What may your rights and duties in Poland depend on?

A foreigner’s rights within the territory of the Republic of Poland are most often directly linked to the type of his residence document and the purpose of stay. If you have several reasons to stay in Poland (for example: you work or are a student) – you yourself can choose the basis of your further residence legalisation. After meeting statutory requirements – you can be granted a residence status and, consequently, acquire new rights, as well as duties.

Some of your rights and duties may arise from the fact of having a citizenship (or even several citizenships). You must remember then, that within the territory of the Republic of Poland you are perceived as a citizen of the country whose document you used to enter Poland.

Your personal strategy regarding residence legalisation in specific periods of your stay in Poland may have an impact on residence documents of your family members, and may also influence the residence document that you might (or not) be granted in the future. That is why it is worth taking care of every procedural detail: remember about the deadline to submit an application, correctly define your residence situation, adequately justify the application, and present required documents.

Regulations regarding the legalisation of a foreigner’s residence in Poland are included in the following legal acts:

• the Act of 12 December 2013 on foreigners
• the Act of 14 July 2006 on the entry into, residence in and departure from the territory of the Republic of Poland of nationals of the European Union member states and members of their families,
• the Act of 13 June 2003 on granting protection to foreigners within the territory of the Republic of Poland

In this article we will present the most popular ways of legalising foreigners’ residence in Poland.

 Source: Office for Foreigners. Own analysis.

A temporary residence and work permit (article 114)
A temporary residence permit for the purposes of obtaining higher education (article 144)
A temporary residence permit due to other circumstances – not defined by the Act (article 187)
A temporary residence permit for a family member of citizens of the Republic of Poland - spouses (article 158 section 1 point 1)

A temporary residence permit for the purposes of family reunification – a foreigner’s family members (article 159 section 1)

Moreover, in 2014 5,124 permanent residence permits and 1,885 long term  EU residence permits were granted on the basis of the new Act.

A temporary residence permit due to other circumstances – education (article 187 point 1 letter a)
A temporary residence permit due to circumstances requiring a short-term stay
A temporary residence permit for the purposes of conducting business activity (article 142)