The Warsaw Voice, Poland
August 22, 2007 Wednesday
LEGAL STATUS CHANCE FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS
Foreign nationals who have been living in Poland illegally for at
least 10 years now have a chance to legalize their stay, under an
amendment to the Aliens Act that took effect July 20. Illegal
immigrants have six months to apply to their local province
administration for a 12-month residency permit. However, applicants
need to be employed or have other means of supporting themselves in
Poland and a place to live.
Applicants must hold a legal title-for example, a lease contract-to
the apartment they are occupying in Poland and must prove that they
will have no problem securing a work permit. For example, they can
produce a written statement from an employer intending to hire them.
If there is no promise of employment, the applicants need to prove
that they have sufficient income or assets to support themselves and
their families for at least a year without seeking to live on social
welfare.
The amendment features a number of clauses to prevent the new rules
from applying to criminals and other illegal aliens deemed personae
non gratae in Poland. The government wants to make sure that only
reliable and honest immigrants legalize their residency. Individuals
who have spent up to six months outside Poland at a time over the
past decade are also eligible, as long as their total time away from
Poland since Jan. 1, 1997 has not exceeded 10 months. Poland’s
immigration service has issued official press announcements about the
program in several languages.
A previous legalization program for illegal immigrants in 2003 drew
3,508 applications, and 2,413 foreign nationals legalized their stay
in Poland. Most of them had come from Armenia (1,052) and Vietnam
(1,001), according to data by the Office for Repatriation and
Foreigners. The more than 1,000 foreigners who failed to have their
stay in Poland legalized four years ago are excluded from this year’s
program. In addition to the legalization program for illegal aliens,
the amendment introduces stricter rules for citizens of EU member
states who want to stay in Poland for longer than three months. They
will only be able to do so if they have sufficient funds to support
themselves and their families so as not to put a strain on the
country’s social welfare system.