The new Act extends the period of a temporary residence permit from two to three years, introduces a uniform procedure for the obtaining of a residence and work permit, abolishes the 45-day period for applying for a temporary residence permit, and establishes a system of non-custodial measures applied to foreigners who stay in Poland illegally.
In the course of legislative works on the drafting of the law, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and Association for Legal Intervention presented a number of specific changes to the original wording of the then-proposed Act. All the proposals submitted by the non-governmental organisations have been discussed before the parliamentary extraordinary sub-committee set up to consider the governmental draft of the Foreigners Act. The legislators have accepted a significant number of the proposals.
“Until now, we have never experienced such an open-minded approach from the Ministry of the Interior, Office for Foreigners and the Sejm to our proposals presented in the course of the legislative works on enactments of foreigner law”, says Jacek Białas, lawyer with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.
The legislators agreed with the organisations and waived the requirement that permanent and long-term EU residence applicants must have a command of Polish.
Still, some proposals submitted by the organisations have not been accepted. First of all, the new Foreigners Act failed to incorporate the long-advocated prohibition of detaining minor foreigners in guarded centres. The law only contains the requirement that the court ordering detention needs to make sure that detention does not violate the best interests of the child. The Parliament has not decided to establish a permanent abolition scheme which would enable foreigners living in Poland, without a valid permit, to legalise their stay.
Furthermore, it is likely that the Foreigners Act will have to be amended because of two other issues that have since appeared.
Firstly, after the ratification by Poland, the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence will have to be implemented into Polish law. “The Convention provides that victims of domestic violence against women staying in Poland illegally are awarded a residence permit, as it happens in the case of victims of human trafficking”, says Mr Białas.
Secondly, the legal regulations which enable the authorities to seal justifications of expulsion decisions, if doing so is necessary for the reasons of national defence or security, or the protection of public safety and order, may be considered contrary to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
The Act has been published already, with the majority of its provisions entering into force on 1 May 2014.
