According to the Polish law, a decision for granting a temporary residence permit should be issued not later than in two months after submitting the application. However, in practice the situation is completely adverse. Often the procedure of issuance a decision by the Voivode may be prolonged and last up to one year! Such delays are usually explained by lack of necessary documents as well as large amount of applications. If you wonder what you can do in order not to wait for your residence permit for ages – here are some useful tips.
- Always try to make an appointment to apply for your residence permit in advance. Don’t leave it till the last minute. You should be aware that the amount of foreigners applying for the residence permit in Poland is rising every day.
- Be extremely attentive while filling in the application so that you are not asked to do it again and again. Carefully examine the list of the documents that are required when applying for the given permit. Submitting a complete document package during your first visit to the Foreign Office in 80% of cases guarantees you a faster processing of your application. The list of the necessary documents you can find on the website of your Voivodeship Office. At some of the Offices you can also find volunteers who are ready to help you with checking your application and documents.
- If you have already been waiting for couple of months and haven’t received any further information on your case from the Office, try to call them or to contact the officer that manages your case. Of course, it’s always better to go there and ask for the detailed information in person, but be prepared that the queues to the information point are usually quite long. That might sound somehow strange, but visiting the Voivodeship Office from time to time and demanding for more details may be really helpful.
- When you already got your residence permit, unfortunately, that’s not the end. You still need to wait for the issuance of your residence card and you still may have to wait even up to 3 months. In such situation there is a couple of ways to speed up this process. You can make a formal request for acceleration of your card issuance. In the application you should describe your situation and justify your request (of course you need a genuine reason for that). Then, gather the proper documents that prove what you’ve stated in the application and attach them to it.
- If you are waiting for too long and receive no justification for it, it’s also possible to put in an application that is called ponaglenie. It is an official reminder that you can submit in the case of administrative inaction or delay. It also needs a thorough justification as the case goes to the authority examining the reminder, which takes specific steps, obliging the body processing the case to settle the matter, setting a deadline for dealing with it.
- If you see that your case is stuck and there are no legal grounds for such a delay, if none of the tips mentioned above helped, you can lodge a complaint. The Voivodeship Office should inform the applicant that the decision will not be issued on time and justify that. So if you don’t receive any information for a long time you can request to speed up the issuance of the decision. If that doesn’t bring any result, then you have the right to lodge a complaint about not handling the case on time. Complaint is filed to the superior body, which is Ministry of the Interior and Administration. That is not the most desirable thing to do since it entails another administrative procedures and bureaucracy, but if you feel that it is the only thing you can do now, you may consider this as a last resort.
We hope that our tips were useful and helped you find the answers to all your questions. Ensuring that your case is handled and managed correctly is your best bet for efficient processing. If you have no time to delve into bureaucratic procedures or simply want to get everything done properly and fast, a great solution for you is to find a company that would help you legalize your stay in Poland. Krakspire offers expats its high quality services, whole support with the administrative issues and assistance in every stage of your case. Contact us to request a free consultation!