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, 2,367 declarations for international protection (involving 2,479 persons) were submitted in 2025, compared to 2,664 declarations covering 2,779 persons in 2024.[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.
Under the Amendment to the Law on Protection of 21 February 2025, the law was amended to allow for the temporary suspension of the right to apply for international protection. Provisions were introduced in response to the crisis at the Polish-Belarusian border.
As of 26 March 2025, the right to submit an application for international protection may be temporarily restricted where:
- instrumentalization is occurring, and
- actions undertaken as part of such instrumentalization pose a serious and real threat to the security of the State or society, and
- imposing this restriction is necessary to eliminate the aforementioned threat, and other measures are insufficient to do so.[6]
For the purposes of the provisions, a definition of instrumentalisation has been introduced into the Law on Protection. Instrumentalisation is understood as actions carried out by a state bordering the Poland or by another entity, aimed at facilitating the crossing by foreigners, in violation of the law, in particular through the use of violence against officers of state services and soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Poland protecting border, or in conjunction with the destruction of border infrastructure, which may result in the destabilisation of the internal situation on the territory of Poland.[7]
The provisions were adopted despite strong opposition from non-governmental organisations, national and international institutions. In a letter addressed to the Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern regarding the draft law, pointing to serious doubts as to whether the provisions are compatible with Article 3 of the ECHR. He noted in particular that the new legislation would restrict access to the territory for persons in need of protection and would result in the expulsion of foreigners from Poland prior to any examination of whether they are in need of international protection. In this context, he referred to the case of M.K. and Others v. Poland.[8] UNHCR in its position indicated that, although migration is clearly being instrumentalised at the Poland–Belarus border and the situation remains highly complex, Poland should respect binding and universal principle of non-refoulement, from which no derogation is permitted, even in situations of war or other emergencies.[9]
The suspension of the right to apply for international protection is decided by the Council of Ministers by way of a regulation.[10] The provisions stipulate that such a suspension should not exceed 60 days;[11] however, with the consent of the Sejm, it may be extended. Since the law does not specify a maximum number of such extensions, in practice they may be applied an unlimited number of times.[12]
The suspension of the right to asylum in practice means that, for its duration, applications for international protection are not accepted, and declarations of intent to apply for international protection are also not registered.[13] There are, however, exceptions to these rules. This means that even during the suspension period, applications submitted by the following, vulnerable groups should be accepted by the Border Guard:
- unaccompanied children;
- pregnant women;
- persons requiring special treatment due to their age or health condition;
- persons facing a risk of serious harm in the country from which they are arriving directly to the territory of Poland,
- nationals of a state engaging in instrumentalisation, from whose territory foreigners arrive on the territory of the Republic of Poland (in practice, this refers to nationals of Belarus).[14]
The above rule does not apply to a third-country national against whom the use of direct coercive measures, firearms, or other weapons was necessary immediately after they crossed or attempted to cross the border using violence and in cooperation with others.[15] An application will not be accepted from such a person, even if they belong to a vulnerable group.
Between 27 March and 31 December 2025 applications for international protection from 420 foreigners (with the highest number recorded in August 2025 – 121 individuals) were not accepted. At the same time, applications for international protection from 71 foreigners belonging to vulnerable groups were accepted, including 30 individuals due to their health condition (22 men, 4 women, and a family of four), 24 pregnant women accompanied by 7 children, 9 unaccompanied children, and 1 elderly person.[16]
The provisions do not provide for an official procedure for determining an individual’s vulnerability. In practice, the Border Guard enjoys broad discretion in this regard. Even prior to the entry into force of the provisions, UNHCR pointed to doubts as to whether Border Guard officers were adequately prepared to identify persons belonging to vulnerable groups. Independently of this, UNHCR also indicated that international law provides no basis for limiting the principle of non-refoulement solely to a restricted category of persons belonging to vulnerable groups.[17] In August 2025, the Commissioner for Human Rights and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights, in a joint statement, called for an amendment of the provisions and for the regulation of the procedure under which an assessment is carried out as to whether a given person qualifies as vulnerable. According to information obtained by the Commissioners, such assessments are currently conducted by Border Guard officers using an internal form completed after a foreign national declares an intention to apply for international protection. The Commissioners also expressed concern that children travelling with their caregivers were not included among the categories of vulnerable persons. They emphasised that children do not lose their status as persons requiring special care and protection merely by virtue of being under the care of adults. Accordingly, they called for the extension of the catalogue of vulnerable persons whose applications for international protection are accepted to include minor foreign nationals.[18] However, in 2025, the regulations in this regard were not changed.
On 27 March 2025, the right to apply for international protection on the Belarusian border was suspended for the first time for 60 days.[19] It was subsequently extended several times with the consent of the Sejm and, as of 26 April 2026 remains in force.
According to the regulation, the temporary suspension of the right to apply for international protection applies at Poland’s border with Belarus. This term raises interpretative doubts, as neither the Law on Protection nor the regulation introducing the restriction includes a definition of the state border. The only definition of border in Polish law is contained in the Law on the Protection of the State Border, which defines the state border as a vertical surface passing through the border line, separating the territory of the Polish state from the territories of other states and from the sea.[20] This would mean that the suspension applies exclusively at the border line itself. Both the Commissioner for Human Rights and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights, in their submission to the Prime Minister, indicated that an issue as important as the scope of the restriction should not give rise to interpretative doubts. [21]
Initially, Border Guard assumed that the suspension of the right to protection applies within border-area facilities of the Border Guard including official border crossings points. According to HFHR, the fact that the suspension also applies at the border crossing in Terespol may indicate that the Council of Ministers exceeded its statutory delegation. The situation of individuals who, seeking protection, present themselves at an official border crossing, undergo border control, and attempt to submit an application for international protection in accordance with the regulations, does not fall within the statutory definition of instrumentalisation.[22]
In September 2025, SIP reported that Polish authorities were unlawfully refusing to accept asylum applications from people who had crossed the Polish–Belarusian border nationwide, even in locations hundreds of kilometres away from the border.[23] Similarly, the Commissioner for Human Rights indicated that the Office had been receiving complaints about refusals to accept applications for international protection across the country, including in guarded centres for foreigners. According to the Commissioner, the basis for such actions is a position communicated to the Border Guard by the Ministry of the Interior and Administration. Under this position, a refusal to accept an application should occur in every case where the Border Guard has information that a foreign national crossed the border illegally, even if the application is submitted in a different voivodeship. The Commissioner stated that applying such an interpretation is contrary to the Constitution, as well as to the very provisions introducing the suspension of the right to asylum. Moreover, the Ministry does not have statutory authorisation to determine the territorial scope of the restriction.[24]
[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 Border Guards, 25 March 2025 and 16 February 2024.
[6] Article 33a(1) Law on Protection.
[7] Article 2(6a) Law on Protection.
[8] Commisioner for Human Rights, ‘Letter to the Marshal of the Senate of Poland’, 4 March 2025, available here.
[9] UNHCR, Comments and Observations on the draft law amending the Act on Granting Protection to Foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland, 12 December 2024, available here.
[10] Article 33a(5) Law on Protection.
[11] Article 33a(2) Law on Protection.
[12] Article 33a(3) Law on Protection.
[13] Artilce 33c Law on Protecion.
[14] Article 33b(2) Law on Protection.
[15] Article 33b(3) Law on Protection.
[16] Information provided by Border Guards, 25 Feburary 2026.
[17] UNHCR, ‘Comments and Observations on the draft law amending the Act on Granting Protection to Foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland, 12 December 2024’, available here.
[18] Commisioner for Children’s Rights, ‘RPD i RPO apelują w sprawie ochrony międzynarodowej’, 18 August 2025, avaiable in Polish here.
[19] Council of Ministers Regulation of 27 March 2025 on the Temporary Restriction of the Right to Submit an Application for International Protection, available here.
[20] Article 1 Law on the Protection of the State Border.
[21] Commisioner for Children’s Rights, ‘RPD i RPO apelują w sprawie ochrony międzynarodowej’, 18 August 2025, avaiable in Polish here.
[22] HFHR, Stanowisko Zarządu HFPC dotyczące mechanizmu czasowego i terytorialnego ograniczenia prawa cudzoziemca do ubiegania się w Polsce o ochronę międzynarodową, 28 March 2025, available here.
[23] SIP, Poland refuses to accept asylum applications nationwide,22 September 2025, available here.
[24] Human Right Commissioner, ‘Zawieszenie przyjmowania wniosków o udzielenie ochrony międzynarodowej. Pismo do MSWiA, 28 October 2025’, available here.