Office for Foreigners

First of all, the completeness of data included in the application for international protection is verified. If the application does not contain the applicant’s first name and last name or the details of their country of origin, and these shortcomings were impossible to remedy as part of the activities undertaken by the authority receiving the application, this application will be left without further action being taken.

Upon the receipt of application, the Head of the Office for Foreigners verifies also whether the Republic of Poland is a state responsible for examining the application. State’s responsibility is determined based on the provisions of Council Regulation (EC) No 604/2013 (so-called Dublin III Regulation). If no such responsibility is incumbent on Poland, the Head of the Office will issue a decision on the transfer of the person to a country responsible for processing their application for international protection and will issue a decision on the discontinuation of the procedure in Poland. The foreigner subject to the transfer may be brought to the border, the airport or the seaport of the state to which they are handed over. For more information on Dublin procedures click here:

If the responsibility for examining the application resides with Poland, the next element examined is the application’s acceptability. The application is deemed unacceptable and the adequate decision is issued when:

• the applicant has already been granted international protection in another Member State,
• a country which is not a Member State is considered the first asylum country for the applicant,
• after receiving a final refusal regarding the granting of the international protection, the applicant submitted another application based on the same grounds,
• a spouse, who previously allowed the applicant to submit the application on their behalf, submitted a separate application, and there are no circumstances affecting the spouse which would justify such an application.

The procedure will be accelerated (a decision will be issued within 30 days of the submission of the application) if the applicant:

• provided other grounds for lodging an appeal than fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group or the risk of suffering serious harm or failed to provide any information on circumstances related to the fear of persecution or the risk of suffering serious harm,
• misled the authority examining the application by keeping information or documents secret or by presenting false information or documents of significance for granting the refugee status or subsidiary protection concerning his or her identity or nationality,
• presented inconsistent, contrary, improbable or insufficient explanations to confirm the fact of being persecuted or being at risk of suffering serious harm, which are contrary to verified country of origin information,
• lodged an application in order to delay or disturb the enforcement of the return decision,

poses a threat to the state security or public order or has been expelled from the territory of the Republic of Poland in the past.

If the responsibility for examining the application resides with Poland, the next element examined is the application’s acceptability. The application is deemed unacceptable and the adequate decision is issued when:

• the applicant has already been granted international protection in another Member State,
• a country which is not a Member State is considered the first asylum country for the applicant,
• after receiving a final refusal regarding the granting of the international protection, the applicant submitted another application based on the same grounds,
• a spouse, who previously allowed the applicant to submit the application on their behalf, submitted a separate application, and there are no circumstances affecting the spouse which would justify such an application.

The procedure will be accelerated (a decision will be issued within 30 days of the submission of the application) if the applicant:

• provided other grounds for lodging an appeal than fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group or the risk of suffering serious harm or failed to provide any information on circumstances related to the fear of persecution or the risk of suffering serious harm,
• misled the authority examining the application by keeping information or documents secret or by presenting false information or documents of significance for granting the refugee status or subsidiary protection concerning his or her identity or nationality,
• presented inconsistent, contrary, improbable or insufficient explanations to confirm the fact of being persecuted or being at risk of suffering serious harm, which are contrary to verified country of origin information,
• lodged an application in order to delay or disturb the enforcement of the return decision,

poses a threat to the state security or public order or has been expelled from the territory of the Republic of Poland in the past.