Applications for international protection should be submitted to the Border Guard (BG) who will then transfer them to the Head of the Office for Foreigners. The Head of the Office for Foreigners is competent to examine the application, so the BG cannot refuse to accept the application.
If the application is lodged at the border or in detention, the BG unit responsible for the border checkpoint or the detention facility is the authority competent to receive it. If the application is lodged on the territory, it can be submitted to any BG unit. There is also a possibility to declare an intention to apply for international protection by post for i.e., elderly persons, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, and persons in hospitals or imprisoned.[1]
When applying for international protection, one has to submit their travel document (e.g., passport) to the BG. Travel documents are kept by the Head of the Office for Foreigners. Asylum applicants are issued a temporary ID document entitling them to stay on the territory of Poland, the Temporary Identity Certificate of a Foreigner (Tymczasowe Zaświadczenie Tożsamości Cudzoziemca). The document is initially valid for 90 days (10 days in the case of Dublin returnees). The document can be prolonged for 6 months (and every 6 months) by the Head of the Office for Foreigners until the end of the asylum procedure.[2]
The BG is entitled to inform an asylum seeker that it is impossible to lodge an application for international protection on the same day they present themselves to the BG unit. However, the BG must then set a date and place when the application will be accepted.[3] In such a situation (e.g., when there is a need to ensure that an interpreter is available), the intention to apply for protection is laid down in a protocol and registered. The Border Guard has 3 working days to ensure the application is lodged and registered (in case of a large number of applications, it is 10 working days). Decision on return cannot be executed during this time.[4]
According to official data, 2,664 declarations for international protection (involving 2,779 persons) were submitted in 2024, compared to 541 declarations covering 574 persons in 2023.[5] Unfortunately, the declarations are registered without any information on the legal grounds of the application and no further details were provided by the Border Guard about the declarations.
On 27 March 2025, the right to apply for international protection on the Belarusian border was suspended for 60 days.[6] This means that declarations to apply for international protection are also not registered. There are exceptions to these rules, which means that even during the suspension period, applications submitted by the following groups should be accepted by the Border Guard:[7]
- Unaccompanied minors,
- Pregnant women,
- Persons requiring special treatment taking into consideration their age or health,
- Persons subject to risk of serious harm in the country from which the person is coming,
- Nationals of Belarus.
Introducing a closed list of persons eligible to apply for asylum without establishing a procedure determining this status will be of little significance in the opinion of NGOs. Border Guard officers cannot be expected to reliably assess health or even determine the correct age without resorting to appropriate procedures and methods.[8]
[1] Article 28(2) Law on Protection.
[2] Article 55(1) and (2) and Article 55a(2) Law on Protection amended by the act of 21 February 2025.
[3] Article 28(1) Law on Protection.
[4] Article 330(1)8 Law on Foreigners.
[5] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 7 March 2025 and 16 February 2024 by the Border Guards.
[6] Ordinance from 6 March 2025 introducing temporary ban on staying in a Belarus border buffer zone, available in Polish here.
[7] Article 33b(2) Law on Protection.
[8] HFHR, Input by civil society organisations to the Asylum Report 2025, available here.