On December 11 in Warsaw, we participated in a meeting organized by the Mazowieckie Voivodeship Office, which took place as part of the Mazowieckie Voivode’s Cooperation Program with non-governmental organizations. The meeting aimed to discuss issues related to the functioning of the Department of Foreigners’ Affairs and to present legislative changes concerning the stay of foreigners in Poland. Selected statistics for the year 2024 were also presented. Katarzyna Rowińska from the Office for Foreigners presented the most important changes in the law, including the implementation of new European Union directives, the draft law on the MOS system, and changes in visa regulations and the employment of foreigners in Poland.
Amendment of selected legal acts
Katarzyna Rowińska from the Office for Foreigners presented the topic of legislative changes, discussing:
1. Implementation of Directive (EU) 2021/1883 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2021 on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purpose of employment in a highly qualified occupation and repealing Council Directive 2009/50/EC.
2. Creation of a legal framework for the operation of the MOS system.
3. Draft law amending certain acts to eliminate irregularities in the visa system of the Republic of Poland.
4. Draft law on the conditions for the admissibility of entrusting work to foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Poland.
Changes in legislation made at the meeting
Selected notes from the meeting:
- it was assumed that all the mentioned documents would be processed at the same time;
- Directive (EU) 2021/1883 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2021 on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purpose of employment in a highly qualified occupation and repealing Council Directive 2009/50/EC number in the list of legislative works of the Council of Ministers: UC15; awaiting adoption by the Council of Ministers on December 17 this year;
- it was noted that the number of so-called “difficult” formal cases will increase;
- Poland is delayed in implementing the blue card directive – the project is awaiting adoption by the Council of Ministers (this directive is to replace the current blue card directive);
- the UC15 act – was supposed to be adopted yesterday, but will be adopted by the Council of Ministers next week: December 17;
- a new definition in the EU Blue Card regarding new higher professional qualifications was presented; they were included in a regulation issued by the Ministry of the Interior and Administration and mainly concern professions in the IT sector;
The EU Blue Card is a residence document that allows highly qualified workers from outside the European Union to legally work and reside in one of the EU member countries.
- as part of the regulation, occupational groups are specified according to the ISCO-08 classification: 133 – Managers for information and communication technology services; 25 – Specialists for information and communication technology;
- a temporary residence permit for the purpose of long-term mobility of an EU Blue Card holder will also be a type of general permit;
- the biggest changes concern temporary residence, namely:
- the decision on granting a temporary residence permit should be issued within 30 days (the provision of Article 112a, paragraph 2 applies);
- the deadline for reviewing the application for temporary residence for the purpose of long-term mobility of an EU Blue Card holder by the services has been shortened to 10 days;
- higher professional qualifications that have already been verified once will not need to be verified again;
- the decision to issue a permit (high qualifications) will be general – it will not specify the name of the position held;
- there will be an obligation for foreigners to submit applications online rather than in paper form (the need to move away from personal presence at the office, which is intended to streamline the work of the voivode and allow real-time application entry into the system);
- every foreigner will be required to submit a trusted signature (applications on behalf of children under 13 are submitted by parents or legal guardians);
- a certificate of application submission will be generated automatically;
- an application submitted digitally by a foreigner will, however, require their personal appearance at the office in the next step;
- the project prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs aims to tighten the visa system: project: UD126, is awaiting adoption by the Council of Ministers.
New definitions
During the meeting, new definitions were presented: professional activity, higher professional qualifications, long-term mobility, and short-term mobility. Their new wording:
| professional activity – introduced for the purpose of the holder of the EU Blue Card or former holder of the EU Blue Card to use short-term mobility in another member state. |
| higher professional qualifications – including both qualifications obtained through the completion of higher education (a concept already used in mandatory legal regulations), as well as qualifications obtained through professional experience (new definition) – 5 years or 3 years, in the case of a particularly desirable profession. |
| long-term mobility of an EU Blue Card holder – stay exceeding 90 days – requirement to obtain a temporary residence permit. |
| short-term mobility of an EU Blue Card holder – a stay not exceeding 90 days in any 180-day period in each Member State of the European Union for the purpose of carrying out professional activities |
Statistics of residence applications in the years 2021-2024
During the meeting, selected statistics were presented regarding the scale of submitting applications for temporary, permanent, or long-term residence to the Mazovian Voivode.
Statistics presented during the meeting:
- The number of applications (temporary stay, permanent stay, and long-term resident) submitted to the Mazovian Voivode from 2021 to 25.11.2024:
- year 2024 – 162,626
- year 2023 – 143,367
- year 2022 – 120,776
- year 2021 – 94,631
- Impact of applications to the Mazovian Voivode – temporary stay:
- year 2024 (until November) – 147127
- year 2023 – 126551
- year 2022 – 105790
- year 2021 – 83859
- The impact of applications to the Mazovian Voivode – permanent residence:
- year 2024 – 7778
- year 2023 – 10579
- year 2022 – 10968
- year 2021 – 7923
Over 30% of submitted applications are received by the Mazovian Voivode. The most applications were received from citizens of: Ukraine, Belarus, Vietnam, Georgia, India, Turkey, Russia, Uzbekistan, China, and Azerbaijan.
The ministry is planning an information campaign aimed at foreigners, but details have not yet been disclosed.
