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Who may submit an application for international protection?

The information provided below explains who may be granted international protection (refugee status or subsidiary protection) in the Republic of Poland.

 

International protection is granted pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 establishing a common procedure for international protection in the Union and repealing Directive 2013/32/EU (OJ L, 2024/1348, 22.5.2024), Regulation (EU) 2024/1347 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 May 2024 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection and for the content of the protection granted, amending Council Directive 2003/109/EC and repealing Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L, 2024/1347, 22.5.2024) and the Act of 13 June 2003 on granting protection to foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland, to third-country nationals or stateless persons who:

  • meet the conditions for being granted refugee status,
  • do not meet the conditions for being granted refugee status but are eligible for subsidiary protection.

A foreigner may be granted refugee status if, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted in his/her country of origin on account of:

  • race,
  • religion,
  • nationality,
  • political opinion, or
  • membership of a particular social group,

he/she is unable or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country. Refugee status is also granted to a minor child who was born in the Republic of Poland and is a child of a foreigner who has been granted refugee status in the Republic of Poland.

A foreigner may be granted subsidiary protection where his/her return to the country of origin would put him/her at real risk of suffering serious harm inflicted through:

  • the death penalty or execution,
  • torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the country of origin,
  • a serious and individual threat to his/her life or physical integrity by reason of indiscriminate violence against the civilian population in a situation of international or internal armed conflict 

– and, because of that risk, the foreigner is unable or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of the country of origin.

Applications for international protection are examined at first instance by the Head of the Office for Foreigners.

 

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