The Border Guard, upon admitting the asylum application, has to inform the applicant in a language understandable to him or her and in writing about i.e. the asylum procedure itself, the asylum seeker’s rights, obligations, and the legal consequences of not respecting these obligations, as well as the extent of the material reception conditions. It also provides the asylum seeker with the address of the centre to which they have to report.[1] According to the Border Guard, it is provided in 24 languages.[2]
Upon admission to the centre, asylum seekers receive (in writing or in the form of an electronic document, in a language understandable to them) the rules of stay in the centre (set in law), information about their rights and obligations (which includes all the basic information, including on access to the labour market or on their legal status), information on regulations governing the provision of material reception conditions and about procedures used in case of the person has been subjected to violence, especially against minors.[3] Moreover, the rules of stay in the centre shall be displayed in a visible place on the premises of the centre, in Polish and in languages understandable to the asylum seekers residing in the centre.[4] In the first-reception centres new-coming asylum seekers could also participate in a course on basic information about Poland and the asylum procedure. Since March 2020 though, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, such courses were terminated. In 2022, they were resumed. The Office for Foreigners stated that since April 2022 the number of those courses was increased. They are organised in Polish, English and Russian for three age groups: children, young adults and adults.[5]
It is not envisaged in the legislation which languages the rules of stay in the centre, information about rights and obligations and regulations governing the provision of material reception conditions should be translated into. It states that information has to be accessible “in an understandable language”. The rules of stay in the centre and the above-mentioned information issued on the basis of the current law were translated in practice into English, Russian, Arabic, Pashto, Dari, French, Georgian, Belarusian and Ukrainian.[6]
The Office for Foreigners claims that the centres’ employees speak English and Russian.[7] However, NGOs still consider interpreters’ assistance in the reception centres insufficient, both in terms of the languages offered and in terms of quality.
[1] Article 30(1)(5) Law on Protection.
[2] Information provided by the Border Guard, 17 January 2023.
[3] Para 3 of the Annex to the Regulation on rules of stay in the centre for asylum seekers.
[4] Para 18 of the Annex to the Regulation on rules of stay in the centre for asylum seekers.
[5] Office for Foreigners, ‘Więcej kursów orientacyjnych w ośrodkach dla cudzoziemców’, 29 April 2022, available in Polish here: http://bit.ly/3zla5yD. See also Office for Foreigners, ‘Handbook of the Department of Social Assistance’, 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3UdCDUB.
[6] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 3 February 2023.
[7] Information provided by the Office for Foreigners, 26 January 2022.