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CITIZENS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

Legal basis

In accordance with Article 53(1) point 19 of the Act of 13 June 2003 on foreigners (Dz. U. of 2006, No. 234, item 1694, as amended), residence permit for a specified period of time is granted to a foreigner who has permission to work on Polish territory under the terms of the legal acts issued by the authorities established under the Agreement establishing an Association between the European Economic Community and Turkey, signed in Ankara on 12 September 1963 (OJ 217, 29.12.1964, p. 3687), if the circumstance, which is the basis for applying for this permit justifies his residence on Polish territory for a period longer than 3 months.  More

The Association Council, established under the Association Agreement, adopted on 19 September 1980 decision No 1/80 on the development of the association.  The adopted decision determined the rights of Turkish workers and their families as regards the access to the labour market of the Member States of the Community.  

It should be noted that the provision indicated above does not apply to all citizens of the Republic of Turkey, but only to those who have access to the Polish labour market under Article 6(1) and (2) and Article 7 of decision No 1/80. 

Article 6(1) and (2) of decision No 1/80 establishes the rights of access of Turkish workers to the labour market of Member States.  The provision indicated above states that:                              

1. "Subject to Article 7 on free access to employment for members of his family, a Turkish worker duly registered as belonging to the labour force of a Member State:

-shall be entitled in that Member State, after one year's legal employment, to the renewal of his permit to work for the same employer, if a job is available;

-shall be entitled in that Member State, after three years of legal employment and subject to the priority to be given to workers of Member States of the Community, to respond to another offer of employment, with an employer of his choice, made under normal conditions and registered with the employment services of that State, for the same occupation;

-shall enjoy free access in that Member State to any paid employment of his choice, after four years of legal employment.

2. Annual holidays and absences for reasons of maternity or an accident at work or short periods of sickness shall be treated as periods of legal employment  Periods of involuntary unemployment duly certified by the relevant authorities and long absences on account of sickness shall not be treated as periods of legal employment, but shall not affect rights acquired as the result of the preceding period of employment."

Moreover, under Article 53 (c) of the Act on foreigners, in the proceedings for granting residence permit for a specified period of time to a citizen of the Republic of Turkey, in connection with the conduct or intent of conducting one's own business, pursuant to the provisions in force in this area in the Republic of Poland, the provision of Article 41 of the  Additional Protocol to the Agreement establishing an Association between the European Economic Community and Turkey (OJ. L 293, 29.12.1972, p. 4; Special edition in Polish: Chapter 11 Volume 11 p. 43) is taken into account.                   In accordance with Article 41(1) of the above Protocol, the Contracting Parties shall refrain from introducing new restrictions on freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services.

Given the above, it should be noted that from the above Protocol follows the prohibition of introducing any substantive or procedural limitations against Turkish nationals engaged in or intending to operate one's own business on the Polish territory, in relation to those that existed at the date of entry into force of the Protocol against Poland, that is, on 1 May 2004. 

In addition, Article 57(8) of the Act on foreigners states that provisions of paragraph 1 points 1-4 and 9-9 do not apply to a foreigner applying for a residence permit for specified period of time under Article 53(1) point 19.

            It should be noted that from the very wording of Article 6(1) of decision No 1/80 follows that - unlike the first and second indent of that provision, which merely specify the conditions under which a Turkish national, who legally entered the territory of a Member State and obtained permit to take the job, can work for the same employer, after one year's legal employment (first indent), or after three years of legal employment and subject to the priority to be given to workers of Member States of the Community, can respond to another offer of employment, with an employer of his choice, (second indent) - the third indent of that provision grants Turkish worker not only the right to respond to the existing offer of employment, but also the unconditional right to seek and take up any paid employment chosen by him (see Judgment of the Court of 23 January 1997 in Case C 171/95 Tetik, ECR I-329, point 26 and the above judgement in Case Nazli, point 27).   In addition, it follows from judicial practice that in order not to negate rights that a Turkish worker derives from third indent of Article 6(1) of Decision No 1/80, that provision must be interpreted as not relating merely to engaging in employment but as granting a Turkish worker already duly integrated into the labour force of the host Member State an unconditional right to employment which implies the right to give up one job in order to seek another which he may freely choose (above judgement in Case Nazli, point 35). Differently because of the first and second indent of that provision, the third indent does not require uninterrupted, as a rule work.

            At the same time it should be noted that the impact, provided for in Article 6(2) of decision No 1/80, of the various causes of interruption of work on periods of employment, refers only to the stage of the acquisition of right referred to in the three indents of Article 6(1), whose scope gradually expands with the period of legal employment, and hence, it only serves for calculating the periods of employment necessary for this purpose (see judgement of 6 June 1995 in Case 434/93 Bozkurt, ECR I-1475, point  38, and the above judgments in cases Tetik, points 36-39 and Nazli, point40).

               It should be noted that Article 53(1) point 19 of the Act on foreigners does not apply to all citizens of the Republic of Turkey, but only to those who have access to the Polish labour market under Article 6(1) and (2) and Article 7 of decision No 1/80.

Authority issuing decision

The decision on granting residence permit for a specified period of time is issued by a voivode competent with respect to the place of residence of a foreigner.  A foreigner residing abroad shall submit an application for a residence permit for a specified period of time through a consul to a voivode competent with respect to the intended place of residence.  Application for granting a residence permit for a specified period of time shall be made on a form.  

Documents:

A foreigner is obliged to:  present a valid travel document, justify the application and attach to the application:

• 1)4 recent photographs - undamaged, in colour, measuring 35 x 45 mm, made in the past 6 months on a plain bright background, with good focus and clearly showing the eyes and face from the top of the head to the top of the shoulders, so that face occupies 70 -80% of a photograph; photographs are to show the person without headgear and dark glasses, looking straight ahead with eyes open, not covered by hair, with natural expression and closed mouth;
• 2)documents necessary to confirm the data contained in the application and circumstances justifying application for a residence permit for a specified period of time;
• 3)proof of payment of stamp duty.

Additional requirements concerning the application

A foreigner is obliged to submit an application for a residence permit for a specified period of time to the voivode competent for the place of residence within a period of at least 45 days before the expiry of the period of stay specified in the owned visa or before the expiry of the previous residence permit for a specified period of time.  

If the deadline for submission of the application has been preserved and the application does not contain any formal defects or they have been completed on time, the voivode shall put a stamp in the foreigner's travel document, which confirms submission of the application.  Stay of a foreigner in this period is considered legal until a final decision is made in the case.   More

Placing a stamp in the travel document of a foreigner, under Article 61(2a) of the Act of 13 June 2003 on foreigners, is not equivalent to issuing a visa or a document authorising a foreigner to stay on Polish territory and authorising to travel within the territory of other Schengen countries. 

            Placing the stamp in the travel document only confirms the submission of the application for granting a residence permit within deadline.

The legality of the foreigner's stay on Polish territory during the procedure for granting permit to stay follows from the law and is related to the fact of effective and timely submission of the application for granting permit to stay. 

A travel document with a stamp mentioned above will make it more likely that the stay of a foreigner on Polish territory is lawful, in accordance with Article 61(3) of the Act on foreigners.

A foreigner who has the above mentioned stamp in the travel document may leave Polish territory (going to the country where he has the right of entry), but if he is subject to a visa requirement, he should obtain a visa to enter and stay on Polish territory or a permit to stay issued by another State of the Schengen area, in order to re-enter Polish territory. 

If the application has been submitted less than 45 days before the expiry of the period of stay under visa or the period for which previous residence permit for a specified period of time was granted, and the proceedings were not completed before the expiry of the permit, the foreigner must leave the territory of the Republic of Poland and await the decision abroad.  

Appeal procedure

The party dissatisfied with the decision of first instance authority shall have the right to apply, within the statutory period of 14 days from the date of notification of the decision, against the decision to the authority of a higher degree, which for the above mentioned cases is the Head of the Office for Foreigners.  In turn, the party can lodge a complaint to the administrative court against the decision of the authority of second instance, through this authority, within 30 days of notification of the decision, and the court exercises judicial review of the performance of public administration in terms of compliance with the law.

The period for which the residence permit for a specified period of time is granted

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

Stamp duty

 Stamp duty of PLN 340 is collected for issuing a residence permit for a specified period of time.  A fee of PLN 50 is collected for issuing a residence card.