The EU long-term residence permit (zezwolenie na pobyt rezydenta długoterminowego UE) is issued on a foreigner’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]
Resources are considered sufficient, if for 3 years immediately before the submission of the application a foreigner had an income higher than the income threshold for obtaining social assistance in Poland.[3] For the language requirement, see the problems mentioned in Naturalisation.
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.[4] If the previous asylum procedure ended with a refusal of international protection, the period of this procedure is not taken into account at all.[5] A procedure for an EU long-term residence permit cannot be initiated if a foreigner is a humanitarian protection beneficiary or is seeking asylum.[6]
Refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection may also apply for a permanent residence permit (zezwolenie na pobyt stały) if they continuously stay in Poland for at least 5 years immediately before the submission of the application. The asylum procedure is taken into account in this calculation.[7] 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 640 PLN / 136 €.
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.[8] 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.[9] In 2022, the proceedings regarding the EU long-term residence permit lasted, on average, 205 days, and the proceedings concerning the permanent residence permit 176 days.[10] Importantly, 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 until the end of the year. In new cases, the time limits did not start to run.[11] In January 2023, this suspension was prolonged until 24 August 2023.[12]
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] Article 211(2) Law on Foreigners.
[4] Article 212(1) (2) and (3c) Law on Foreigners.
[5] Article 212(2)(8) Law on Foreigners.
[6] Article 213(1)(e)-(f) Law on Foreigners.
[7] Article 195(1)(6) and Article 195(3) Law on Foreigners.
[8] Articles 201 and 218(1) Law on Foreigners.
[9] Articles 210 and 223 Law on Foreigners.
[10] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 3 February 2023.
[11] Article 100c of the Law on assistance to Ukrainian nationals.
[12] Article 100d of the Law on assistance to Ukrainian nationals, added by the amendment of 13 January 2023.