If you are waiting very long time to receive your residency card it is important to know what can be done, when we have applied for a residence card in connection with staying in Poland and there is still no decision.

First of all, after submitting the application for a residence card, the procedure should be completed within a month or two.

What deadlines apply to the governor?

In the case of proceedings on granting a temporary residence permit  (and proceedings on changing a temporary residence and work permit), the deadline for the voivode to settle the case is 60 days  (Article 112a(1) of the Act on foreigners) 

and is counted from the moment in which the last of the following events occurs ( Article 112a(2) of the Act on Foreigners):

• submitting the application in person or subsequent personal appearance of the foreigner at the voivodship office (except for cases in which the foreigner is not obliged to appear in person);

• submitting an application that is not burdened with formal defects or supplementing them;
• submission by the foreigner of the documents necessary to confirm the data contained in the application and the circumstances justifying the application for a temporary residence permit or the ineffective expiry of the deadline for their submission, set by the voivode.

In the case of proceedings on granting a permanent residence permit and proceedings on granting a residence permit for a long-term resident of the European Union, the deadline for settling the case by the voivode will be 6 months

If the proceedings last longer, and in your opinion you have attached all the necessary documents to the case, or all the documents that the inspector called you to submit in the case, and there is still no decision. We have the ability to use legal instruments

REMINDER

 A party in administrative proceedings is entitled to a reminder. They are lodged if the case has not been settled on time or the proceedings are conducted longer than it is necessary to settle the case

Reminder is a letter that is submitted to the Voivodeship Office, through the Office where our administrative proceedings are pending, but it is later sent to the Head of the Office for Foreigners in Warsaw.

So in practice, we submit this letter to the Voivodship Office, where we submitted the application for the residence card. 

The Office considers this reminder and then forwards it to the Office for Foreigners in Warsaw.

 In this reminder you should provide your personal data, 

case number, 

name of the inspector, if you know it,

 and the date when you applied for a residence card,

Of course, it should be emphasized that no decision has been made to date in the case and that it was not your fault, but for reasons attributable to the Office. Importantly, in many cases such a reminder brings the intended effect and the office takes it. Then we are waiting for a reply from the Head of the Office for Foreigners, If this answer is not coming, we have the right to lodge a complaint with the Provincial Administrative Court.

COMPLAINT TO PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATIVE COURT

In general, a complaint about the excessive length of administrative proceedings can be filed one day after the reminder is submitted, but I personally advise you to wait 3 to 4 weeks after submitting this reminder, so as to give the Office time to recognize the reminder and perhaps speed up the proceedings and issue decisions in your case.

 If that doesn’t happen, I’d recommend filing a complaint to the provincial administrative court after a few weeks. 

This complaint is subject to a stamp duty of PLN 100.  This fee is paid to the account of the Administrative Court.  What is important, the foreigner may draw up this complaint himself and sign it himself. There is no legal requirement to be a lawyer here. So this complaint does not have to be signed by An advocate or a legal adviser, You can file a complaint against the operation of a public administration body yourself.

In this complaint, we enter our personal data, the address of the Office,  the case number,  we enter information on the date of submitting the application for a residence card,  information on when we submitted the reminder and the fact that to date there has been no decision and we do not know the reasons why.

Also in this complaint, we can submit a request to get some monetary compensation for waiting so long for a decision. These amounts, depending on the case, range from PLN 500 to PLN 2,000 or more.

The complaint is submitted, as well as the reminder, first through the Voivodeship Office where we submitted the application.

The Office then directs the complaint to the provincial administrative court

Please remember that foreigners file a complaint to the provincial administrative court, but through the Voivodeship Office. So technically this complaint is always sent to the Office, which then forwards it to the court.

In fact, in all those cases where the proceedings take too long, foreigners win, and later, with such a judgment of the Court, the case should get dull. 

First of all, the Office should set a date by which this decision will be issued. This should be as soon as possible and the Office should reimburse you as well the complaint, the fee you have paid for the complaint, and to pay the compensation awarded to you by the court.

Very important – Please do not be afraid, it will not harm your case for obtaining residency card, it does not mean that you will immediately be refused granting a residence card.

In the process of bringing a reminder and then a complaint to court, the point is simply that this decision finally comes.

If you have any doubts about how to prepare a reminder or a complaint to the court about the excessive length of administrative proceedings, please us at info@themigrationbureau.com.