#GMILegalUpdate: There will be no digitization of residence permit proceedings in poland after all

A new draft amendment to the Act on Foreigners has appeared on the website of the Government Legislation Center, with provisions regarding digitization of residence permit proceedings in Poland completely removed. This means we will have to wait some more before digital residence permit processes are introduced in Poland.

Initially, the draft bill was meant to introduce two main changes – to implement the new EU Directive concerning EU Blue Cards (i.e. residence permits for the purpose of work in a profession requiring high qualifications) and to introduce electronic residence permit procedures. According to the initial version of the draft bill, submitting residence applications during a foreigner’s personal visit to the office was meant to be completely replaced by electronic submission – foreigners were to complete, submit and sign applications for residence permits through individual accounts in the so-called Case Service Module (“MOS”), i.e. a central electronic system operated by the Office for Foreigners. However, the current version of the draft bill is limited to the implementation of changes regarding the EU Blue Card.

This means that as of today, electronic procedure in Polish residence permit processes is planned only for one type of residence permit – a special residence permit for persons with the so-called UKR status, to be introduced by the draft amendment to the so-called Ukrainian Special Bill currently undergoing legislative process at the Parliament. This electronic procedure will probably be a test of digitized proceedings, before the electronic mode is introduced in the future for all residence permit procedures for foreigners in Poland.