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Legal basis

Pursuant to Article 53(1)(2) of the Act on Foreigners of 13 June 2003 (Dz.U. of 2006, No. 234, item 1694, as amended), a residence permit for a fixed period may be granted to a foreigner who conducts business activity under the regulations in force in Poland, which is beneficial to national economy, especially contributes to the increase of investment, transfer of technology, introducing beneficial innovations or creation of new workplaces, providing that the circumstances which are the grounds for applying for a residence permit justify the foreigner's stay in the Republic of Poland for a period longer than 3 months.

Authority issuing the decision

The decision on the issue of residence permit for a fixed period is made by the voivode with territorial jurisdiction over the foreigner's place of residence. A foreigner staying abroad submits the application for a residence permit for a fixed period through intermediary of a consul to the voivode with territorial jurisdiction over the foreigner's place of residence. The application for granting residence permit for a fixed period must be submitted using the official form.

Documents

The foreigner must present a valid travel document, justify the application and attach the following to the application:

• 1)4 up-to-date undamaged, colour photographs, measuring 35 x 45mm, taken within the last 6 months with a uniform, fair background, sharp focus, clearly presenting the eyes and face from the top of the head to the upper part of shoulders, so that the face takes up 70-80% of the photo; the photos should present a person with no headwear and no dark eyeglasses looking ahead with open eyes not covered by hair, with a natural face expression and closed lips;
• 2)documents necessary to confirm the data included in the application and circumstances which justify applying for a residence permit for a fixed period;
• 3)proof of stamp duty payment;
• 4)documents which confirm that the applicant holds health insurance within the meaning of the provisions on healthcare benefits financed from public funds or a confirmation of coverage by the insurer of the costs of treatment in the territory of the Republic of Poland;
• 5)documents confirming having a steady and regular source of income sufficient to cover the cost of maintaining oneself and family members being the applicants's dependants. More

Pursuant to Article 53b(5) of the Act on Foreigners, the income referred to in Paragraph 1(2) - following the deduction of residence costs - falling for each dependant family member or for the foreigner if they are single has to be higher than the amount of income below which social assistance cash benefits are awarded pursuant to the Act of 12 March 2004 on social assistance (consolidated text of Dz.U. of 2008 No. 115, item 728). Whereas pursuant to the provisions of Article 8(1)(1) of the Act on social assistance read in connection with Article 1(1)(a) of the Ordinance of the Council of Ministers of 24 July 2006 on verified income criteria and amounts of cash benefits under social assistance (Dz.U. No. 135, item 950), the right to cash benefits under social assistance, subject to Article 40, 41, 78 and 91, is awarded to a person living in a single-person household whose income does not exceed PLN 477 and to a person, living with family, whose income does not exceed PLN 351.

Article 53b(5a) of the Act on Foreigners stipulates that residence costs, referred to in Paragraph 5, cover at least the amount of regular charges related to the use of the occupied apartment divided by the number of inhabitants, in addition to charges for supply of energy, gas, water and collection of sewage, waste and liquid waste.

Yet with a proviso that pursuant to Article 8(3) of the Act on social assistance, income is a sum of monthly revenues from the month preceding the submission of the application or, in case of a loss of income, from the month in which the application was submitted irrespective of the title and source of income, unless otherwise specified in the Act, subject to deduction of:

  1)  monthly personal income tax;

  2)  contributions for health insurance specified in regulations governing general insurance in National Health Fund and for social insurance specified in separate regulations;

  3)  the amount of alimony payable to other persons.

• 6)legal title to occupy the dwelling in which a foreigner resides or intends to reside. A contract of lending a dwelling for use may not be considered a legal title to live in the dwelling in which a foreigner resides or intends to stay, unless the party lending the dwelling for use is their descendant, ascendant, spouse, parents of the spouse or foreigner's siblings.

Additional requirements concerning the application

The foreigner is obliged to submit an application for a residence permit for a fixed period to the voivod with territorial jurisdiction over the foreigner's place of residence at least 45 days before the lapse of the residence period indicated in the foreigner's visa or before the lapse of validity of the previous fixed period residence permit.

In case when a foreigner has submitted an application within the above time limit and the application is free of defects in form, or the defects in form have been rectified within the deadline, the voivode stamps the travel document of the foreigner, which serves to confirm that the application for residence permit has been submitted. The stay of a foreigner in the Republic of Poland is considered legal until a final decision in the case has been taken.  More

Pursuant to Article 61(2a) of the Act of 13 June 2003 on Foreigners, the stamp in the foreigner's travel document is not equivalent to issuing a visa or a document authorising a foreigner to reside within the territory of the Republic of Poland and authorising them to travel within the territory of Schengen states. 

            The stamp in a travel document is only a confirmation that an application for the award of a residence permit has been submitted within the deadline.

Legality of a foreigner's stay within the territory of the Republic of Poland during the procedure of issuing the residence permit results from the law and it is connected with effective submission of an application for residence permit within the appropriate deadline.

The fact of a foreigner's having a stamp in their travel document, as referred to above, makes it more probable that the foreigner's stay within the territory of Poland is legal, as defined in Article 61(3) of the Act on Foreigners.

A foreigner with a stamp in their travel document may leave the territory of Poland (leaving for a country to which they have entry right), but if they are subject to visa obligation, they should obtain a visa authorising them to enter into and stay within the territory of Poland or a residence permit issued by another Schengen country in order to re-enter the territory of Poland.

In case where the application was submitted less than 45 days before the lapse of the residence period indicated in the visa or before the lapse of the fixed period for which the previous residence permit was issued, and the procedure has not ended before the validity of the currently held residence permit has expired, the foreigner must leave the territory of the Republic of Poland and await the decision abroad.

Appealing

A party not satisfied with the decision of a body of first instance has the right within the statutory 14 days from the day when the decision was delivered to lodge an appeal to a body of higher level, which in the above-mentioned cases is the Head of the Office of Foreigners. Whereas a decision of a 2nd instance body may be appealed against through the intermediary of that body by submitting a complaint to an administrative court within 30 days from the date when the decision was delivered, as these are the courts exercising judicial control over the legality of public administration activity.

Period for which a residence permit for a fixed period is granted

Residence permit for a fixed period is granted each time for the period needed to achieve the purpose of the foreigner's stay in Polish territory, but not more than 2 years.

Stamp duty

A stamp duty amounting to PLN 340 is charged for the issue of a residence permit for a fixed period. A fee of PLN 50 is charged for the issue of a residence card.