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According to the Act of 13 June 2003 on granting protection to aliens within the territory of the Republic of Poland decisions on granting and withdrawing of the refugee status shall be rendered at I instance by the Head of the Office of Foreigners.

The refugee status in the Republic of Poland shall be granted to an alien who fulfils the conditions for being recognized as the refugee, specified in the Geneva Convention and the New York Protocol. The refugee status shall also be granted to a spouse and a minor child of the alien, if the application for granting the refugee status is related to them, and to an alien's minor child born on the territory of the Republic of Poland.

An alien shall be refused the refugee status, if he/she does not fulfill conditions to be recognized as the refugee, referred to in the Geneva Convention and the New York Protocol, has been granted the refugee status in another country, which provides him/her with real protection.

An alien shall be refused the refugee status for the reason of manifestly unfounded nature of the application, if this application: does not contain any grounds to recognize that there is well-founded fear of persecution referred to in art. 1A of the Geneva Convention, aims to mislead the authority or to abuse the procedure for granting the refugee status, indicates, that an alien has arrived from a safe country of origin or a safe third country to which  he/she has the right to return to or gives reasons to ascertain, that another state-party to the Geneva Convention is responsible for examining the application for granting the refugee status, on the basis of an international agreement binding the Republic of Poland.

In the decision on refusal of granting the refugee status an alien shall be: granted the permit for tolerated stay or ordered to leave the territory of the Republic of Poland within the time limit specified in the decision, not exceeding 30 days. If an alien appeals against the decision on refusal of granting the refugee status, the appeal authority shall specify the new time limit, not exceeding 14 days, for leaving the territory of the Republic of Poland by him / her.

The proceedings for granting the refugee status shall be initiated upon an application submitted personally by the alien to the President of the Office for Repatriation and Aliens.

An alien shall submit an application for granting the refugee status through the commanding officer of the Border Guard division, which territorial scope of activity includes the city of Warsaw or through the commanding officer of the Border Guard checkpoint. An alien who is not authorized to enter the territory of the Republic of Poland shall submit an application for granting the refugee status during the border control upon entry to the Republic of Poland, through the commanding officer of the Border Guard checkpoint.

The authority admitting the application shall inform an alien in a language understandable to him/her about procedures and principles of the proceedings for granting the refugee status as well as about rights vested to him/her, his/her obligations, and legal effects of non-performance of his/her obligations.

An alien applying for the refugee status may contact freely a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as well as any organizations dealing statutorily with the refugee matters. Information and personal data obtained from an alien and from the authorities carrying out the proceedings for granting or withdrawing the refugee status may be used only for the purposes referred to in art. 35 of the Geneva Convention

The authority admitting the application for granting the refugee status shall: verify whether the application has been filled in correctly and whether an alien has indicated his/her name and surname as well as  his/her country of origin, determine the identity of the alien, take photographs and fingerprints of the alien, determine information related to: an alien's country of origin, data of the alien's spouse and minor children staying on the territory of the Republic of Poland, visas or residence permits issued to the alien by the authorities of foreign countries, route of travel to the border and the place of border crossing, the fact of applying for granting the refugee status in another country.

Prior to sending the application for granting the refugee status to the Head of the Office for Foreigners, the authority admitting the application shall determine, whether: at the moment of submitting the application an alien was authorized  to enter the territory of the Republic of Poland or he/she has legally stayed therein; the circumstances referred to in art. 1 sec. F of the Geneva Convention have arisen; shall provide for the performance of medical examinations and necessary sanitary treatments of alien's body and clothes. An application for granting the refugee status shall be immediately send to the Head of the Office, no later however than within 48 hours from the moment of submitting an application by the alien.

An alien applying for the refugee status is obliged to report at summons of the Head of the Office in order to submit testimonies and explanations, make available all evidence to prove the circumstances that justify granting the refugee status, inform about each change of his/her  place of residence, stay on the territory of the Republic of Poland until the day of delivery of the final decision on the refugee status. An alien shall be heard by the President of the Office and provided with a copy of record of such a hearing, upon demand.

The decision on granting or refusal to grant the refugee status should be rendered within the time limit of 6 months from the date of the submission of the application. The decision on the refusal to grant the refugee status for the reason of manifestly unfounded application should be rendered within the time limit of 30 days from the date of submission of the application.

An alien who submits the application for granting the refugee status shall be obliged to deposit his/her travel document as well as travel documents of minor children accompanying him/her and of the spouse referred to in the application, to the Head of the Office through the authority admitting the application. The Head of the Office shall store travel documents deposited until the final decision on granting the refugee status is rendered, and then shall return them to the alien.

An alien who has submitted an application for granting the refugee status shall be issued the provisional identity certificate of an alien, hereinafter called "the identity certificate", for the period of validity of 30 days. The identity certificate confirms an alien's identity and entitles him / her to stay on the territory of the Republic of Poland. When the validity of first identity certificate has expired, the successive identity certificates may be issued to an alien, for the periods of validity not exceeding 6 months until the completion of the proceedings for granting the refugee status.

An alien applying for granting the refugee status shall not be detained unless he/she submits an application for granting the refugee status during the border control, not having the right of entry on the territory of the Republic of Poland or staying on the territory of the Republic of Poland illegally.

An alien, in relation to whom the proceedings for granting the refuge status has been initiated, shall be provided, upon his/her request, with the assistance for the period of the proceedings and for the period of 14 days from the date of delivery of the final decision in this case. The assistance shall include: accommodation in the centre or granting to an alien the financial benefit to cover on his/her own the costs of stay on the territory of the Republic of Poland, granting the medical care. The assistance may also include granting assistance in voluntary repatriation from the territory of the Republic of Poland.

The decisions of the Head of the Office on granting and withdrawing of the refugee status may be appealed against to the Refugee Board. The Refugee Board's decision shall be issued in one month from the alien appeal.