19 Mar 1954 views

Changes to the Foreigners Act and other relevant legislation

The changes come into force on the 29^th of January 2022.

Changes to work and residency permits:

- No need to present in the proceedings documents confirming the place of residence in Poland (such as lease agreement, notarial deed, confirmation of residence).

- Resignation from the requirement to present a source of stable and regular income in favor of the requirement that the foreigner receives a salary not lower than the minimum remuneration for work, regardless of the working time and the type of contract. In practice, this means that each foreigner applying for a residence and work permit must receive at least the minimum remuneration for work (PLN 3010 gross).

- The possibility to change work and residency permit while changing the employer or work conditions. In practice, it means that the foreigner who changes an employer or work conditions will be able to apply for the change of the decision of his current residency permit instead of applying for a new one. The fee for changing the decision is 220 PLN, which constitutes half of the fee for issuing a new residency permit. To change the decision the foreigner will need to submit an application for changing the work and residency permit. The decision to change the permit will be issued within 60 days.

- The foreigner's obligation to notify the competent voivode about the change of employer will be deemed fulfilled also after submitting the application for a change of the permit, if the application is submitted within 15 days after the termination of the contract with the employer.

- Introduction of a priority path for processing applications for a temporary residence permit for foreigners who intend to perform work in entities strategic for the Polish economy. The minister competent for the economy will define the list of enterprises conducting activities of strategic importance.

- Possibility to obtain a residence and work permit in connection with work for several entities at the same time. In this case, the minimum wage requirement applies to the sum of remuneration received from entities in total.

Changes to residence and work permits in a professions requiring high qualifications (Blue Card)

- In the case of applying for a blue card (Blue Card), the gross salary must be equal to or higher than the average salary in Poland, established one year before applying for it. Previously, the amount of wages was related to the average wage in Poland, established for the year one year before the conclusion of the contract.

Changes to all temporary residence permits:

- Introduction of 60-day deadlines for issuing a decision for a temporary residence permit in the first instance and introducing 90-day deadlines for considering the case in the event of an appeal. In practice, this means that the Voivodship Office should issue a decision on granting a temporary residence permit within 60 days. In the event of an appeal, the Office for Foreigners, i.e. the second instance authority, will have 30 days to examine it.

-The deadline for issuing the decision is counted from the date on which the foreigner submits the application in person or from the date on which he submitted a complete application

Changes to permanent residence permits:

- Extension of the deadline for issuing a permanent residence permit to 6 months. This deadline is twice as long as the current statutory deadline. It should be noted, however, that the average duration of the procedure for obtaining a permanent residence permit exceeded 6 months.

Changes to the possibility of obtaining a visa:

- Shortening the time limit for issuing a visa for the purpose of studying, conducting research, internship, volunteering to 30 days from submitting the application and shortening the time limit to 7 days for supplementing the missing documents. This deadline is shorter than the previous 14 days.

- Introduction of a fast-track visa process for a national visa for the purpose of work "5" or "6", available to selected groups of foreigners from countries to be defined by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The selection of these groups would be based on the demand of the labor market.

Changes to declarations of intention to entrust work to a foreigner and work permits:

- Changing the period of work on the basis of a declaration of entrusting work to 24 months from the current 6 months;

- The possibility of changing the position while maintaining the scope of duties or increasing the working time with a proportional increase in remuneration without the need to obtain a new work permit;

- Introduction of solutions allowing for the introduction of priority in examining cases for issuing a work permit for employers of strategic importance for the Polish economy. The minister responsible for economy will define a list of entrepreneurs conducting strategic activity.

Simplified procedure for granting residence and work permits:

In addition, the Act on foreigners introduces a temporary regulation providing for a simplified procedure for granting temporary residence and work permits, e.g. by:

- Issuance of temporary residence and work permits for proceedings initiated before January 1, 2021, which on the date of entry into force of the draft act were not completed with the issuance of a decision. In this case, temporary residence and work permits will be issued for a period of 2 years from the date of the decision.

- Temporary residence and work permits issued under a special procedure will not specify the conditions of work performance and the entity entrusting the performance of work. Therefore, the foreigner will be given a one-time freedom to determine the employer himself. However, foreigners will have to submit to the office a declaration of the entity entrusting the performance of work to the office within 60 days from the delivery of the decision.

- Foreigners who submitted applications for a residence and work permit before the announcement of the state of epidemic threat (March 14, 2020) will be exempt from the obligation to appear in person, if the voivodeship office has not sent a summons by the date of entry into force of the amended act. In the case of issuing the first residence card, the prints will be taken upon its collection.