As indicated by the latest NIK audit (here), Polish Voivodship Offices (Urząd Wojewódzki) are still unprepared for the large number of applications for residence permits. You can wait up to 3 years to get a temporary residence permit (Residence Card). In the Lower Silesian Voivodship alone, it takes as long as 328 days on average to legalize your stay in Poland. However, in accordance with Polish law, these matters should be dealt with within 60 days.
Such long delays may cause much trouble for foreigners in Poland, as their unsolved residence status may cause much uncertainty and difficulties in everyday life. This does not mean, however, that there is nothing they can do about it.
What can I do when the proceeding in my case is taking too long?
- The basic way to speed up the proceeding is to submit a written reminder, specified in art. 37 § 1 of the Polish Code of Administrative Procedure.
In the case of a temporary residence permit proceeding, a reminder is submitted to the Head of the Foreigners Office in Warsaw. This letter must meet the statutory requirements detailed in the Code of Administrative Procedure, including the right statement of ground relating to the date by which the case should be settled due to applicable regulations. - If the submitted reminder does not resolve the matter (or if the Head of the Foreigners Office does not respond within 14 days of submitting the reminder), then you should file a complaint for inaction or protracted administrative proceedings to the Provincial Administrative Court (Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny),addressing the appropriate justification and legal basis.
To properly prepare a reminder or complaint for inaction or protracted administrative proceedings, it is well advised to seek assistance from an attorney-at-law.
What can you expect after submitting a complaint for inaction or protracted administrative proceeding?
- First of all, after considering the complaint, the court will order the voivode to deal with your case within the specified time (usually 14 or 30 days),
- The court may grant you a compensation for inaction or excessive length of proceedings (protraction).
How much compensation can the court grant you? What it depends on?
Pursuant to Polish provisions, the court may award you a sum of money of up to a maximum of PLN 22,925.
Current rulings of administrative courts show, that this compensation is usually awarded in the range of PLN 2,000 – PLN 8,000. The circumstances of your case may affect the amount of compensation, i.e:
- very long waiting time for issuing a temporary residence permit,
- the length of periods of waiting for subsequent office activities (i.e. there are long periods of inactivity between letters from the office),
- no information from the office about the reasons for delays,
- inability to contact the office and obtain information on the status of the case or the current deadline,
- any inconveniences caused by the lack of a Residence Card, e.g. difficulties in dealing with official matters, inability to leave Poland to visit your family, inability to go on vacation, fear of being dismissed from work, inability to change of work easily.
When is the right time to file a complaint for inaction or protracted administrative proceeding?
First of all, you can only make a complaint after you (or your lawyer) have properly submitted the reminder.
Secondly, for a complaint to be effective, there must be an inactivity or a very lengthy proceeding on the part of the administrative office. Pursuant to the applicable provisions, in case of submitting a residence permit application by a foreigner, pursuant to art. 112a point 1 of ustawa z dnia 12 grudnia 2013 r. o cudzoziemach [Foreigners Act], the decision regarding temporary residence permit application should be issued no later than within 60 days of the date of application submission.
So, if the matter was not settled within the above deadline, it may be considered as an inaction. Nevertheless, if the proceedings take longer than necessary to settle the matter, this may always be considered as a protraction.
As the judgments of administrative courts aptly point out:
“Protracted conduct of proceedings occur when the authority can effectively be charged with failure to exercise due diligence in organizing administrative proceedings in such a way that it ends within a reasonable time or accusation of carrying out activities (including evidence), devoid of any significance or illusory.” (Judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court in Wrocław of 10 January 2019, reference number III SAB / Wr 116/18)
“For the admissibility of an inactivity complaint, it does not matter for which reasons the specific act (decision, order, other act) has not been taken or the act has not been carried out, and in particular whether the inaction of the authority was caused by the culpable or innocent slowness of the authority in taking or making them.” (Judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw of June 27, 2008, VI SAB / Wa 36/08, LEX No. 513865)
What if I get a residence permit after submitting my complaint? Does this mean that the complaint will not be accepted?
No. As the practice of courts so far shows, in order to determine whether the complaint is justified (and thus whether it is possible to obtain compensation), only the moment of filing the complaint is relevant. Even if the decision on the permit has already been issued, this does not change the fact that the office acted very slowly and was inactive or protracted. Therefore, it is still possible to obtain compensation.
As stated in the framework of the NIK audit mentioned at the beginning, the number of complaints about inactivity or lengthiness is growing rapidly. In 2018 alone, 101 judgments were handed down, and a further 183 complaints were pending.
Would you like to know more? Do you want to speed up your case and get due compensation?
Feel free to contact us and take advantage of our services.
Greetings Mr. Kamler,
I also have great comments about your blog, Weldone👍.
I applied for a temporary resident permit in November, 2017 and revived the first almost one year after, around December, 2018 precisely and I have not received any information or letter since then. Going through this blog I realize I can file a case. Is there any way you can help?
Ps. My inspector is [……………..] (I erased this part to protect identity of the person mentioned – Piotr Kamler)
You’re welcome!
In these circumstances, you can definitely file a reminder and a compalint to the administrative court. The court will then order the Voivode to issue decision in your case and you can get a compensation for the delay.
I wish to inquire about submitting an application for migrating to Poland. I am an indian national. we are 2 adults no kids, legally married. We are both Indian nationals. Hindu by religion. Kindly advise which way should be better and easy and most important fast. Work permit or investor application. Looking for the support. also if I start the process with your company what will be your charges and procedure.
I can help you with that, but I would need to know more details to be able to tell what is the best option. Please contact me via email: biuro@kancelariakamler.pl
I applied for my TRC on 29/12/2021. How can I speedup this processing?
Because of the option to submit reminders and complaints is suspended for 2022, you can only submit a reminder and complaint only if the Voivodeship Office was idle or handling your case with delays before 24th February 2022.
Hello am David Kizito a Ugandan but currently working here in Poland, First of all I would like to know how long does it take for the TRC to be granted, and how applying through the attorney helps to speed up my application.
How long it takes depend on which Voivodeship Office you apply at (it is determined by the place you will reside).
An attorney can help speed up the case first by preparing the application correctly and checking all the documents you attach if they are sufficient and proper. Then an attorney should monitor the case and contact the inspector handling your case to see if there are any issued to be resolved (especially without a need of sending letters by and forth by post as it wasts a lot of time). If the case is taking too long and no action is being taken, then your attorney can submit a reminder to Szef Urzędu do Spraw Cudzoziemców (their superior) and a complaint to the administractive court.
Hi,
Do u know the average time for obtaining a residence card in wroclaw?
The time needed varies a lot. It depends on how well the application id prepared and what inspector is assigned to your case. If you average it takes 6-8 months. It’s the longest in the country.
I want to speed up my process on karta pobytu application which I applied on 27/07/2022 and I want to get informed about it how you are going to speed up the current process for me and costs required for it.
Chcę przyspieszyć mój proces w sprawie wniosku o kartę pobytu, który złożyłem 27.07.2022 i chcę uzyskać informacje o tym, w jaki sposób zamierzacie przyspieszyć dla mnie obecny proces i jakie są z tym związane koszty.
If you would like to receive legal assistance in your case and talk about the details, please contact us via email biuro@kancelariakamler.pl or by phone +48 608-882-171.
Hi
I applied for TRC in August 2022 and received my decision in June 2023 and there no update on my card. I want to visit my family in India. Could you please help me how can we take action to receive as soon as possible?
Good afternoon,
card printing is not a part of decision making, so there is no legal action that can be taken to speed this up – which is a shame, since it can really take a lot of time.
I have my decysza already and paid for my card but it has been 4 months i didnt receive my card yet. but since i got married last january and update the vovoideship in zachodniopomorskie do you think it is possible to get my card (karta pobytu in work)?
Good afternoon,
card printing takes a lot of time recently due to high demand.
Hi, I have applied for Blue Card on 1st March 2022 and (Passport Stamping and Finger Print completed on the same day) Nov 2022 got the letter from inspector, requesting additional ZUS documents submitted it within 10 days. After that there is no response from Inspector. Sent several email to Inspector and Inspector Super visor. Sent written letter (conservative approach) via post multiple time, still there is no response from Inspetor. Please let me know what is the next steps I should follow. Its 18 Months now since application.
Good afternoon,
if the process is ongoing for 18 months, you can submit a reminder to their superior (Szef Urzędu do Spraw Cudzoziemców). If that won’t make them take action in your case in 2-3 weeks, then you can submit a complaint a complaint to the administrative court. The court can then order them to issue the decision within a deadline.
If you would like to receive legal assistance, please contact me via email: biuro@kancelariakamler.
im planning to move in sosnowiec with my new company, but i have already sent my application for TRC in gorzow voivodship last june, how can you help me about this?
Good afternoon,
I can help you transfer the case from Gorzów Wielkopolski to Katowice (the office in Katowice handles cases from Sosnowiec).
If you would like to receive legal assistance, please contact me via email: biuro@kancelariakamler.pl.
Good evening,
Is there any possible way to speed up the desicion of my karta pobytu, Im a foreigner married to polish citizen. Were married last april and were already waiting 4 months for the desicion after biometric. Thank you
Good afternoon,
you can speed up the case by sending requests to the inspector responsible for the case and requesting the department manager for intervention. You can also submit a complaint to the administrative court to have them issue an order to the Voivodeship Office to issue a decision within a deadline.
If you would like to receive legal assistance with that, you can contact me via email: biuro@kancelariakamler.pl
Hello Mr Piotr,
I have recieved my decision on 20th April, and am waiting for for my TRC card. I have a flight on 15th October as its emergency situation. How can I get the trc before 15th October, looking forward to your advise.
Thank you
Regards
Good afternoon,
card printing is not a part of decision making, so there is no legal action that can be taken to speed this up – which is a shame, since it can really take a lot of time.
Hi Mr Kamler,
I have received my EU Blue Card a month ago (decision date 05.2023) and I am interested in changing my current employer.
I am aware that the EU Blue Card allows changing the employer only after 2 years of working with the original employer.
If I change the employer now, do I need to apply for a new card/decision for this change? If yes, can I continue using the existing card while awaiting a new decision?
Since you had a blue card for less then full 2 years, you have to apply for you blue card to be altered (to change the employer indicated on the residence permit). The card will stay the same, only the decision will change.
If you would like to receive legal assistance with that, you can contact me via email: biuro@kancelariakamler.pl.
Hi Mr. Kamler,
I received my EU Blue Card in May 2023. I am interested in changing my current employer. As I understand I need to apply for a new decision, but it is not clear to me whether I can keep the existing card till I get the new decision or I need to return it and wait for the new one. Can you please advise on this?
Thank you for your assistance.
Good afternoon,
after 2 years of stay in Poland based on a Blue Card, you can change your work without any need of changing the residence permit decision (you only have to inform the Voivode about this, but there isn’t any long procedure involved).
If you would like to receive legal assistance with that, please contact me via email: biuro@kancelariakamler.pl.
Hello, i have applied for temporary residency in wroclaw more than 3 months ago 4 months to be exact. Still no decision and a remainder has been sent as well to no avail.
What would you recommend me to do?
Good afternoon,
in that case, you can submit a reminder nd then a complaint to the administrative court. I can help you do that.
I will see with the court, im assuming the reminder process is called Ponaglenie and theres another process called rzecznik praw obywatelskich before the court. do you think these are useful? most of my friends recieve their cards in a year which is a very long time.
Reminder (ponaglenie) process has a limited effectiveness, but it is a prerequisite for a court complaint. You cannot submit a complaint if you didn’t submit a reminder first.
Ombudsman (Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich) is not required for the complaint. It is also not very effective, since all he can do is to request the Voivode for explanation of the delay. He cannot order them to issue your permit.