GMI Legal Update: Diia.pl document allowing cross-border travel to become available to Ukrainian children under 13

Shortly Diia.pl document will be available to child refugees from Ukraine. Upcoming changes to Special Bill on help to Ukrainian citizens will allow children under 13 to use electronic document Diia.pl to travel from Poland.

Since end of July 2022 adult refugees from Ukraine can travel e.g. between Poland and Ukraine or within the Schengen area based on an electronic residence permit Diia.pl and valid passport. At the same time, children under 13 years of age are so far restricted from travelling as Diia.pl document is not available to them due to their age.

The changes to the Special Bill will now allow adult refugees to use a separate Diia.pl document for their children. Parents who registered their and their children`s stay with the local administration and downloaded their own Diia.pl document via government mobile application “mObywatel” will be also able to download Diia.pl for their children.

From a technical point of view, obtaining Diia.pl for children will be possible as soon as Polish authorities issue a special communication on this matter, confirming that IT systems are adjusted to new regulation. We expect this to happen in the nearest few weeks.