General information for foreigners

INFORMATION FOR FOREIGNERS
General information
Applications and requests in matters concerning legalisation of the foreigners' stay on the territory of Republic of Poland should be drawn up in Polish. Application for granting a visa by a consul may be drawn up in a foreign language indicated by the consul,
Oocuments drawn up in a foreign language, used as evidence in the proceedings performed according to the Act on Aliens of 13 June 2006 (Oz.U. of 2006 no 234 item 1694 as amended), should be submitted together with their translation into the Polish language, effected by a swom translator.
A matter requiring explanatory proceedings should be settled within a month at latest and particularly complicated matter - not later than within two months of the proceedings start, while under appeal proceedings - within a month of the date of the appeal receipt.
The decision on granting a settlement permit or a long-term resident's EC residence permit is rendered within 3 months from the date of instituting proceedings, and under appeal proceedings - within 2 months from the date of the appeal receipt.
In each case a matter is not settled in the above term, authority of first or second instance is obliged to notify you on the reasons of delay and to appoint a new date of the matter settlement.
Ali the letters (notifications, summons, decisions, resolutions etc.) are delivered by registered mail upon receipt or by officials of the authority of first or second instance.
Letters are delivered to the address indicated by you or to your legal agent if you have appointed one.
When it is impossible to deliver a letter to you or an adult household member, it is placed in the post office for 7 days and a notification on this fact is placed in your mailbox or, if it is impossible, on the door of the addressee's fiat door. A letter is considered delivered on the last day of this period.
You are obliged to confirm the letter receipt with your signature indicating the delivery date. In the case you evade delivery confirmation, the deliverer will indicate the date of delivery as well as the person that received the letter and the reason of la ck of signature.
If you refuse to receive a letter sent to you by Post or delivered in any other way, the letter will be returned to the sender witha note on the refu sal of receipt and its date. In such a case the letter is regarded delivered on the date of refusal of its receipt by the addressee.
The authority carrying out the proceedings are notified on each change of place of residence. Ouring the proceedings letters are always sent at address for service that had for the last time been indicated to the authority in question.
In the case ot going abroad you are obliged to indicate an address for service in Poland.
If your address has changed, and an authority carrying out the proceedings has not been notified on this, a letter is sent to the last address for service indicated by you. A letter sent in such way is also effectively delivered if you do not reside at the indicated address and for that reason you have not taken note of the letter content.
If you do not reside at the address indicated and if it is impossible to deliver the letter upon receipt to an adult household member or another person residing or staying at the address indicated that would undertake the delivery of the letter to the addressee, the letter returned to the sen der is considered delivered on the day of making an attempt to deliver the letter.
Failure to notify on the change of place of residence may result in serious consequences, for example:
- your application will be left unconsidered,
- decision of a competent authority may become irrevocable if, because of the failure to notify of address change, you do not comply with the term of appeal against the decision of authority of first instance or with the term of lodging a complaint against the decision of authority of second instance in the Administrative Court.

The authority carrying out the proceedings collects a stamp duty for issuing a residence permit.
The obligation to pay a stamp duty arises at the moment of submitting an application for any of permits for residence within the territory of the Republic of Poland. Stamp duty is pa id anto the account indicated by the authority carrying out the proceedings.
In the case of issuing a decision on refusal to grant a resident permit you should apply for return of the paid stamp duty. Stamp duty will not be returned after five years of the end of the year in which the payment was effected.
A stamp duty of PLN 205 is collected for the extension of a short-stay visa, and a stamp duty of PLN 406 is collected for the extension of a long-stay visa.
A stamp duty of PLN 340 is collected for issuing a residence permit for a fixed period and a stamp duty of 640 is collected for issuing a settlement permit and a residence permit for a long-term EC resident.
A stamp duty of PLN 17 is collected for a document confirming granting authorization.
If you do not pay the duty while submitting the application, the authority carrying out the proceedings will appoint the term of effecting the payment. The term may not be less than 7 days and must not exceed 14 days. If the payment is not effected within the appointed term, the application is returned.
The authority of the first and second instance may call you to turn up personally before the decision is issued in order to clarify relevant circumstances necessary to make the decision.
Special attention must be paid to instruction on measures of appeal attached to each decision, including indicated deadlines. Only before these deadlines can you appeal against the decision of the authority of first instance, or lodge a complaint in Administrative Court against the decision of the authority of second instance
Your personal data may be transmitted to competent authorities of other members of the European Union in accordance with legal provisions effective within this scope.

Information for foreigner