Poland’s public administration is having trouble dealing with the rapidly increasing number of economic migrants coming to the country, according to an audit by the Supreme Audit Office (NIK). The average time it took for foreigners to legalise their stay more than tripled over the period from 2014 to 2018—from 64 to 206 days. The lack of efficient, reliable and timely service is the result of staffing problems and insufficient funding.

As a rule, regional offices have no longer than 90 days to conduct procedures concerning the legalisation of foreigners’ stay. But in 2018, the average time needed ranged from 116 days in Lubelskie province to 328 days in Dolno[lskie province. In an extreme case, one person waited for a decision on granting a residence permit for more than three years. 

At the beginning of 2019, over 372,000 foreigners had valid documents confirming their right to stay in Poland. During the period from 2014 to 2018, foreigners submitted nearly 732,000 applications to legalise their stay. Of these applications, over 649,000 concerned temporary stays, 69,000 concerned permanent stays and nearly 14,000 concerned EU long-term resident’s stays.

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