The EU long-term residence permit (zezwolenie na pobyt rezydenta długoterminowego UE) is issued on a third-country national’s demand if he or she:[1]
- Resides in Poland legally and continuously for at least five years immediately prior to the submission of the application for the EU long-term residence permit,
- Has stable and regular resources which are sufficient to maintain him or herself and the dependent family members;
- Has appropriate medical insurance;
- Knows the Polish language at least on level B1 (the documents confirming having this knowledge are required).[2] In 2023, the rules concerning the language requirement were changed. More possibilities to confirm knowing the language were introduced and are specified in the Ordinance of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration of 31 May 2023, in force since 24 June 2023.[3]
Resources are considered sufficient, if for 3 years immediately before the submission of the application a third-country national had an income higher than the income threshold for obtaining social assistance in Poland.[4]
The entire period of a refugee’s stay in Poland during the asylum procedure is taken into account in the calculation of the 5-year period if the asylum procedure lasted more than 18 months. In other cases, half of this period is considered.[5] If the previous asylum procedure ended with a refusal of international protection, the period of this procedure is not taken into account at all.[6] A procedure for an EU long-term residence permit cannot be initiated if a foreign national is a humanitarian protection beneficiary or is seeking asylum.[7]
Refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection may also apply for a permanent residence permit (zezwolenie na pobyt stały) if they continuously stayed in Poland for at least 5 years immediately before the submission of the application. The asylum procedure is taken into account in this calculation.[8] The same rules apply to beneficiaries of humanitarian protection but the asylum procedure is not counted to the 5 years period.
The fee for an EU long-term residence permit and a permanent residence permit is PLN 640 / approx. EUR 150.
The authority responsible for the issuance of the EU long-term residence permit and a permanent residence permit is Voivode having jurisdiction over the current place of stay of the applicant.[9] The Head of the Office for Foreigners is a second instance administrative body competent to handle appeals against first instance decisions.
Since 29 January 2022, the procedure should last 6 months (instead of 3) at the first instance and additionally, a maximum of 3 months (instead of 2) if an appeal was lodged.[10] In 2023, the proceedings regarding the EU long-term residence permit lasted, on average, 250 days, and the proceedings concerning the permanent residence permit 202 days.[11] Thus, these proceedings often take many months, if not years. The backlog of cases before the Voivodes is still rising, leading to significant delays in decision-making. Thus, administrative courts have to deal with rising number of complaints on the excessive proceedings. One court – in Łódź – intervened in this regard before the respective Voivode, indicating on the constant violation of rights of third-country nationals.[12] In 2023, the Supreme Audit Office confirmed the deepening inefficiency of the Voivodship Offices.[13] Moreover, in reaction to the war in Ukraine and the large numbers of people seeking temporary protection in Poland, all the time limits in the cases already considered by Voivodes and the Office for Foreigners were suspended. In new cases, the time limits did not start to run.[14] In 2024, this suspension was prolonged until 30 September 2025.[15] This affected the third-country nationals’ right to complain regarding the excessive length of their proceedings.[16]
Since 2017, no data was made available on the number of beneficiaries of international protection granted EU long-term resident status and permanent residence permits.
[1] Article 211(1) Law on Foreigners.
[2] Article 211(1)(3) and (3) Law on Foreigners.
[3] Office for Foreigners, ‘Zmiany w przepisach regulujących udzielanie zezwoleń na pobyt rezydenta długoterminowego UE’, 28 June 2023, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/4aBRcYU.
[4] Article 211(2) Law on Foreigners.
[5] Article 212(1) (2) and (3c) Law on Foreigners.
[6] Article 212(2)(8) Law on Foreigners.
[7] Article 213(1)(e)-(f) Law on Foreigners.
[8] Article 195(1)(6) and Article 195(3) Law on Foreigners.
[9] Articles 201 and 218(1) Law on Foreigners.
[10] Articles 210 and 223 Law on Foreigners.
[11] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 16 February 2024. In some voivodships, the waiting period may be as long as 12-15 months, see e.g. Fundacja EMIC, ‘Czekając na zwykłe życie – legalizacja pobytu migranta/migrantki w Polsce’, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/3IZZRbU, 11 August 2023.
[12] Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘Rzecznik: przewlekłość załatwiania spraw cudzoziemców może jeszcze bardziej się wydłużyć. Odpowiedź MSWiA’, July and November 2023, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/43I1Ivo.
[13] Supreme Audit Office, ‘Obsługa obywateli polskich i cudzoziemców w jednostkach administracji publicznej’, 28 November 2023, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/3UsyFI9.
[14] Article 100c of the Law on assistance to Ukrainian nationals.
[15] Article 100d of the Law on assistance to Ukrainian nationals, added by the amendment of 13 January 2023 and changed by the Law amending the Special Law of 15 May 2024, in force since 1 July 2024.
[16] Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘Rzecznik: przewlekłość załatwiania spraw cudzoziemców może jeszcze bardziej się wydłużyć. Odpowiedź MSWiA’, July and November 2023, available in Polish at: https://bit.ly/43I1Ivo. However, the courts’ views in this regard are not coherent.