Drastic delays in issuing residence permits in Poland - waiting up to 3 years. The residence card problem painfully affects foreigners and Polish employers
Poles are unaware of the scale of the problem and its enormous significance for hundreds of thousands of foreigners living in Poland - drastic delays in issuing residence permits (residence cards). Currently, the waiting time in voivodeship offices is at least a year, and often reaches up to 3 years - writes a reader.
Delays in issuing residence permits in Poland
The problem of constantly prolonging delays in issuing residence permits in Poland is heard from the interested foreigners themselves, as well as from employing entities. Due to demographics, Poland must rely on workers from abroad. For now, this is the most optimal solution for the lack of labor in the Polish market. The authorities also plan greater activation of people with disabilities, women of working age, and older people. So far, the actions taken have not brought spectacular results, and employers themselves most willingly hire workers from outside Poland. The biggest obstacle remains the time needed to issue permits. Foreigners usually wait about one to two years, and sometimes even 3 years for the appropriate document.
Foreigners waiting for permits - hostages of the system
As a reader writes (a foreigner waiting an unimaginably long time for the start of processing their residence card application) - During this time, foreigners function in a legal vacuum. They cannot open bank accounts, take out loans, have great difficulties changing jobs, and handling basic official matters. Worse still, they are effectively trapped within the territory of the Republic of Poland. According to the law, having only a stamp in their passport, they can only travel to their country of origin. For many Belarusians (for political reasons) and Ukrainians (due to the war), return is impossible. They also cannot legally travel to other European Union countries. Even if someone, due to the sluggishness of procedures, wants to give up living in Poland and move to a country where the administration works efficiently, they have no way to do so. They become hostages of the system.
How long does the office have to issue a residence card?
It turns out there is no set period within which the office should issue a decision. - The situation is worsened by the fact that the government long ago suspended the course of deadlines for handling these matters. Once the office had 60 days for a decision, today it can take indefinitely . Foreigners mass-file complaints to administrative courts about the inactivity and prolongation of procedures by offices. Courts almost 100% rule in their favor, offices pay financial penalties (from taxpayers' money), but this still does not speed up the processing of cases. All petitions and letters addressed to the authorities are met with no response or official, template replies. - explains the reader.
Loss of job - leaving the country within 30 days
Moreover, foreigners who decide to work in Poland, without a residence permit, live in limbo. Additionally, they are haunted by the specter of losing their job and the need to suddenly leave the country - It is difficult to understand why, 4 years after the mass influx of foreigners and the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the Polish state has still not reformed the offices and solved the problem of staff shortages. Among foreigners, frustration and a sense of being treated as cheap labor without rights are growing. The prolonged procedures strongly tie the employee to one employer. Losing a job often means having to leave the country within 30 days under threat of deportation . Living in years of uncertainty and helplessness is psychologically devastating. - adds.
Can lawyers help speed up cases?
We ask whether lawyers can accelerate ongoing proceedings. - From what I know, lawyers cannot help much. There are people who help with submitting documents, but they have no influence on the speed of processing the application . There are also scammers who, for a fee, promise to speed up the procedure, but of course, there is no benefit from that.
One year after submitting the application, you can file a reminder, but in most offices it will simply be ignored. A complaint to the court will not speed up the case immediately, but it may have some consequences in the future. *A complaint about inactivity can also be filed after a year, and here a lawyer can indeed be useful. *
However, experiences of people from various chats show that after bringing the case to court, the office suspends the proceedings (if it even started them). Then you have to wait at least six months for the hearing date, and only after the court judgment does the office actually try to issue a decision faster. As a result, in many cases the court path can further lengthen the entire process , and even anger officials who will look for a thousand reasons not to issue a residence card at all, e.g., endlessly demanding the submission of further documents. Therefore, this solution is used only for the most delayed cases and with 100% certainty about one's documents. - explains the reader.
Summary
The problem of sluggishness in issuing residence permits in Poland has been ongoing for years. It negatively affects the lives of foreigners as well as the organization of work in Polish workplaces. In the era of challenges on the Polish labor market related to demography, these matters should be resolved as a priority and expedited. Foreigners coming to Poland for work expect clear communications and transparency from the government. They believe that raising the topic and public interest will help put pressure on decision-makers to introduce real changes.
