Each year since 2021, thousands of people have risked their lives trying to enter Poland via the Belarusian border.

According to Polish border guards, more than 13,000 people with Russian or Belarusian visas have attempted this route since the start of 2024.

The majority of these migrants, from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Cameroon and even Sudan, are seeking protection. Poland processed more than 9,000 asylum applications in 2022, and 7,600 in 2021.

How does the asylum procedure work in the country? What are your rights once your request has been filed? Here's what you need to know.

1. Asking for asylum

At the Belarusian border

International law guarantees everyone the right to request asylum, verbally or in writing, upon arrival to Poland. You can announce your request to the border guards present in the area.

Once the request has been made, it is transferred to the Foreigners' Office responsible for managing asylum applications in Poland.

Many NGOs and migrants have described attacks on the right to asylum at the border.

"As soon as I stopped, I told the officers that I wanted protection, but they didn’t listen to me," Azzedine, a Sudanese migrant, told InfoMigrants. He said he requested protection at the border on eight separate instances, only to be returned each time.

To submit your application, you must present an identity document to the border guards. This will be sent to the Immigration Office, where it will remain for the duration of the procedure. In exchange, you will receive a "temporary identity certificate for foreigners" (Tymczasowe Zaświadczenie Tożsamości Cudzoziemca), allowing you to stay in Poland.

This document is valid for 90 days, but can be extended for six months by the Immigration Office. This extension may be granted several times while your file is being processed.

Inside a center for migrants

If you did not apply for asylum immediately upon arrival to Poland, you can also do so once you are transferred to one of the country's 16 migrant centers. How this process goes will depend on whether you have been placed in a "closed" or an "open" center.

In a closed center, you can make a written or verbal request for protection to the border guards. Once your application is received, international law stipulates that you must be transferred to an open center, separate from migrants who have not requested asylum.

Some migrants have told InfoMigrants that this transfer is not always carried out.

Border guards have the right to wait before answering your request. But your wish must be registered, and a date for the receipt of your file needs to be set, as outlined in a report from the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE). An expulsion decision cannot be made during this period.

Requesting asylum from a center can be complicated, and entry into the procedure varies depending on the wishes of the border guards. According to Joanna Jarnecka of the NGO Grupa Granica, "migrants sometimes wait several weeks for the guards to contact an interpreter" to submit their request for protection. Some, in the meantime, receive an eviction notice before even being able to start proceedings.

Upon receipt of your request, the border guards must provide you with a document stating:

• the rules linked to the asylum procedure,
• your rights and obligations as an asylum seeker and their legal consequences,
• NGOs that work with asylum seekers,
• access to free legal aid from the State,
• the address of the center where you can reside.

For minors: if you are under 18 years old and you wish to request asylum, you will first be subjected to a minority test (via bone or dental exams).

Although they are regularly carried out across the bloc, these tests are considered unreliable by many scientists. Benjamin, a 16-year-old Cameroonian, was not recognized as a minor following a dental examination. He was therefore detained in an adult center for several months.

2. Living in Poland as an asylum seeker

If outside of applicant centers

The monthly financial allowance granted to asylum seekers living outside a dedicated center is 165 euros for accommodation and 11 euros for food. For a family of four, the allowance is 318 euros per month.

According to ECRE, with this amount, "it is very difficult, if not impossible, to rent an apartment or even a room in Warsaw, where most asylum seekers are during their procedure," especially because "owners are often reluctant to rent an apartment to foreigners."

If in one of the 10 structures for asylum seekers

The material conditions of these structures include:

• accommodation,
• meals at the center or a financial equivalent,
• the allowance for personal expenses of 10.61 euros per month,
• permanent financial assistance of 4.24 euros per month for the purchase of hygienic products,
• one-off financial assistance or coupons of 29.71 euros for the purchase of clothes and shoes.

If an asylum seeker provides services in a reception center (cleaning work, translation, organization of cultural and educational activities for other asylum seekers), the amount of the expense allowance can be increased to 21.24 euros.

Whether you are staying in a center or not, you have the right to:

• participate in Polish language courses and be provided the basic material necessary for the course,
• get school supplies for children,
• have the State cover your public transport costs to attend interviews as part of the asylum procedure, for medical examinations or vaccinations and
• access medical care.

3. The interview

After several weeks or months, depending on the case, you will be called for an interview with an Immigration Office agent. You have the right to an interpreter.

These interviews can be conducted in person or remotely via videoconference.

After a period of time for processing, you will receive a response to your request, in your language.

You are entitled to a response within six months, although this period can be extended up to 15 months if the case is deemed "complicated" or if documents are missing from your file.

4. Appealing

If your asylum application is rejected, you can appeal within 14 days following the decision. The Immigration Office can provide you with legal assistance.

Your appeal is made to the Refugee Board, which has one month to respond to your appeal.

Waiting times are often much longer. According to ECRE, in 2022, the average processing time necessary for the Commission to issue a decision was 127 days.

Furthermore, according to NGOs, these appeal procedures are often "purely symbolic," and "tend to confirm without questioning the conclusions of the head of the Immigration Office." In 2022, a negative decision was confirmed for 1,449 out of 1,531 appeals.

In the event of a negative decision in appeals, you have 30 days to leave Poland. Officials will start a return procedure against you if you are already detained in a center.

5. Once you receive protection

Receiving refugee status grants you a residence permit, called "karta pobytu", for three years. Those receiving subsidiary and humanitarian protection receive a two-year residence permit.

By law, all residence permits must stipulate "access to the labor market." Refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection have access to the labor market under the same conditions as Polish citizens, in all sectors of activity.

You have the right to stay in reception centers for up to two months after your protection is granted. Then, you will have to reside in a location agreed to by the authorities, during the 12 months of the individual integration program (IPI) specific to refugees.

If you wish to to renew your residence permit, you must submit a request 30 days before it expires.