The Association for Legal Intervention (SIP) submitted, under the procedure of complaints and motions, a proposal that the Head of the Office for Foreigners and the Mazovian Voivode should send a text message to migrants with information about the decision issued in respect of them and that the Refugee Board should suspend ex officio the execution of negative refugee decisions. All this will guarantee the rights of the party and reduce the risk of coronavirus spreading.


The Government has taken a number of measures to enable migrants to function normally in Poland in connection with the coronavirus. Many of them significantly eliminated the actual problems faced by foreigners during the epidemic. However, amendments to the legislation alone will not fully guarantee the rights of foreigners in Poland.


The Association for Legal Intervention petitioned to the Head of the Office for Foreigners and to the Mazovian Voivode to send information to foreigners by text message, informing about the decision issued to them.
Numerous foreigners have signaled to the employees of The Association that consignments outsourced to a public operator are not always effectively delivered to the addressee. These incidents quickly became more frequent during the coronavirus epidemic. Should a foreigner be unaware of a negative decision issued against them, they will not appeal against it in due time and thus fall into illegal residence. Text messages sent to foreigners with information about the issued decision would also limit the number of visits of foreigners to the post office for the purpose of making sure they did not receive any official correspondence and thus reduce the risk of spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus.


The Association for Legal Intervention has also requested the Refugee Board to suspend ex officio the implementation of a decision to refuse international protection if a complaint is lodged with an administrative court.
Asylum seekers, who received such a decision are currently not allowed to leave Poland, undertake legal employment or (in principle) submit another application for international protection. As a result, they are left outside the scope of any social support, and it is impossible to meet their basic needs. When an asylum seeker lodges a complaint to the court against the decision on the refusal to grant the refugee status, the Refugee Board has the possibility to suspend the execution of that decision ex officio. This would allow asylum seekers to obtain necessary assistance while waiting for the court decision and thus prevent the risk of extreme poverty or homelessness. Read our letter here>>>
The Refugee Board agreed with us. The Refugee Board passed a resolution no. 1/2020 recommending its members to suspend the execution of negative asylum decisions ex officio, if the complaint to the administrative court is lodged during the coronavirus epidemic. You can review the resolution here >>>

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