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Schengen Agreement is an international treaty whose purpose is to provide a free movement of persons between the countries that are a part to it. The Agreement was signed on the day of 14 June 1985 (the so-called Schengen I). The Agreement definitely started to be binding on 26 June 1995. This was caused by the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985.

The Convention Implementing (the so-called Schengen II) introduces a complex set of compensation provisions (safety measures) and confirms the intention to abolish the check of movement of the individuals and to facilitate the transport of goods across the internal borders of particular countries that belong to the European Community.

The Agreement is open for all members of the European Union. Freedom of persons' movement within the so-called Schengen zone that arises from this Agreement does not apply only to the citizens of the countries that signed the Agreement, but to all individuals of different nationalities and citizenships who cross the internal borders at the territory that is covered with the Agreement.  

Poland, along with other 8 new members of the European Union, entered the Schengen zone on the day of 21 December 2007. The uniform rules concerning entry and short-term stays in their territory were adopted by these countries.

Third-country nationals, in order to enter the Schengen territory, have to possess a valid travel document and a visa, if it is required. Additionally, they have to satisfy the following requirements:

- they justify the purpose of their travel and conditions of their intended stay and have sufficient means of subsistence, both for the period of the intended stay and for the return to their country of origin or transit to a third country into which they are certain to be admitted, or are in a position to acquire the above-mentioned means lawfully;

-  no alert has been issued for them for the purposes of refusing entry;

-  they are not considered to be a threat to public policy, national security or the international relations of any of the Schengen States.

Schengen States issue the following types of uniform visas which entitle the holder to enter and to stay in the Schengen territory:

• airport transit visa (A) -valid only for airport transit, does not entitle the holder to leave the transit zone of the airport;
• transit visa (B) -valid for transit through the Schengen territory for a period not exceeding 5 days;
• short-stay visa (C) -valid for stays of no more than 90 days per period of 6 months following the first entry.

Apart from uniform visas, Schengen States issue national long-stay visas (D) and residence permits which are valid only for the territory of the issuing State.

National long-stay visas entitle the holders only to pass through the territory of other Schengen States in order to arrive at the territory of the country which issued the visa that was specified above.

Holders of residence permits issued by one of the Schengen States are allowed to travel within the Schengen area during a maximum 3-month period.

In case of the Republic of Poland these are the residence titles:

• - a residence permit for a definite period of time
• - a permit to settle
• - a EC long-term resident stay permit
• - a permit for tolerated stay
• - a refugee status

While crossing the border of the Republic of Poland, the alien who is in possession of one of the permits that were mentioned above should have a valid residence card which is a document that testifies to holding the residence title in Poland.

Experiences of the Office for Foreigners as acquired from the perspective of several months following the admission to the Schengen area within the scope of the system for providing the protection at the territory of the Republic of Poland:

The entry of Poland to the Schengen area did not affect the legal regulations and judicial decisions within the scope of granting the protection to the aliens at the territory of the Republic of Poland. It resulted, however, in the significant increase in the number of applications for granting the refugee status that were submitted in 2007 in the Republic of Poland. In 2007 there were 4 563 applications of this kind that were accepted. There were 10 048 individuals covered with the applications for granting the refugee status. In comparison with 2006, there was a 45% increase in the number of applications that were filed and a 41% increase in the number of individuals who applied for granting the refugee status. Remarkable upward tendency was reported during the months that preceded the admission to the Schengen area. For example, in September 2007, 478 applications which covered 1 087 individuals were submitted; in October, 473 applications covering 1 023 persons; in November, 572 applications that concerned 1 354 individuals; in December, 1 028 applications concerning 2 466 individuals.

This kind of tendency was, above all, caused by the aliens' fears which were completely unjustified and groundless from the objective point of view, that upon admitting Poland to the Schengen area, entering to the territory of our country and filing an application for granting the refugee status will be hindered or even impossible. Access to the status procedures, however, was by no means limited. Therefore, there was a decrease in the number of applications for granting the refugee status as filed in 2008 up to 4 154 as a result of ‘cooling the atmosphere' that accompanied the admission of Poland to the Schengen area (the applications that were specified above concerned 8 517 individuals).

Due to the fact that most of the aliens who apply for granting the refugee status benefit from the assistance as rendered by the Office for Foreigners while the proceedings are pending, provision of accommodation and proper social and medical aid to these individuals became a serious problem. It was necessary to establish successive centers for the aliens who apply for granting the refugee status. At the end of 2007 there were 21 centers (3 centers that belonged to the Office and 18 that were leased) in which 6 287 individuals had been accommodated. Additionally, 854 persons were rendered assistance outside the centers by making benefits in cash which they were to be used to cover the residence costs at the territory of our state on their own.

What was observed after 21 December 2007 was an upward tendency of willful departures of the persons staying under the care of the Office from the centers for foreigners who applied for granting the refugee status. Having left the territory of our country, these individuals usually set out for Austria, Germany and France where they resubmitted the applications for granting the refugee status. 

It should be pointed out, however, that the admission to the Schengen area did not release Poland from the obligations that arise from the provisions of the Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national (the so-called Dublin II). With regard to the foregoing, in 2008 there was an increase in the number of applications that were directed to Poland from other Member States of the European Union, concerning the admission of individuals who had previously applied for granting the refugee status in Poland. 3 601 applications of this kind were submitted until 31 December 2008 (twice as much as in 2007), and 1 916 aliens were conveyed to Poland (four times as much as in 2007).