Repeal of special provisions imposed for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic as of July 30, 2023
Health Minister Adam Niedzielski announced plans not to extend the epidemiological threat regime. June 30 is the tentative planned date for the end of the epidemiological threat regime.
At the end of June, the epidemiological threat regime will be cancelled in Poland. It also means cancellation of further - still in force - restrictions. This was announced by the Minister of Health Adam Niedzielski in Pila on April 19, 2023. According to him, this topic was discussed the day before at a meeting of the Council of Ministers.
- Now two relevant ordinances will be prepared. One of these ordinances is a state of epidemic ordinance - it is the one that will specify a specific date for repealing the state, which is currently anticipated to be June 30. The second ordinance, concerning restrictions, at that time, will probably mean the repeal of some of the restrictions currently in place. We are moving toward eliminating the obligation to wear masks in pharmacies, leaving more in other medical facilities," said Adam Niedzielski.
As the Minister of Health explained, these decisions are made on the basis of data on cases. - The epidemic situation is improving, Minister Niedzielski says. - I'm talking here about the problem of covidienic infections, as well as the problem of influenza cases. As we all know, flu cases have dominated and defined the epidemic situation in the country lately, but we are already systematically seeing a decrease in these infections. In fact, over the last week, we've seen the daily number of flu infections go down from over 20,000 a day to about 15,000, so you can see that this improvement is dynamic," the health minister said.
Recall that in January 13, 2023, amendments to the special law "On assistance to citizens of Ukraine in connection with the armed conflict on the territory of this state and some other laws" came into force (Legislative Herald, position number 185). The amendment to the Act provided for the repeal of the provisions of the anti-covid law, which extended the validity of national visas, residence permits, deadlines for applying for residence permits and deadlines for leaving Poland.
Foreigners who benefit from the repealed legal decisions related to the COVID-19 pandemic should take care of their continued legal stay in the Republic of Poland or return to their country of origin in a timely manner. In the case of persons wishing to remain in the Republic of Poland after 24 August this year, we recommend that they apply in advance for a residence permit or a residence permit (depending on the formal and legal status of the particular foreigner).
This change applied to all foreigners in Poland, not just Ukrainian citizens. The current legal regulation includes a number of provisions of the Act of March 2, 2020 on special solutions connected with preventing, fighting and combating COVID-19 and other infectious diseases and crisis situations caused by them (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 2095 with further amendments). Their purpose is to ensure the legality of foreigners' stay on the territory of the Republic of Poland in conditions of restrictions in public life caused by the need to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the basis of these, the following periods are extended by operation of law:
Temporary residence permits and residence permits that expire between March 14, 2020 (during an epidemic threat provision or an epidemic provision), until the 30th day following the day of cancellation of whichever of those provisions was in effect as the last;
the period of stay and the period of validity of national visas where the last day of stay on the basis of such visas is from March 14, 2020 (during an epidemic threat or epidemic provision) until the 30th day following the day on which the provision that was last in force is repealed;
the deadline for applying for a residence permit, visa extension or extension of the period of stay under a visa-free regime, i.e:
a) for a temporary residence permit,
b) to obtain a permanent residence permit,
c) to obtain a long-term resident's EU residence permit,
d) to extend the validity of a national visa or a Schengen visa
e) for the extension of the period of stay under a visa-free regime
- until the 30th day following the day of abolition of the provision that was the last one in force;
the time limit for leaving the territory of the Republic of Poland, which occurs during the duration of the epidemic threat or epidemic provision and results from Article 299(6) of the Act on Foreigners - until the 30th day following the day of repealing the provision that was the last one in force;
the period of voluntary return specified in the decision on the obligation to return based on Section 315 (1) of the Foreigners Act and occurring during the period of an epidemic threat or epidemic until the 30th day following the day on which the latter provision was repealed;
the period of validity of documents issued for a fixed period to nationals of Member States of the European Union, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries - parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or the Swiss Confederation, and their family members living with them or joining them, i.e. documents which certify the right to permanent residence, residence permits for a family member of an EU citizen and permanent residence permits for a family member of an EU citizen, which is during the period of validity of the epidemic risk provision
validity periods of Polish identity documents of a foreigner who comes during the period of validity of the epidemic threat or epidemic provision - until the expiry of the 30th day following the day of cancellation of the one of these provisions that was in effect as the last one;
the period of validity of the "authorization for tolerated stay" documents, which occurs during the period when the epidemic endangerment or epidemic provision is in force, until the expiration of the 30th day following the day on which the latter provision was repealed;
as well as
recognition of the stay of foreigners on the territory of the Republic of Poland as legal by virtue of the law, if on March 14, 2020 they were in the Republic of Poland on the basis of a short-term residence document, i.e:
a) Under a visa-free regime,
b) on the basis of a Schengen visa, regardless of the State which issued it
c) On the basis of a long-term visa or residence document issued by other Schengen States,
d) on the basis of long-term visas or residence permits issued by Member States of the European Union not parties to the Schengen Agreement (if, in accordance with Community law, such visas or documents entitle the bearer to stay on the territory of the Republic of Poland)
- from the day following the last day of legal residence arising from these grounds until the expiry of the 30th day following the day on which the epidemic endangerment provision or the epidemic provision, whichever was in force last...
The repeal of the provisions providing for the aforementioned legal rulings shall take place as of August 24, 2023.
Thus, the validity of the extension of certain rights, validity of documents or deadlines for the performance of this action by the foreigner, which results from these legal decisions, will end with the expiration of the last day in which certain shaded provisions of the Act of 2 March 2020 on special decisions related to the prevention, control and fight against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, and crisis situations caused by them, will be in force. - said in the description of the law on the website gov.pl
However, due to the possible cancellation of the epidemic threat regime on June 30, the validity of national visas, residence permits, deadlines for applying for residence permits and deadlines for leaving Poland may be extended by law only until the end of the 30th day following the date of cancellation of the epidemic threat regime.
This means that the epidemic threat regime may end on June 30, 2023, after which you will have 30 days to legalize your stay in Poland. Already now, all foreigners should take steps to legalize their stay.
Materials used in this article were: www.gov.pl, polskieradio24.pl, cbs_help