flash news: #foreigners
Due to the serious threat of illegal immigration, on 4 October 2023 border controls were reinstated on the Polish-Slovak section of the national border. Initially, the controls were in force until 13 October 2023, but there have already been two extensions and the current is in place until 22 November 2023. On Friday 17 November 2023, the website of the Government Legislation Centre published a draft regulation of the Minister of Interior and Administration. Under it, the third extension of Polish-Slovak border controls is to apply from 23 November 2023 to 3 December 2023.
13 November 2023 saw the entry into force of Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2409 extending temporary protection in the territory of the European Union for persons fleeing the war in Ukraine.
The temporary protection has been extended for another year, namely until 4 March 2025.
Currently, we are waiting for the Polish provisions of the Ukrainian Special Act (the Act on Assistance to Ukrainian Citizens in Connection with the Armed Conflict in that Country, dated 12 March 2022) to be adjusted to the decision of the EU Council.
A recently published report from GUS (Statistics Poland) shows that 982,200 foreigners were working in Poland on 30 April 2023, accounting for 6.4% of the total number of people working in Poland.
By decision of the President of the Republic of Belarus, since September this year, Belarusians are unable to apply for and obtain passport documents while staying abroad. The latest regulation governing this matter completely deprives Belarusian citizens of the right to apply for a new passport, irrespective of the factual basis (loss of the document, destruction, expiry date), as well as any civil status documents.
Ukrainian citizens who were residing in Poland based on, among others, a national visa, and their stay’s legal validity ended before 24 February 2022 and was then subsequently extended under the COVID-19 Special Act to 31 July 2023, may continue to reside legally in Poland until 4 March 2024. This follows from the interpretation issued by the Head of the Office for Foreigners.
Employers who fail to comply with the obligation to file a notification on the start of work by a Ukrainian citizen can avoid sanctions in certain situations.