The decision to detain an asylum applicant is issued for a period up to 60 days by a court, upon request from the Border Guard.[1] If a third-country national presents an asylum application during their stay in a detention centre, the period of detention is prolonged only if the Grounds for Detention of an asylum applicant are met. If so, then the applicant’s stay in the detention centre is prolonged for up to 90 days from the day of filing the asylum application,[2] and if their application is rejected, their stay in detention can be prolonged even if they lodge an appeal against the negative asylum decision. Stay in a detention centre can also be prolonged if before the end of the previous period of detention, the final decision concerning international protection was not issued and the reasons to detain the applicant still exist. In this case, detention can be prolonged by a court for a specified period of time. There are no timeframes set in law other than the maximum total period of detention, which is 6 months for asylum applicants and maximum 18 months for persons facing removal.[3] Prolongation is not possible if the procedure concerning reasons of detention is still ongoing e.g., delay cannot be attributed to any fault on the part of the applicant.[4] However, this is not reflected in courts’ decisions.[5]
If the asylum proceedings end with a final decision within 6 months of applying for refugee status, asylum applicants can spend their whole asylum proceedings in detention. In practice, it means that third-country nationals do not know how long they will spend be in detention centre which causes the distress, anxiety and exacerbates the deterioration of their psychological state. Automatic and long detention of the that third-country nationals,[6] lack of proper psychological assistance has resulted in hunger strikes and suicidal attempts.[7]
[1] Article 89(1) Law on Protection.
[2] Article 89(2)-(3) Law on Protection.
[3] Article 89(4)-(5) Law on Protection; Article 404(5) Law on Foreigners.
[4] Article 89(4a) Law on Protection.
[5] SIP, ‘Another intervention before the ECHR concerning the detention of migrants in Poland’, 20 October 2023, available here and here.
[6] SIP, 11 September 2024, ‘PLN 50,000 compensation for wrongful detention in a guarded center for an Iraqi refugee’, available in Polish here; /Regional Court in Łódź, XVIII Ko 30/23, 15 May 2024, mentioned in SIP, ‘PLN 12,000 for 53 days of illegal detention in a guarded center for foreigners’, 24 June 2024, available in Polish here; HFHR, 11 December 2024, ‘Court awards PLN 40,000 compensation to Ethiopian man for wrongful placement in SOC for 179 days’, available in Polish here.
[7] HFHR, 26 January 2023, ‘Hunger strikes in guarded centres for foreigners – position and recommendations of the HFHR’, available in Polish here.