Asylum in Poland: how to apply for international protection

Two kinds of protection

• Refugee status (status uchodźcy): you have a well-founded fear of persecution in your country of origin because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group, and you cannot or will not use that country’s protection (art. 13 ust. 1 of the protection act).
• Subsidiary protection (ochrona uzupełniająca): you are not a refugee, but a return could put you at real risk of the death penalty or execution, torture or inhuman treatment, or a serious threat to your life or health from widespread violence in an armed conflict (art. 15).

The harm can also come from people the state cannot or will not protect you from (art. 16 ust. 1). The Head of the Office for Foreigners (Szef Urzędu do Spraw Cudzoziemców) decides (art. 23), case by case.

How to apply

Apply in person (art. 26 ust. 1), through the Border Guard (Straż Graniczna) (art. 24 ust. 1): during the check at a border crossing, or at any Border Guard unit in Poland. In detention or prison, apply through the local Border Guard unit (art. 24 ust. 2). It is free (Office for Foreigners).

• You can include your spouse, with their written consent, and your minor children who are with you (art. 25 ust. 1, art. 27 ust. 1).
• If the Border Guard cannot take the application that day, it must tell you when and where it will, and write a record (protokół) (art. 28 ust. 1). Keep a copy.
• If you are disabled, elderly, pregnant, raising a child alone, or in hospital or prison, and cannot come, send a written declaration by post or electronically, and keep proof (art. 28 ust. 2).
• For an unaccompanied child, a guardian (kurator) named by a court, or an organisation that helps foreigners, applies (art. 26 ust. 2).

You hand in your passport until the decision is final (art. 31 ust. 1 and 3).

The border with Belarus

Since 27 March 2025 the Border Guard does not accept applications on the border with Belarus (art. 33b ust. 1; Dz.U. 2025 poz. 390). The current extension runs 60 days from 18 September 2026, to 16 November 2026 (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1217). It can be extended again, by up to 60 days with the Sejm’s consent, or lifted earlier (art. 33a ust. 3–4).

There, applications are still accepted from (art. 33b ust. 2):

• unaccompanied minors and pregnant women;
• people who may need special treatment, in particular because of age or health;
• people who, in the Border Guard’s view, are clearly at real risk of serious harm in the country they came from directly;
• citizens of the state carrying out the instrumentalisation, from whose territory people arrive (the law does not name it).

The exceptions do not cover someone against whom force had to be used right after a violent crossing together with others (art. 33b ust. 3). Elsewhere, the usual rules apply.

While your case is pending

• Identity certificate. Within 3 days you get a tymczasowe zaświadczenie tożsamości cudzoziemca (TZTC). It lets you stay until the final decision: first for 90 days, then ask the Office for one valid 6 months (art. 55 ust. 1, art. 55a, art. 58 ust. 2a). You cannot cross the border with it (Office for Foreigners).
• Reception centre. Go within 2 days to the centre the Border Guard names, unless you gave another address, or the application can be treated as withdrawn (art. 30 ust. 1 pkt 5 lit. i, art. 40 ust. 2 pkt 1).
• Support. Medical care and social assistance: housing and food in a centre or, in some cases, money to live elsewhere (art. 70 ust. 1, art. 71 ust. 1, art. 72 ust. 1).
• Work. No decision after 6 months, through no fault of yours? Ask the Head of the Office for a certificate; with your TZTC it lets you work (art. 35 ust. 1).
• Interview (przesłuchanie). The interpreter is free; you can ask for an interviewer and interpreter of your sex; you get a copy of the record (art. 44 ust. 4 and 6). If you miss it, show within 7 days that it was not your fault, or the case can be closed (art. 40 ust. 2 pkt 6).
• Address. Report every change: letters to your old address count as delivered (art. 41 k.p.a.).
• Stay in Poland. Leaving counts as withdrawing the application (art. 40 ust. 2 pkt 5). A written withdrawal of an application made after 12 June 2026 cannot be appealed (art. 40 ust. 3 of Regulation 2024/1348).
• No removal while your case is pending, except after some repeated applications (art. 330 ust. 1 pkt 1 and ust. 2 of the Foreigners Act).
• Temporary protection (status UKR) ends on the day you apply, and returns once a refusal, inadmissibility or closing of the case is final (art. 109b ust. 1 pkt 5 and ust. 3).

How long it takes

For applications made after 12 June 2026: 6 months, extendable by up to 6 months, or longer if the situation in your country is uncertain; 3 months in the accelerated procedure (art. 35 ust. 3–5 and 7 of Regulation 2024/1348). Earlier applications: 6 months, up to 15 (art. 34).

The decision

The Head of the Office decides first on refugee status, then on subsidiary protection (art. 47 ust. 1). An application is inadmissible, for example, if another EU country already protects you or a repeated application brings nothing new (art. 38 ust. 2). If another EU country is responsible, you are transferred there (art. 37 ust. 1).

With protection you get:

• refugee status: a residence card (karta pobytu) for 3 years and a Geneva Convention travel document for 2 years (art. 89i ust. 1 and 3);
• subsidiary protection: a residence card for 2 years (art. 89i ust. 2) and, if you cannot get a new passport, a Polish travel document for a foreigner (art. 252 of the Foreigners Act);
• new cards for the same periods (art. 89i ust. 2a), on application to the Office;
• the right to work without a permit (art. 3 ust. 1 pkt 8–9 of the act on employing foreigners) and social assistance for 2 more months (art. 74 ust. 1 pkt 2);
• no return decision unless the status is first taken away (art. 89g ust. 1; art. 303 ust. 1 pkt 1 of the Foreigners Act).

The appeal

You appeal (odwołanie) to the Refugee Board (Rada do Spraw Uchodźców), through the Head of the Office (art. 89p ust. 1 and art. 4; art. 129 § 1 k.p.a.). It is enough to show that you disagree (art. 128 k.p.a.).

• 14 days from delivery, as a rule (art. 129 § 2 k.p.a.);
• 7 days if the decision says it was made in the accelerated procedure (art. 39 ust. 2 pkt 2–3);
• for some decisions, such as inadmissibility, the EU regulation requires 5 to 10 days (art. 67 ust. 7 of Regulation 2024/1348), and Polish law has not yet set a term. To be safe, appeal at once.

The pouczenie at the end of the decision says how to appeal (art. 107 § 1 pkt 7 k.p.a.) and tells you about free legal aid (art. 53 ust. 1). File on paper, by post or in person, or to the Office’s e-Doręczenia address, and keep the proof of receipt (dowód otrzymania); an appeal by ordinary email is left unexamined (art. 63 § 1, art. 57 § 5 k.p.a.). Posting at Poczta Polska before the term ends is on time (art. 57 § 5 k.p.a.). If you missed the term through no fault of yours, ask within 7 days to restore it, and attach the appeal (art. 58 k.p.a.).

Free legal aid. If you have no lawyer, a lawyer or an NGO on the Office’s list writes the appeal and represents you, for free (art. 69d ust. 1, art. 69e): see the NGOs and the lawyers. Bring your ID and the original decision (art. 69h).

After the Board. You can complain to the administrative court in Warsaw (WSA) within 30 days, through the Board (art. 13 § 2, art. 53 § 1 and art. 54 § 1 p.p.s.a.). The complaint does not stop the decision by itself; ask the court to suspend it (art. 61 § 3 p.p.s.a.). Whether the EU rules let you stay until the court decides is still open (art. 68 of Regulation 2024/1348).

If you are refused

After a final refusal, inadmissibility or closing of the case, you must leave Poland within 30 days, unless you have another right to stay (art. 299 ust. 6 pkt 1 lit. b of the Foreigners Act). The Border Guard then decides on return (art. 299 ust. 11) and must check two other forms of stay:

• Humanitarian stay (zgoda na pobyt ze względów humanitarnych): if a return would threaten your life, freedom or safety, risk torture or inhuman treatment, forced labour, an unfair trial or punishment without legal basis, or breach your family or private life or a child’s rights (art. 348, art. 356 ust. 1). You get a residence card for 2 years (art. 243 ust. 1 pkt 4).
• Tolerated stay (zgoda na pobyt tolerowany): if such a risk exists but humanitarian stay is excluded, or a return cannot be carried out for reasons beyond you and the authorities (art. 351). Its document is valid 2 years and is not for travel (art. 274 ust. 2, art. 275).

You can appeal within 7 days to the Commander-in-Chief of the Border Guard (art. 355). Both allow work without a permit (art. 3 ust. 1 pkt 10–11 of the act on employing foreigners).

New EU rules since June 2026

The EU asylum procedure regulation 2024/1348 applies to applications made after 12 June 2026 (art. 79 ust. 2–3). Since 1 July 2026 EU regulations also set who qualifies (2024/1347, art. 42) and which country is responsible (2024/1351, art. 85). Polish law has not yet been changed to match. Where they conflict, the EU regulation comes first (art. 91 ust. 3 of the Constitution); the Office already applies it. Check the terms in your own decision with free legal help.

What we cannot do

Respubliko does not write protection applications or appeals: they depend on your own story. The organisations on this page help with them for free.