Belarusians should not expect faster processing of Polish residence permit applications, but the validity period of travel documents may be extended
At the latest meeting of the working group on issues concerning Belarusian citizens at the Polish Office for Foreigners, three important updates for Belarusians legalizing their stay in Poland were discussed, reported Olga Dobrovolskaya, head of the legal aid department at the Belarusian Solidarity Center in Warsaw.
Firstly, a rapid reduction in the processing times for residence permit applications should not be expected yet.
The implementation of the MOS system (Case Management Module) has not led to the expected improvement in the situation. The situation remains particularly difficult in major voivodeships – Mazowieckie, Lower Silesian, and Pomeranian. According to data, over 190,000 cases are pending review at the Mazowieckie Voivodeship Office. It is not excluded that waiting times will continue to increase.
Therefore, Olga Dobrovolskaya notes, when planning legalization, it is important to take into account the real situation in a specific voivodeship and not postpone submitting documents until the last moment.
Secondly, international protection cases will be considered individually, taking into account the situation in Belarus in 2026.
The Office intends to assess not only the general situation in the country but also whether the specific applicant still faces a risk of persecution.
This means that when submitting an application, it is not enough to refer only to the events of 2020–2022 or the general situation in Belarus. It is necessary to explain why fears regarding return remain relevant now, what circumstances indicate an individual threat, and why it persists at the time of application review and decision-making.
Furthermore, personal interviews with applicants are being reintroduced into the procedure for reviewing international protection cases. These interviews can be quite detailed, so Dobrovolskaya advises preparing for them in advance.
Thirdly, the consideration of extending the validity period of travel documents has progressed.
Work in this direction has already begun. It is likely that it will not be completed by the end of 2026, but there are reasons to expect that in early 2027, the process will enter a more active and substantive phase. This will still require a significant amount of work, including necessary discussions with the Polish parliament. After that, the validity period of Polish travel documents may be extended from one year to two.
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