Ukrainian citizens may continue to benefit from residence rights extended by the COVID-19 Special Act
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.
Although the COVID-19 Special Act stipulates that extensions of validity and of periods of stay treated as legal ended on 31 July 2023, nevertheless, the Ukrainian Special Act introduced particular provisions giving an independent basis for legalising the stay of Ukrainian citizens in the Republic of Poland.
Nonetheless, this extension is not available to Ukrainian citizens whose legal stay was connected with extensions of permissible short-term stays (e.g. under the visa-free regime or based on Schengen visas).