Revocation of the state of epidemic emergency - consequences for the legal situation of foreigners

As of July 31, 2023, special solutions for foreigners introduced in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic will cease to apply. This is a consequence of the cancellation of the state of epidemic threat on the territory of Poland.

The state of epidemic threat and the state of epidemic related to SARS-CoV-2 virus infections is connected with a number of still applicable laws laying down specific rules related to the residence of foreigners on the territory of Poland. The purpose of their introduction was primarily to counteract the negative effects of restrictions on many aspects of social life (difficulties in moving across borders or dealing with official matters), justified by the need to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Special solutions concern extensions of: residence rights of foreigners, validity of documents related to these rights and deadlines for the implementation of specific activities provided for in the law. The vast majority of regulations are part of the so-called the COVID-19[i] Act and include:

the basis for recognizing the stay of foreigners on the territory of Poland as legal under the law, if on March 14, 2020 they stayed in the country on the basis of short-term residence titles:

<-as part of visa-free travel,
-on the basis of Schengen visas issued by Polish authorities,
-Schengen visas or long-stay visas issued by other Schengen countries,
- residence permits issued by other Schengen countries,
- long-term visas or residence documents issued by European Union Member States that are not Schengen countries (when, in accordance with European Union law, such visas or documents entitle to stay on the territory of the Republic of Poland (Article 15z1 section 1);
extension by law:
- periods of stay and validity of national visas in cases where the last day of the period of stay on the basis of such visas would fall during the state of epidemic threat or state of epidemic (Article 15zd section 1);
periods of validity of temporary residence permits expiring during the state of epidemic threat or state of epidemic (Article 15zd section 3);
- prolongation by operation of law of:
- deadlines for leaving the territory of Poland, resulting from art. 299 sec. 6 of the Act of 12 December 2013 on foreigners[ii] (Article 15zzza);
- dates for voluntary return specified in decisions obliging the foreigner to return (currently dates for voluntary departure), pursuant to art. 315 sec. 1 of the Act on Foreigners (Article 15zzzb);
- deadlines for submitting an application for a temporary residence permit, a permanent residence permit, a long-term resident's EU residence permit, for an extension of a visa or for an extension of stay under the visa-free regime (Article 15z);
- validity periods of residence cards (Article 15z2 section 1);
- validity periods of temporary foreigner identity certificates issued to foreigners for the duration of proceedings for granting international protection (Article 15z3 section 1);
-validity periods of documents issued for a definite period of time to citizens of the European Union Member States, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries - parties to the agreement on the European Economic Area or the Swiss Confederation and their family members who stay with them or join them: documents confirming the right permanent residence, residence cards of an EU citizen family member and permanent residence cards of an EU citizen family member (Article 15z6 section 1);
- periods of validity of Polish identity documents of a foreigner (Article 15z6 section 3);
- the periods of validity of the "permit for tolerated stay" documents (Article 15z6 section 5).
All the above-mentioned extensions and grounds for recognizing a foreigner's stay on the territory of Poland as legal (set out in Article 15z1(1) of the COVID-19 Act) are limited in time to the end of the 30th day following the date of cancellation of this states that were in force last.

The cancellation of the state of epidemic emergency as of July 1, 2023[iii] meant that the 30-day deadlines set out in the above provisions began to run on July 2, 2023. As a consequence, at the end of July 31, 2023, the periods of extension and stay considered legal under the COVID-19 Act (Article 15z1 section 1) will end.

In addition to the rules strictly related to the stay of foreigners on the territory of Poland, the COVID-19 Act also contains provisions establishing other special solutions that are indirectly important for the area of legality of stay and are related to the performance of work by foreigners. Specific rules in this regard are:

extension by operation of law of the periods of validity of work permits and extensions of work permits falling out during the state of epidemic threat or state of epidemic (Article 15zzq section 1);
extension by law of the period of admission work on the basis of a declaration on entrusting work to a foreigner entered by the poviat labor office in the register of declarations (Article 15zzq section 3);
legal basis for the foreigner to perform work on conditions other than those specified in the work permit, seasonal work permit, declaration on entrusting work, entered in the register of declarations, or in one of the temporary residence permits, which specify the conditions for performing work, if this is the result of the employer's use of the possibility to modify the content of the legal relationship constituting the basis for the performance of work due to restrictions in social life caused by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (e.g. Article 15g section 8 - reduction of working time in conditions of economic downtime) ( article 15z5);
special access of a foreigner to seasonal work[iv] during the state of epidemic emergency, state of epidemic and the 30-day period following the cancellation of the last of these states, without the need to obtain a seasonal work permit, if during this period the foreigner had a work permit, for seasonal work, extension of a work permit or extension of a seasonal work permit, or a declaration on entrusting work to a foreigner entered in the register of declarations (which was valid after March 13, 2020 or authorized to perform work after that date) (Article 15z7 ).
The cancellation of the state of epidemic emergency on July 1, 2023 meant that the above-mentioned extension periods and the periods of existence of certain specific rights in the field of access to the labor market will also end at the end of July 31, 2023.

In addition, the provisions[v] also provide for the extension by law of:

periods of validity of Pole's Cards falling during the state of epidemic emergency or state of epidemic;
deadlines for submitting an application for extension of the Pole's Card.
However, in the case of these solutions, the relevant extensions take place until the expiry of 3 months after the date of cancellation of the state that was in force last. As a consequence of the cancellation of the state of epidemic emergency on July 1, 2023, these extensions are valid until October 2, 2023.

Special legal situation of citizens of Ukraine

Due to the Russian aggression on the territory of Ukraine and the mass influx of Ukrainian citizens caused by it, the provisions of the so-called The Act on Assistance to Citizens of Ukraine[vi] (hereinafter referred to as the "Special Act") specifically regulates the legal situation of Ukrainian citizens in the context of the rules of their stay on the territory of Poland.

In addition to establishing a general basis for stay considered legal until March 4, 2024 and providing related assistance institutions addressed to Ukrainian citizens arriving from February 24, 2022 from the territory of their country of origin in connection with the hostilities in progress there, a special act it also establishes a number of solutions supporting the process of legalizing the stay of all citizens of this country residing in Poland. Some of them are equivalent to the solutions discussed above provided for in the provisions of the COVID-19 Act.

The following extension solutions should be mentioned in this context:

periods of stay and validity of national visas issued to citizens of Ukraine falling in the period from February 24, 2022 (Article 42(3a) of the Special Act) - equivalent to the extension of periods of stay and periods of validity of national visas provided for in Art. 15z sec. 1 of the COVID-19 Act;
periods of validity of temporary residence permits granted to Ukrainian citizens falling in the period from February 24, 2022 (Article 42(5a) of the Special Act) - the equivalent of extending the periods of validity of temporary residence permits provided for in Art. 15z sec. 3 of the COVID-19 Act;
deadlines for the fulfillment of the obligation of Ukrainian citizens to leave the territory of Poland, resulting from art. 299 sec. 6 of the Act on Foreigners falling in the period from February 24, 2022 (Article 42(6) of the Special Act) - the equivalent of extending the deadlines for the fulfillment of the obligation to leave the territory of Poland provided for in Art. 15zzza of the COVID-19 Act;
specified periods of voluntary return (currently periods of voluntary departure), specified on the basis of art. 315 sec. 1 of the Act on Foreigners in decisions on obliging a foreigner to return issued to Ukrainian citizens, falling in the period from February 24, 2022 (Article 42(7) of the Special Act) - the equivalent of extending the deadlines for voluntary return (dates for voluntary departure) provided for in Art. . 15 zzzb of the COVID-19 Act;
periods of validity of residence cards issued to citizens of Ukraine falling in the period from February 24, 2022 (Article 42(8)(1) of the Special Act) - the equivalent of extending the periods of validity of residence cards provided for in Art. 15z2 sec. 1 of the COVID-19 Act;
periods of validity of Polish identity documents issued to citizens of Ukraine, falling in the period from February 24, 2022 (Article 42 8 point 2 of the Special Act) - the equivalent of extending the periods of validity of Polish identity documents provided for in Art. 15z6 sec. 3 of the COVID-19 Act;
periods of validity of the "permit for tolerated stay" documents issued to citizens of Ukraine, falling in the period from February 24, 2022 (Article 42(8)(3) of the Special Act) - the equivalent of extending the periods of validity of the "permit for tolerated stay" documents provided for in Art. . 15z6 sec. 5 of the COVID-19 Act.