flash news
On 9 February 2024, a draft bill on amendments to the Act on Foreigners and certain other acts was published on the website of the Government Legislation Centre, which envisages revolutionary changes in the way applications for residence permits are submitted.
Among other things, the draft provides for the introduction of an obligation to submit the above-mentioned applications via an ICT system.
The first opinions of the provincial governors on the planned changes were made known at the beginning of last week. Most of them are negative – mainly because of the proposed change in the way applications are to be submitted.
On 6 March 2024, another draft bill (dated 26 February 2024) was published on the website of the Governmental Legislation Centre, which aims to implement Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of whistleblowers.
The most important changes for employers compared to the previous draft:
- Subject of violations: The catalogue of areas whose violations may be the subject of whistleblower reports has been expanded. The new areas are: human and civil liberties and rights, corruption, human trafficking, and labour law – as a result, whistleblower reports will be able to concern, inter alia, mobbing, discrimination, correct accounting of working time or observance of health and safety rules.
The Forum on Foreigners at the Mazovian Province Governor's Office was reactivated on March 1st. On that day, the Deputy Governor of Mazovian Voivodeship Office met with public institutions and non-governmental organisations acting on behalf of foreigners in order to plan further activities and discuss current needs in the area of broadly defined support for foreigners in Poland.
The meeting was attended by representatives of 15 NGOs, the Office of the Capital City of Warsaw, as well as the Director and Deputy Director of the Mazovian Voivodeship Office Department of Foreigners' Affairs.
As we read in an announcement from the President of the Central Statistical Office, the average salary in the national economy in 2023 was PLN 7,155.48. This means that a foreigner who wants to apply for an EU Blue Card (i.e. a temporary residence permit to work in a highly qualified profession) must currently earn at least PLN 10,733.22 gross per month (i.e. PLN 1,214 gross more than last year).
On 19 February 2024, the Supreme Court received a legal question (case III CZP 11/24) as to whether a Ukrainian citizen with permanent residence in Poland can inherit under Ukrainian law.
The case originally involved a CJEU judgment (C-21/22) which ruled that EU law does not prohibit the exclusion, on the basis of a bilateral agreement between states, of the application of the law of the country of origin of a foreigner from a non-EU state.
On 21 February the Journal of Laws published an Act amending the Act on Assistance to Citizens of Ukraine in Connection with the Armed Conflict on the Territory of Ukraine, dated 9 February 2024. Under the new legislation, the temporary protections afforded to Ukrainian citizens in Poland and associated privileges have been extended until 30 June 2024.