Table of Contents:
- Planned Extension of Legal Stay until June 30, 2024
- Are There Chances for Further Extension of Legal Stay under the Special Act?
- What Forms the Basis for Adopting the March 4, 2025 Deadline?
- Is the Extension of the Legal Stay Deadline Certain?
Based on the current legal regulations of the so-called Special Act*, Ukrainian citizens are granted legal stay in the territory of Poland until March 4, 2024. This deadline is approaching inexorably, and both employers and the foreigners themselves are pondering possible further scenarios – whether there will be a massive influx of applications for temporary residence permits for a further period, or whether this deadline will be extended, as has happened several times before.
Planned Extension of Legal Stay until June 30, 2024
After a long period of uncertainty, we can announce that work is underway on a draft amendment to the Special Act, which will extend the deadline for the legal stay of Ukrainian citizens until June 30, 2024. Legislative plans, therefore, envisage extending the deadline for the legal stay of Ukrainian citizens in Poland, but only by less than 3 months. What comes next?
Are There Chances for Further Extension of Legal Stay under the Special Act?
Yes – in the longer term, there are plans to extend the period of automatic legal stay in Poland for Ukrainian citizens until March 4, 2025. However, this will happen through a separate amending act, the details of which are not yet known.
What Forms the Basis for Adopting the March 4, 2025 Deadline?
The basis for such actions by the Polish government, and thus the planned deadlines for extending the legal stay of Ukrainian citizens in Poland, is Council Implementing Decision 2023/2409 of October 19, 2023, which extended the period of temporary protection granted to Ukrainian citizens until that date (i.e., March 4 next year), pursuant to Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/382 of March 4, 2022, establishing the existence of a mass influx of displaced persons from Ukraine within the meaning of Article 5 of Directive 2001/55/EC.
Is the Extension of the Legal Stay Deadline Certain?
Legislative work is at the project stage, which still needs to be adopted by the Sejm. The text of the project does not yet constitute binding law. However, it is assumed that the changes will come into force on the day following the day of publication of the law in the Journal of Laws.
*Act of March 12, 2022, on assistance to Ukrainian citizens in connection with the armed conflict in the territory of that state (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 103).