The changes in global mobility that took place in the past year are significantly linked to the armed conflict in Ukraine and the influx of that country's citizens to Poland.  

Although the long-awaited amendments to the Foreigners Act came into force still in early 2022, the rest of the year was marked almost exclusively by attempts to find solutions for Ukrainian citizens seeking refuge from the war. Also noteworthy is the further development of the Poland.Business Harbour program, dedicated to specialists in the IT / New Tech sector. At the beginning of 2023, further changes will come into force, which we would like to outline in our publication. 

Regulations dedicated to all foreigners
 

At the beginning of the year, an immigration law reform went into effect that changed the rules for issuing residence permits introduced the possibility of changing a single temporary residence and work permit without having to obtain a new permit. This is a significant convenience for foreigners and their employers, which enables them to avoid the time-consuming procedure of applying for a new permit in case of a change of the place of work. 

In the middle of the year, new regulations were introduced in the field of procedures related to legalization of foreigners' work and the practices that were previously followed by the authorities were systematized. The biggest changes involved streamlining the procedure for issuing the county administrator's information, the introduction of new templates for work permit applications, or the need to provide a current statement of no criminal record, which from now on is only valid for 30 days from the date of its signing. The act also confirmed the practice followed by many offices, involving allowing only the persons disclosed in the employer's KRS Register of Businesses to sign the document. 

The Poland.Business Harbour program has been extended to include specialists in the IT / New Tech sector with Azerbaijani citizenship (unconditionally), and under certain exceptions, in the case of significant investments in strategic sectors for the economy, also specialists regardless of citizenship. 

Another important change concerns the issuance of national visas. For the first time, a select group of foreigners can obtain a visa in the territory of Poland, without going to the border. Belarusian citizens can apply for a national visa if they are unable to return to their country of origin due to threatening repressions, and are in the territory of Poland on the basis of a humanitarian visa, or have entered Poland from Ukraine after 24 February 2022, if they were legally in Ukraine before that date, or intend to work as an international driver. The introduced regulations also allow Ukrainian citizens who intend to work as an international driver or aircraft crew member to apply for a national visa. 

Regulations for Ukrainian citizens and their family members
 

Due to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the ensuing migration crisis, a number of legal changes have also extended to Ukrainian citizens and their family members. Under the regulations adopted, both at the EU and local levels, i.e. Council Executive Decision 2022/382 of 4 March 2022, establishing the existence of a mass influx of displaced persons from Ukraine within the meaning of Article 5 of Directive 2001/55/EC and resulting in the introduction of temporary protection, and introduced on 12 March 2022 the Act on Assistance to Citizens of Ukraine in Connection with the Armed Conflict on the Territory of that State (hereinafter: “special act”), a number of solutions were adopted to regulate the stay of Ukrainian citizens and their family members who, as of 24 February 2022, entered Poland en masse, often without proper residence permits, in search of shelter from the ongoing armed conflict in their country.

The aforementioned persons were granted temporary protection, allowing them to continue their legal stay in the Republic of Poland until 24 August 2023. According to the original assumptions, after 9 months of stay in Poland counted from the date of entry, i.e. from 24 November 2022 at the earliest, citizens of Ukraine as well as their family members subject to special rules were to be given the possibility to apply for a one-off 3-year residence permit. No additional requirements had to be met to obtain the permit. 

In the new year, however, we will see changes in this regard. According to the pending draft amendment to the special act (at the time of preparing this article, the date of introduction of the amendment is not known; we assume it will be the end of January 2023), provisions introducing the possibility of applying for a one-off 3-year residence permit will be removed. Instead, as of 1 April 2023, working Ukrainian citizens and their family members will be able to apply for standard permits for temporary residence and work or for the purpose of highly skilled work (the so-called “Blue Card”).

It is also worth noting that immediately after the adoption of the special act, people covered by the special residence rules were not able to travel to other Schengen countries due to the expiry of the visa-free period, and even a trip to Ukraine for several days could cause complications when trying to return to Poland. This problem was solved with the introduction of the Diia.pl electronic document. It is available to people who have a special residence status in Poland, a UKR PESEL number and an account in the mObywatel app. On the basis of the Diia.pl document, the aforementioned persons may leave the territory of Poland and travel within the Schengen area for up to 90 days in the subsequent 180-day period, the same as under the visa-free regime or on the basis of other residence documents. 

Other important solutions adopted under the special act apply not only to Ukrainian citizens affected by the war. Starting from March 2022, Polish employers can hire Ukrainian citizens whose stay in Poland is legal, without being required to have a work permit. As a condition of employment, a notification must be submitted to the relevant county labour office. The notification must be submitted within 14 days of the employee's starting work. 

During the year, the rules for submitting notifications were clarified several times. The latest rules to be introduced under the aforementioned amendment to the special act will pertain to the notification obligation when an employee has started work and has received a temporary residence permit, where an exemption from the requirement for a work permit on the basis of the notification is indicated.

With regard to Ukrainian citizens whose stay in Poland is not based on special status and who have temporary residence permits valid or extended under the so-called covid fiction, such as national visas or temporary residence permits, they will gain the possibility to extend their stay on the basis of the said documents, in the event of their expiration or where the validity is currently based on the covid fiction, until 24 August 2023. 

We are confident that 2023 will bring further changes in the area of global mobility with special attention to the status of Ukrainian citizens in Poland. The emergency measures introduced due to the war in Ukraine will most likely be modified depending on its course and the further influx of foreigners to Poland. For obvious reasons, we would like to see them lose their extraordinary character with the rapid end of the war in Ukraine.