflict on the territory of the country (JoL item 583, as amended), providing for the possibility to apply, after 9 months of entry, for a temporary residence permit.

In June the Office for Foreigners started a series of meetings aimed at providing information on the legalization of stay. Next information Saturday will be held on November 26 from 9 - 15 at the seat of the office in Warsaw at Taborowa 33.

An SMS gate for persons who submitted applications for granting international protection was introduced.

From 29 July 2022, new fees for issuing or replacing a residence card, a Polish travel document issued to a foreigner, a Polish identity document issued to a foreigner and a ‘permit for tolerated stay’ document apply. The updated rates take into account the current costs of purchasing and maintaining biometric capture stations, as well as purchasing and personalising blank documents.

Special Act on Assistance to Citizens of Ukraine provides, inter alia, for the extension by law of the validity of national visas until 31 December 2022 in the event that the last day of the period of stay of a citizen of Ukraine in Poland on the basis of a national visa falls within the period from 24 February 2022. Ukrainian citizens may also benefit from an extension of their national visas on a general basis – under special legislation adopted to alleviate for foreign nationals the effects of the SARS-Cov-2 epidemic.