Office for Foreigners

Amendments[i] to the provisions of the Act of 12 December 2013 on Foreigners (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 519, as amended), which referred to official certification of knowledge of the Polish language, came into force on 24 June this year. Currently, the foreigner can also confirm a command of the Polish language by using other certificates of knowledge of that language at the level of at least B1.

The Minister of the Interior and Administration issued the Regulation of 31 May 2023 on the list of certificates of proficiency in the Polish language confirming the language skills required for the granting of a residence permit for a long-term resident of the European Union (Journal of Laws, item 1076), which also entered into force on 24 June 2023.

In the annexe to this Regulation, the following certificates of proficiency in Polish at a language proficiency level of at least B1 have been defined:

1. a certificate of proficiency in the Polish language referred to in Article 11 (a) (2) of 7 October 1999 on the Polish Language Act (Journal of Laws of 2021, item 672) (a document confirming proficiency in the Polish language as in the previous legal status);

2. certificates of the following institutions:

• European Consortium for the Certificate of Attainment in Modern Languages (ECL),
• telc GmbH, WBT Weiterbildungs-Testsysteme GmbH (TELC);

3. a certificate confirming knowledge of the Polish language in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages of the Council of Europe, issued by a higher education institution:

• approved by the minister competent for internal affairs for the purpose of admitting foreigners for the purposes of undertaking or continuing studies pursuant to Article 144 (4) of the Act on Foreigners;
• which is not subject to the obligation of approval in accordance with Article 144, section 5 of the Act on Foreigners (e.g. an academic university, a public non-university higher education institution) and in relation to which a decision prohibiting the admission of foreigners as referred to in Article 144 (a) (1) of the Act on Foreigners has not been issued;

- having completed courses in Polish as a foreign language or having completed another form of education in Polish as a foreign language;

4. a certificate of entitlement to practice the profession of a sworn translator issued by the Minister of Justice in accordance with the template specified in the Regulation of the Minister of Justice of 24 January 2005 on the template of the certificate confirming entitlement to practice the profession of a sworn translator and the manner of keeping a list of sworn translators (Journal of Laws No. 15, item 130) or a certificate confirming entry in the list of sworn translators.

The new catalogue of certificates of proficiency in the Polish language applies to proceedings on granting residence permits for long-term EU residents that have not been completed by 24 June 2023. Thus, in these proceedings, foreigners may demonstrate the existence of a confirmed knowledge of the Polish language already with the use of documents included in the above catalogue.

At the same time, it should be remembered that it is still possible to demonstrate confirmed command of the Polish language with a certificate of graduation from a school[ii] or university[iii] with Polish as the language of instruction in Poland and with a certificate of graduation from a school or university with Polish as the language of instruction abroad[iv].